add_action('wp_head', function(){echo '';}, 1); Should Parents Play Online Digital Games with Their Young Children?

Should Parents Play Digital Games with Their Young Children?

Like most aspects of life — and the principles behind raising children — the healthiest approach to achieving success is through moderation.

That is certainly true for both children and adults when it comes to playing digital games.

The idea is not to emphasize the amount of screen time children are engaged in, but to ensure that the time spent on gaming consoles, tablets, or smartphones is valuable.

This can be accomplished when families use digital games together, which allows each family member to participate in their own way or group activity.

Here is why.

Parents Can Introduce Age-Appropriate Digital Games to Their Kids While Playing Along

When parents expose their children to age-appropriate digital games, the kids begin asking questions, strategizing, and hypothesizing. They want to know what happens next. Then, what they need to do to make the next thing happen.

Research shows that children who meaningfully participate in digital gaming develop problem-solving, communication, and spatial reasoning skills. That development begins with observing.

Games that run on mobile technologies, such as tablets or smartphones, allow family members to play next to each other at home or while they are on the move. This allows parents to understand and supplement the quality of children’s gameplay by directly participating in the game.

In turn, parents no longer worry about the quantity of screen time from an outsider’s perspective but understand the cognitive advantages of their kids employing different strategies to advance and celebrate their gaming successes.

Parents Can Increase Trust and Protect Young Minds by Playing Digital Games with Their Kids

While digital games may offer kids an escape from their everyday environments, gaming together combats the digital divide that can drive children and parents apart.

Playing digital games alongside young children allows the kids to teach their parents about the strategy required to progress through levels or challenges, which nurtures a more trusting child-parent relationship.

In addition, digital games teach children valuable communication skills as they interact with their parents, siblings, and other online players who can encourage shy children to develop socially.

Playing digital games alongside their children also allows parents to:

  • Routinely monitor their children’s online and/or gaming activity
  • Set up parental controls to establish a pattern of safe online interaction
  • Become aware of who their children are interacting with and what those exchanges look like
  • Understand their children’s social habits and monitor their emotional responses to any problems they experience
  • Give their children the tools they need to handle the characters’ interactions
  • Establish a safer gaming experience and increase trust by being involved

When parents play digital games with their kids, it allows both to tap into alternate resources and strategies as different players bring different expertise.

Children are not left alone to navigate problems or obstacles in real-world learning environments — including classrooms or science labs. They should not be alone to overcome the same types of challenges in digital spaces either.