FreshTressa said:
I'm afraid to express my opinion here!!! I'm going to get slammed!!
My husband and I are "geeks." Our kids are "geeks." We are all shyish academics that hide out, discuss philosophy and play games. Both of my kids (7 and 8) are complimented frequently for their manners and both are several years ahead in school.
My husband works in the video game industry, and we get TONS, I'm talking thousands of dollars worth, of free games.
While my kids have never played GTA (they weren't interested), and never play any video game unsupervised, they have access to many mature games. We play them together as a family. We also play the kids games like super mario party etc.
When an adult theme comes up, we just discuss it, and so far, have had no problems. Overall, my kids prefer the kiddy games anyway, but that is their choice. I have never seen violent behavior nor copying of any sort out of either of them.
BUT, my friend has two kids, and they were over here and played one of our more violent games. The kids starting acting agitated and jumpy afterwards and then proceeded to get aggressive and to reinact what they had just played in the game. If those were my kids, I would limit their game play choices.
But, I don't think that because I let my kids play Soul Calibur II, that I'm a bad or irresponsible parent.
I don't think that the violence in game or on TV is the cause of violence in the real world. I think that is caused by irresponisble parents. Parents that are too busy to be involved in their kids lives. It is not the fault of the game or the movie, it is the fault of no one supervising or correcting their children.
But, that is just my opinion. And I can totally respect that a parent would not want their child exposed to the types of things in GTA.
/ducks
I agree with most of the posts on this thread.
You can consider this a "slam" if you want to,
but I have an honest question & comment.
Since you posted your own family's habits
this will come off as personal, but I was going to post
basically the same thing as a generic response to
parents like yourselves until I read your post at the end.
You honestly don't think that
anything
you are encouraging your children to play has
any
effect on them whatsoever?
Positive or negative?
I am saddened but not surprised that you consider playing any and all video games that are given to you as a 'fun' family activity.
I do not understand (to borrow from the OP) educated parents
that think that viewing & playing violent games
has
no impact on their children.
Whether or not children act out
exactly
what they have seen means little.
It's the overall exposure and
numbness
to sexual violence, or any violence, that will eventually
impact their decision making in later life,
whether it's conscious or sub-conscious.
And just because they're well-mannered means nothing,
just ask Ted Bundy's victims
(and no, I'm not implying that every boy that plays these games
will be a Bundy, but the well-mannered thing is pointless if you're
filling their heads with garbage).
The old 'Frog on the Fire' analogy works best, IMHO:
If you put a frog into a boiling pot, he'll panic and try to jump out.
You put that same frog into a tepid pot,
and only slowly turn up the heat,
and he will never realize what's happening until it's too late.
Regarding the very young children,
I have family & friends that work or teach in HeadStart
and other preschools, and they could tell you for hours
how the teachers lament this "throwaway" generation,
and that's what they call it.
They have multitudes of 3 and 4 year olds who come
in quoting verbatim the latest horror movie, PG-13 teenage sex movie,
and GTA as well as the other violent games.
These same children do not know their ABC's or 123's,
they cannot tell you their address or phone number, etc.
This has nothing to do with bragging,
these children just spout off quote after quote,
and "play" what they've watched at home.
The teachers just about fall over when they get a child
who uses any manners, or who doesn't curse regularly,
and again that's 3 and 4 year olds, both in gov't. preschools
and private preschools.
I get physically ill when I hear, as others have heard,
the stupid line, "You can't keep them innocent forever."
Of course not, but for crying out loud
they are children!!
I get it from some family members, my DS is about to turn 3
and I've been asked in the past year if he's "into" Spiderman
and Batman like other similar-age children.
Ummm... NO! Why would we let him watch those movies,
or even the cartoons??
What
good will it do him??
eta: at this young age
Now, some parents would argue that there's nothing
bad about watching those things at a young age,
but DH & I just cannot fathom why our son should watch
it instead of being read to, or playing on the floor with
his latest puzzles and toys?
What really bothers me is the emotions that GTA and other
games provoke - and don't tell me they don't!
Is it a good thing to let young children, and especially ones
entering puberty, to play games that will pump their adrenalin,
even arousing them?
Can someone who allows their child to have violence, sex, and the combination be absorbed into their child's mind on a regular basis please
tell me how that is helping your child to become the man or woman
they need to be? That they were created to be??
Just wondering. BTW, here's a link to one of the articles about it:
