Extremely young kids and video games

I'm fairly certain the majority of the members of this forum are late teens to early 30's and I know a few of us have children. Taking into consideration our age and our affinity for video games I was wondering how many of you started your kids out super young with video games and how much exposure are you allowing your kids to have in general and specially to the more violent / sexual games. I feel like I'm a big more lax than I should be simply because I enjoy them and I let my 4 year old daughter pretty much have free reign. At first my mother was absolutely abhorred by my crappy parenting but when she figured out my daughter practically taught herself how to read via video games and using the search option on netflix she's changed her tune a bit. I feel like video games have been a fantastic educational tool especially in our current technological dependant society and really have seen her mechanical / small motor skills develop faster as well.

At 3 she was able to do simple things - drive a race car, play preschool type games, at 4 she's reading quite a bit, winning games like mario party, mario kart (just 50cc) and recently has got to world 4 or 5 in mario 3d land. 6 months ago she told me her blue ray player wasn't as fast as the 360 at streaming netflix and unhooked my xbox, and hooked it back up in her room by herself.

I think navigating the 360 or the ps3 menus worked as a stepping stone for her to be able to use windows and linux - she's got her own computer (granted it's crap i donate to her every time I upgrade something on mine) but she's good with it and can surf internet to some extent.

As far as violent games I play them and enjoy them but I make sure to buy them on steam so she doesn't have as much exposure to them. She'll watch me play Saints Row on occasion and will make a face or say something every time she hears a bad word or get mad at me if I shoot a cop!

Bottom line I'm curious what everyone else things about their kids and playing games and if they've noticed any gain from it. You always hear the negative effects but rarely anything positive

Well, I have three kids and I let them have tons of exposure to gaming, but I don't tend to play overly sexual or extremerly violent games. I tend to always be the good guy in games I play too. I guess I like to set a positive role for them to follow even when they see me participate in a fantasy world. Now, my oldest son is twelve and I do allow him to play some games containing more violence and blood then in the past, even tho I personally dislike that sort of thing. There is some swearing too, but I still do not buy him games that are very sexual and swear constantly and make u have to be a bad guy, and if i notice him beuing overly violent in a cruel er unneccesarry way in a game i make him stop...for instance killing whole villages for fun when not needed to do in a game or bashing crushing etc a person u already killed etc.

It has been said in psychology books tat kids who hurt animals oftenhurt people as adults, and I don't want them to get it ingrained in their heads that it is fun to cause tons of hurt to someone.

I think being violent a violent character in a video game is much different then being able to physically cause harm to another living object. I shot a squirrel with a co2 gun when I was fairly young and it took forever before I'd pick it up again, and haven't harmed an animal since. I find it haliarous to mow down a bunch of people on a sidewalk in a game like gta or saints row but I'm wholly against harming another living being except when it comes to protecting ones self or others. I think parenting and a bit of luck is what makes kids decent or crappy, I don't think fantasy plays much part in it. I think all the flack violent games get is mostly from parents looking for a scapegoat, instead of realizing their own responsibility in their kids actions. With that being said I still limit exposure to such elements if for no other reason just to help perserve their innocence just a bit longer.

I don't have kids of my own, but I think making sure they get enough exercise and take up hobbies other than gaming is important. Like, for every hour they play a game, they have to play in RL, and have to spend an equal amount of time reading/playing an instrument/learning or practicing some other skill.

As for the content, I've said this before but I'll repeat it here, I'd rather have them grow up playing 8bit games, then moving to 16bit, 64, and so on, than going from E to T to M rated games or whatever. I know that would be impossible, they would obviously not want to play on a NES if all their friends had Wiis, but that would be the ideal way to teach them "games =/= real."

Lets see, . . . . I started my daughter on Bubble Bobble on the Commodore 64. The dinos were both naked. :lol

Playing Bubble Bobble was some of that special time that we spent together.

There really weren't any violent or sexual games on the Gameboy, NES, SNES, hmmm but the Sega Genesis was a different matter. But the games that contained the violence I did not really care for, which were few. Time periods in video games sort-of make a difference.

Present day gaming with such realism in the graphics, it just doesn't attract me as a gamer. I have always went for the more tamed stuff and had my fun there,. . . . still do.

As far as what you expose your kids to, that is a judgment call for parents. Parents are the ones who know their own kids. What is okay for one kid might be disturbing for another. I am glad that they have ratings, it gives me an idea what a game contains and helps me in that final decision in purchasing.
My daughter now, is old enough, to decide for herself.

As a kid the violence we had together in gaming was Street Fight II. There was a lot of yelling in those days and anyone who walked up to our house door would think that there was a real fight going on inside.

stealth, I agree totally, exercise is key. We live a block away from a lake with a park and as much time as my kid spends with video games she spends twice as much there. I think the human interaction helps seperate the virtual world with the every day one and makes that line a lot clearer. Not to mention having lazy piggies for kids!

I wasn't trying to tell u how to raise ur kids. Just how I raise mine. How u raise urs is up to u.

But personally...I know there is a great deal of difference in causing real harm er pretend harm, but I just find with my children...when they r small..it is much harder for them to differentiate.

I have noticed certain behaviors in my son from time to time, and I cannot say that it comes for sure from playing certain games, but when I notice behavior in real life I do tend to curb it in games and movies.

I feel like he is getting old enough now to distinguish between reality and make believe for the most part...but as a parent if my kids were running around the house stomping on their baby dolls heads and pretending to gut them, I would stop that too...even tho it is make believe. Just my personal feelings on the matter.

This last year my husband decided to let my son play Assasins creed, becuz his biolgical father had let him have a bunch of violent games anyway, and that game has a lot less gore then some of the other ones, and for his last birthday I got him Fall Out New Vegas...so...

But I still feel better if he is playing something like Oblivion er Skyrim (except when he massacres villages for fun)

And both those games involve killing, so I have no way to explain my reasoning, except I just do what feels right. Maybe I am just to sensitive, but I would not help the ingame character commit suicide that wanted to die in Oblivion. I know too many ppl in real life who have been suicidal er attempted suicide before, and that is just a game, but it still bothers me, and my son kept hassling me to push the character off the cliff cuz he wanted to die, but I kept being like "well, he might change his mind tomorrow and if I push him off the cliff it will be too late" - so I def know that that sounds unreasonable when it is just a game lol. Ah, well...