No, You Can't Have Nintendo
My husband and I are the kind of mean parents whom kids grumble abouton the playground. We're among that ever shrinking group of parents known asnintendo holdouts. We refuse to buy a nintendo set. (Nintendo, for those whohave been living in a cave for the past few years, is something that you hook upto your TV set that enables you to play various games on your homescreen)Around Christmastime, my son made a wish list and I noticed that nintendo wasNo. 1. I said, "You know you are not going to get nintendo." He said " I know imnot going to get it from you. But I might get it from him." Alas, Santa too, let him I've heard parents' rationalizations about the games: "They're good forhand-eye coordination." (So is playing ball.) "It's something kids can do without anadult watching." (So is-dare I say the word?) "While he's playing at the screen, Ican relax for a few minutes." (Who among us hasn't usede the electronicbabysitter from time to time? But "a few minutes"? Who are we kidding?) I don't think that playing a video game bow and then is really harmful to children.Buyt the children I know are so obsessed with these games that they haveprompted at least one second-grade teacher (my son's) to ba
The beauty ofthis game that even young players can have the fun of vicariously shootinganimals. So, our grandchildren will be born with the ability to play electronicgames. Doom's Revenge, Guerilla War andSuper Street Fighter. Yousee, if a kid didn't want to be bored watching some of the greatest athletes in theworld play, he could just put a quarter in the machine and watch lifeless electronicimages instead. And theres the game with my favorite title an obvious attempt tocombine a graceful sport with exicting action: Skate or Die. Promote habituation: The January issue of the Journal of the AmericanAcademy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (foreboding enough title for you?)featured an article entitled "pathological Preoccupation with Video Games. ) My 5 year-olddaughter told me she enjoyed playing duck hunt at a friends house. And, about that "Nintendo gene": I've got a feeling its going to bedominant. They even have books and magazines that kids can study and classes sothey can get better at the games. " Theautour beleives that some game manufacturers try to develop programs that"deliberately promote habituation," and the goal of some of the people who makeup these games is "to induce an altered level of concentration and focus ofattention in the gamester. There are games that stimulate sports like basketball, and thatsall some kids know about the sports. " If you have children, or know any, doesnt this "altered level ofconcentration and focus" sound familiar? If not, try talking to a child while he isstaring at that screen, pushing buttons. Some might try to convice us that these violent electronic games are goodfor a childs self esteem and development.
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,
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Acceptance Essays
