At Tuesday, December 09, 2008 9:37:00 PM,  Katie said...

Pull the plug on the games ! when I was a small child growing up in Kentucky we didn't have all of these distractions.

I vote be a be a stern parent and limit games to weekends when all else is done.

: Katie    

At Wednesday, December 10, 2008 8:01:00 AM,  B said...

my boy has ADHD and I agree there are way too many distractions when gaming on-line for their developing brains.
Hope things works out - brc    

At Wednesday, December 10, 2008 9:49:00 PM,  Johnathan Chan said...

This may seem out of sequence to the above comments. I reposted them here to make the blog post shorter.

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When I first posted the above comments two days ago it got me thinking. Why hold back? So I have added a few more thoughts on what's going on with my son. Are other parents having issues with on-line games bombarding their kids from the moment they turn on a computer? or is it just little old me here in Texas with a young son who is ADHD prone?

I do like the game industry and the jobs they provide to many, so I'm not trying to bash them. I'm just posting what I feel are reasonable questions on the directional compass they are leading our nation of children who by all reports I'm reading are in dire need of better science and math education if we as a nation intend to produce more scientists and engineers. I often wonder about developing countries and their internet access to distract children. Do trends in on-line gaming (Korea for example) and easy access to games result in a decline in education scores?

Here's a couple questions I have for starters, based on some personal experiences with my son. No - I'm not embarrassed to put this out there. Maybe it will help me by helping others.

First question: What do you do if your child drifts to the neighbors house to play video games when you limit their hours at home? Things I've heard from our youngest: "Dad I'm only going over to Bobby's (not real name) house to ride our bikes ..I promise.." (Later on I heard him bragging about a teen video game that this same boy had at his house ..hmm). We had a serious talk with the parents later. My next thoughts. OK, I'll make my kids less sociable and then lock them up 24/7 at home. That will surely solve the problem, right? Of course not. However, speaking to the other parents always assumes they value the same educational goals you see as a parent (or how fast they want their kids to grow up!). He's also tried cub scouting already, but a bit too wild for other 9 year old kids (a scout leader more or less mentioned this issue to me, and I likewise explained his ADHD difficulties).

Second Question: What do you do as a parent to motivate your kids (and what seems to work) to get them to read and study with all the software gaming influences competing heavily for their precious study time (and other free time)? Pull the plug during certain hours like I do with a programmable firewall router? Take them to the library? Have an internet or game free month (or a year?) Mind you, some kids compare non-gaming to near corporal punishment by mom and dad.

Our youngest seems to be the most easily distracted because of his ADHD tendencies. Just about every one of the neighbors has an X-Box, Playstation or Wii these days and loves on-line games. There's also a game store on just about every corner where I live in Texas. Am I alone with this parental dilemma? Anyone else have these same concerns with easy access to "game overload"? A recent library experience I'll relate: Kids can also play on-line games with their library card here in Plano ..brilliant idea ! This is quite true, while I quietly went off to read with a magazine and book, my son managed to ask someone how to log in and I found him at his favorite gaming site accumulating "commander" points. Now I watch him ever more closely even though roaming the book isles at the library like I did as a boy was something my dad let me do. Do parents ever get a break these days?

Games do seem to help focusing and coordination in ADHD prone kids - a good thing, but let's face it - games are quite distracting from the important things like paying attention to improving reading skills and remembering to do homework assignments. Here in Texas the TAKS test is critical not only to make sure kids comprehend subject matter, but also to scoring school systems and the hard working teachers who want all their kiddos to succeed.

In my most pessimistic moments, I truly believe we are now creating a generation of game addicted kids with too easily complacent parents who have now given up all hope - since games are everywhere to the point of saturating society. Give me a Kindle that makes kids want to read as much as on-line game ! Wikipedia and on-line learning sites are just too boring to many ADHD prone kids. We have a few friends who also complain about such issues and are worried.

In my most optimistic moments, I see games as a way for kids to train to fly aircraft someday and gain needed pilot-like skills. Who knows? Cold fusion flying spacecraft may be nearer than most realize. I have to admit the new trends towards games with a fitness theme like Wii Fit are nice to see (not that the Wii is the only system capable of such). At least parents and kids can participate in a fun exercise activity, when gaming can make your brain numb since all games to me are starting to look the same in some regards, even as a family activity (sorry game manufacturers). Thank God for music. He loves music and I don't mind him playing Guitar Hero (to a limit).

