The high cost of video games revisited

I stepped on at least a few toes with my thoughts about deferring video game gratification when it comes to our kids (see The high cost of video games). Still, though it shouldn't have, the vitriol of the few posts startled me. For some, this is sacred ground and dollars be damned.

So I was relieved in flipping through my most recent print edition of Time Magazine to find Lev Grossman's "Girl Meets Game." Lev, "a lifelong gamer and proud of it," thought twice when Lily, his 3-year-old daughter, not only shooed his hand away from the Teletubbies site but informed him that he, "could go now." The event prompted him to make a few phone calls and draw a few conclusions.

There are some troubling aspects to very young children and video games. Kids may not perceive them the way we think that they do.

Grossman drew a sensible conclusion. While he loved the idea of being a "cool" parent, he's decided that "there's a lot more to think about" than he thought there was. He'll limit Lily's playing time, and though he'd love to take advantage of that time for things like a shower, he's not going to let his 3-year-old daughter play video games alone. For now, he concludes that,"maybe it's a good idea for Daddy to stick around."