Are Gaming Sites Good for Our Children?

[content parent]

What I am wondering is, should I allow my toddlers to play on game sites like www.agamesplace.com? Do you think it will lead to them playing on some of the older gaming sites that contain violence? Or, would you think that it is pretty much harmless and somewhat educational?

I know it seems like a fun site for my children and maybe they need to have fun while learning on their own in order to accept learning in school etc. when they are a bit older but, I am not sure.

[krystina araneda]

yea, that usually does lead to them to finding other gaming sites when they get older. i wouldnt worry about the violence, though. as long as they know the difference between real life and computer time.
what is worrysome is any social interaction between your children and other people on the sites. there are ways to keep it safe, though, by changing settings [filtering chats or even disabling it]. and make sure to let them know to tell you if anyone talks to them.

[CoolCaliMom]

What I hate about the gaming sites is that they're mostly just cover ups for advertising. It seems as though every "free" gaming site for kids (i.e. Leapster) tries to sell the kid more games. I stopped letting Hunter play these games because every time he did, he'd start begging for new stuff.

[Swati88]

Yes this makes children's think logically!!

[laresa]

I played tons of games that contained violence, blood, demons and slaying when I was a kid.

I will share my mother's wisdom on this subject. The violence in games can in no way affect a child to become something they aren't already deep inside. She let me play whichever games I wanted (I always opted for the evil side defeating the good in games) and she keep close watch on me on how I react to video games and had talks with me about the games I play to see what was going through my head. At that time I really though she was interested in my game achievements when she was in fact (very sneakily) evaluating my mind. She should have been a shrink.

She always said that if people would pay attention to their kids when they play games and not forbid them lots of tragedies could have been prevented as behaviour problems would have been spotted.

Long story short - yes let them play but give them some adult supervision here and there ;)