After seeing my ADHD prone son and a few other kids struggle, I have a theory that adding computers to schools at younger and younger ages and trying to have kids do more and more on-line (even math gaming sites in class) instead of emphasizing writing by hand like the good old days, is creating a new generation of kids we think will be better ready for the work world someday, but instead are deceptively ending up with with sloppy penmanship (my youngest one does), despite the time spent practicing handwriting at night.My son imroves and write neatly, then suddenly it's as if he's back in first grade again. Too much computer emphasis in schools is my theory why this is. ADHD prone kids need constant emphasis on writing ability. Kids also tend to zonk out mentally after 6:00pm when mom and dad come home from work and super is ready. The best focusing hours of the day are behind them at that point.

Paying less attention to detail : Game generation kids are also too easily distracted by banner ads, pop up adds and even credit card offers (like adults complain about) saying "Play Now..only $29.95 for 2000 empire commander points ! all while they try to enjoy their favorite on-line math game site.Someday game manufacturers will I hope realize this as they receive backlash from parents. Funbrain.com was what my son started with in school. [ disclaimer: ..they may have changed this policy since I first had this issue and complained]. That explains why I had charges to a credit card (without asking dad first !) on a two week stretch until I saw the credit card bill and hit the roof. Needless to say we had a loooooooong talk about that one - and what sidebar pop up ads are all about while enjoying a game or math sites on-line (even those recommended by schools). (I'm sorry banner ad folks, but I speak the truth as far as distracting ADHD prone kids from the task at hand !). Teachers are not to blame for this, but game developers.

I often sit and watch my son while he is gaming, and ask myself what is it that kids find so appealing in games compared to thrill of science, or a good book, or anything else an ADHD child might find attractive in comparison. Is it their imaginations? Conceptual ability to visualize and games being a poor substitute for immagination? Why is reading to them so boring that they often fall asleep compared to the energy on-line games seem to be able to do to keep their focus? Mind you, I work in the simulation field and can appreciate 3D graphics and all that it can enable in science and engineering.

On the subject of stimulating science, why is it I can't buy a chemistry set for home use with all sorts of interesting chemical reactions that I did as a kid to show them? Most products you buy these days have very small amounts of chemicals and make anything interesting almost impossible to do to keep kids interested. Some sets are banned now as any chemist will tell you unless you are creative with a variety of household products and know how to read all the labels to find what you need. So much for nurturing future chemists along with today's boring chemistry sets compared to what we all had as kids when I spilld ink all over my basement when I manufactured too much with Ricky by nextdoor neighbor. I think today's kids would probably like an on-line multi-player experimental chemistry set where everyone participates. But how?

Why do we emphasize computers so early in school?? The educational system seems to think it works. In fact, I just heard such a story on radio program and how computers help disabled children. Probably so, but I have strong opinions on this after dealing with my son. It is a slippery slope in some regards. If writing and legible handwriting are important life skills, then certainly computers don't help if you first don't master writing by hand (my son tries but is slower than most his age, depite repeated emphasis on this). If drawing art freehand becomes a lost skill(when they are past the crayon stage), will kids be able to understand issues like drawing in perspective, shading, and other lost skills folks taught us as kids? If you can't draw by hand, drawing on a computer is not going to be much easier unless you just like using 'clipart' and experimenting with lines and shapes. I predict we're also making a clipart and Powerpoint ready generation (sorry Mr. Gates) of kids who ' think' they can draw, buy really can't visualize a 3D object. Here's aparadox. My son has issues with seeing 3D objects in his mind, despite being bombarded with 3D games. That's not a nice surprise to face later in life, when jobs and the ability to think three dimensionally might require this skill to fall back on in science and engineering. Topics the educational system seems to forget. I keep trying to help him with this.

Anyway, enough of my parental ADHD worrying about education for this blog post !! ( a long overdue post to vent feelings).

Am I being too harsh as a parent to limit on-line gaming compared to what other parents seem to prefer? Anyone else have an experience with an ADHD prone child, that you are glad to see focus on something creative, but worry about their future potential if games are so readily available to distract him or her?    

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