Kids at Play

Kids at Play: (Just a photo opp)

(That was just one of those cute moments that I had to take a shot of, he doesn’t know how to play at this age, two.)

 I am no expert in child psychology but I think it wise that kids must not be let early on to play video games, not earlier than when they can read or write. Sure there are a lot of educational games for kids but there are instances that you cannot monitor what they are doing on a game console.

I bet you’ll agree that kids nowadays learn much faster than us when we were their age…and I speak from experience. I had to ask my then 4-year-old (in photo, he’s 5 now), how to record on my iPhone. 😀 He gets to tinker with the recorder a lot because he loves to sing and records his voice. Hearing him listening to one of his songs prompted me to ask “where’s that button?” And he gave me a tutorial.

More Than Just Being Cool

It looks cool when kids are techie but it also entails a lot of responsibility on their part as well as the parents. Hubby is a gamer. So if there’s a new game, he’d certainly get it, play it and finish it as a way of winding  up. I think it’s inevitable that the kids follow suit. I play too but has lost the excitement when I started going to school for German courses and all the more working as a translator. I mostly just watch him play nowadays. (Zachary Levi dear, yes I spend nights awake watching my man finish a game.)

More Time Out For Kids At Play

My efforts to minimize the kids playtime (video games) paid off somehow. We would often be out at the playground, we bike for an hour or so and when McDonald’s had their kids at play and art+fun activities I bring them to participate. Since McD’s have free wifi I could always do work while seeing them from my seat. Now that it’s schooltime again, I’ve set the rule that they could only play games (and watch TV) on Friday and Saturday nights.

Choosing Games

As for which games to play, I always have a strong aversion for violent games, bloody-displays of killing and gory characters. I remember stating this as a comment at another mom’s entry, I don’t know if I didn’t write it correctly but I did particularly say “violent games.” The mom wrote an article that video games aren’t evil…as a retort to my comment pointing out “video games as evil,” which was not what I said. lol

Even if I tell the kids to not watch and even if I take them out, we can’t be out all day. There are still instances that they get to watch what Daddy plays. So there are a lot of games that are off the list that they can play or watch …some would be the following:

God of War
Grand Theft Auto
Assassin’s Creed

Using Time Wisely

Of course, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy“, so it is but right to enjoy and have fun. Especially for kids. But there’s also a time for everything. A time to learn, a time to sleep, a time to play, a time for just sitting it out and be with each other’s company. We still advocate reading, not only before bedtime, but whenever you can. For bigger kids, helping them out with school subjects, tutoring them yourself or having qualified tutor help them understand particular subjects may be a good idea.

There’s also baking – where the kids can participate. From buying ingredients, to measuring what’s needed, to mixing up ingredients, and finally taste-testing!

When the weather is fine, and even when it’s not, it’s always good to walk about and take photos of the kids. There will come a time that they will shy away from having their photos taken, so do as much as you can now. Get out and explore the town, take their photos near a landmark,  while eating ice cream, just capture those chunks of realities into memories. It will be fun to reminisce looking at those photos when they’re older.

Kids at Play…and portrait

…
for: