Sessler’s Soapbox: Play With Your Damn Kids!
By Ron on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 6:50 PM PST In Gamer Life
This week, G4 TV’s resident philosopher of the video game world, Adam Sessler, opines that parents need to play more games with their kids. Now, I’m all for this idea. I know that as a parent, I look forward to playing games with my son once he graduates from the V-Smile into something more appropriate, like a PS2. However, there’s a huge obstacle to this.
Basically, parents of the previous generation (like mine) didn’t grow up with video games. They grew up with books, radio, or TV as entertainment. Now, I was successful in my youth at getting Dad onto the NES on Christmas morning, but that was about the extent of it. I know there are some studies that say that only 43% of parents play games with their kids. I think Sessler nails the reason in the video above. Video games as a medium are still very young. They are still seen as being outside the realm of traditional ‘entertainment.’ Current products, like the Nintendo Wii, are bringing new players to gaming, but it is still a slow trend of acceptance.
As parents of our generation have kids growing older, the percentage of parents gaming with their kids will increase, both because we already play games, and because every year, games are becoming more and more accepted by mainstream society.
Thanks, G4 TV! (and thanks for including us in your video this week, Adam!)
I can relate to what Adam said about Star Wars. The good thing was that my parents hated science fiction yet watched all the movies and shows with me. I didn’t know until years later that they actually hated it. Being a good parent involves showing interest in what your kids are into. Even if you are an adult who doesn’t like games, it could be a great experience for the kids. I also know some older gamers who got into gaming hardcore because of their kids.
I’m lucky. My 65 year old mother is a bigger gamer than I am. We call her the GamerGranny. I’m actually buying her an Xbox 360 for Christmas this year.
I used to play NES with my father, that was back in the 80’s tho. I don’t think I’d have let my parents play consoles with me in my teens.
I agree with this. The paradigm shift of what families actually do with each other is a different landscape. It used to be (and in some cases may still be) going outside and playing ball (assuming you like sports). Not that exercise is wrong, but something interactive with your children is something they will notice. I have an 8 year old and a 360. It’s hard to find a whole lot of games that she can play, but I let her play Burnout 3 with me. She seems to enjoy it (when she really tries to play it), and I enjoy watching the graphics that I don’t usually get to actually watch because I’m playing, and it’s something we’re doing together. It may sound corny, but it beats her being in another room, playing a game or watching TV.
I also think this change in people being able to afford big-screen TV’s has actually helped bring the family together for the prime TV. We end up switching from Parent Shows to Kids Shows, but I think it’s a lesson in sharing and all that…just my opinion.
This ‘play with your kids’ philosophy has led me to implement our golden rule for our children’s gaming
“You may play for as long as your parents are interested.”
Try and make what’s important to your kids, important to you. Enjoy what little time you have with them. It goes by way too fast. That’s the whole reason you had them, right?
One of the columns I used to write for a parenting magazine focused on just this paradigm. I play games with my kids, be they video games or board games. That family time is important and I’ve often tried to promote awareness of these issues to parents who are not int he traditional gamer demographic.
That said I think as generations grow older and youth become parents – youth who have never known a world without Playstation that is – that it will become a more organic form of family interaction. We have time on our side, its just in these early years that this medium will be considered “scary” and “odd”. I’m a firm believer in that.
I don’t know what the fuss is about. I’m 32 and have kids of my own with whom I love to game with. My dad is 62 and he has exponentially more time wrapped up in Guild Wars than all of my family’s gaming combined. My wife who isn’t a gamer has sat in line for 3 different midnight console launches. Games are part of my family’s entertainment for sure.
I think the real tragedy is the parents who “grow up” and can no longer relate to their kids. I’m never going to do that.