Children have always been more interested in play than work. Kids throughout history
have loved to run outside and ignore their responsibilities. Usually, parents have sighed and cleaned up after them, knowing the kids are enjoying themselves and building social skills. However, in recent years a new form of entertainment has taken hold: Video games. These innocuous-seeming games slowly corrupt youth, destroy their social skills, and ruin their future.
Many gamers begin as happy, normal children who decide to try games because “All my friends do it!” or “Just one won’t hurt.” When this happens (or even before then) sit down with your kids and tell them why gaming is wrong and will ruin their lives. Make sure they understand that if their friends are trying it, they need to get new friends. If they think once won’t hurt, teach them that it will. Far too many kids end up chair-bound couch potatos after trying one of the many games like “Halo” or, god forbid, “World Of Warcraft”.
You may notice that, if your son or daughter starts games, they rarely leave their room, their friends stop coming over, and they never go to see friends anymore, saying they prefer the new friends they are making online. At this point, it is not too late for your child-simply cut off all game access and make them go outside, reconnect them with old friends, and make them join a group such as the Scouts. If you don’t, they will never succeed socially, and they may even lose all but the most basic English, preferring to talk in the despicable internet-speak which has become popular in recent years.
The worst part of games, however, is their effect on your child’s future. A happy young boy, with a B average and a steady job, may in less than a month, both lose that job and see their B’s turn to C’s or D’s. Again, it is still not too late to save your child. All you need to do is get those games out, and keep them out! Otherwise, that boy will end up a janitor at Mcdonald’s or a garbage-collector for minimum wage.
After these chilling lessons, almost any parent can see that letting your son even try games is a recipe for disaster, or worse. Don’t listen to the lies of those who would have you believe that games are safe, even if limited- the only way is complete removal of all games and gaming-related objects from your child’s life. Some freakish few may claim to have gaming “under control”. Do you really believe them? Most of those are introverted, lonely people, and those few who are not have deep, hidden problems from sitting around shooting imaginary people all day. So please, don’t let your kids play games, and if they do, get rid of those games NOW!
