I know there is a lot of violence in games these days, and it kind of disturbs me. I know, I know, I am the mom that lets her nine year old daughter watch ‘Alien’ movies. Video games are different, though!

I personally think movies are less likely to cause problems with violent behavior. This is because the child does not get drawn into the movie as much as they do with the games. My kids know they are watching a movie, they know it is pretend, and I very seldom see them act violently or copy stuff out of scary or violent movies.

I have pretty smart children! Video games, on the other hand, well, lets just say that I don’t let them play the ones that have role playing. We like the animations, like Crash and PacMan and Turbo racing games, but the role playing ones are very dark and encourage the child to pretend they are in the game.

This is where I think the problem is, and the difference between movies and games. A movie just is there. It is a story, a show being put on. A violent role playing video game really encourages you to BE the violent person IN the game, and I think that can mess with kid’s heads.

Also, you get the feeling that fighting is no big deal, that you can hit someone and keep hitting, and get hit yourself and it won’t really hurt. I don’t think that is healthy. What about you?

1. A.mom, October 16, 2008:

   My daughter has no interest to the games but she loves all this terrible cartoons like “Spongebob” and ” Jimmy Neutron”. i do not like it but i let her to watch because all her friends watch it.

2. LisaK., October 16, 2008:

   A. mom, My advice you is to spend more time with your child. Pick other activities so she wouldn’t have time watch TV. We do not have TV time for kids at all.

3. Jenna, October 20, 2008:

   I have to agree with the blog, I think the video games are more harm than the TV. I monitor what my kids watch on TV too, though.

4. Darmawan, October 27, 2008:

   I agree, children like to imitate what they see and let them play violent games that involve theft, killing, and even more dangerous sexual contents are very bad for their growth period
   But not all games are bad too, some will train them to think more creatively. So, just be more selective in buying games

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