Dear Subscriber,

Christmas has come and gone, and if you have a child over the age of six, there is a decent chance Santa Claus brought at least one video game down the chimney. Many people blame video games for the problems of today's youth: everything from violence to poor grades is placed on the shoulders of the Super Mario Brothers and their electronic kin folks. Is this right?

My childhood happened to coincide with the golden age of video games. I remember playing on an Atari 2600 from my earliest days. Then Nintendo starting in fifth grade, Super Nintendo in high school, and today we sport both a Nintendo Gamecube and Microsoft XBox (though our children are too small to play them).

Due to the great amount of research I have put into video gaming throughout the years (yeah, that's what I was doing... research), I can tell you that all games are not created equal. Some of them are a waste of time, some of them could perhaps even be harmful, but there are also a hefty number that are great learning tools.

For one thing, video games do improve hand-to-eye coordination, reaction time, and problem-solving skills. This has been established time and again over the years, often in studies funded by the video game companies, no doubt. But really, just how much hand-to-eye coordination does a child need? And couldn't they better gain that skill through a sport such as tennis? And as for problem-solving skills, parents could teach their children all the problem-solving they could ever want by simply giving them more responsibilities in the home and greater challenges in their schoolwork.

So how could a video game be a useful learning tool? Two words: History and Geography. There are a plethora of games out there that will teach your children more history and geography than they would ever want to learn on purpose. Let me give you a few examples.

1) Sid Meier's "Pirates!" originally released for the computer in the 1980's, has recently been updated and released for all the major video game consoles (PlayStation, XBox, etc). This game teaches both the geography and a decent bit of history of the Caribbean region for the years 1600-1700. Your child will never hear the words "Trinidad" or "Grand Bahama" again without knowing exactly where they are.

2) "Civilization," another game from Sid Meier (my favorite game author) which is currently in its fourth edition, teaches how the many technological and societal advances in the history of Humanity have worked together to change the world. From the wheel and money to the corporation and nuclear waste, Civilization forces the player to understand the implications, benefits, and costs of each major technological advance, giving your child an excellent sense of the long road Humanity has taken since forming its first cities ten-thousand years ago in a place we now call Iraq.

3) "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," by Koei, puts the player in the role of a warlord in China's "Warring States Period." While learning every detail of China's unique geography, your child also learns the basics of economics, administration, and strategy. Good luck teaching these lessons to a ten-year-old *without* a video game, in my opinion.

So no, all video games aren't a waste of time... just most of them. Pick out the ones that will enrich while entertaining, and everyone wins.

-----------------------

Subscribe now to receive the Live and Learn email newsletter!

-----------------------

Have a Happy New Year!

Sincerely,
Paul

Paul & Alison Martin
Noss Galen Baby LLC
www.NossGalenBaby.com

Copyright, Noss Galen Baby LLC 2004-2008