Linkage

Irresponsible parents and gaming

Is there a manlier smell then fresh cut grass and gasoline? If so I haven't found it. I love the smell when I'm done cutting the lawn.

Been having ups and downs with the gym. Once I get back into shape it will get better. Until then I can still ogle some MILFs in the evenings.

I traded in some controllers and games and picked up Half-Life, The Orange Box, Dual Shock 3 controller, PS3 remote control and the membership club doohicky at GameStop. Magazine was not a major selling point. The extra credit on turn ins was. All that ended up costing me under $26 bucks in the end.

I have not played any of the HLF series and was only going to go with The Orange Box but my Aussie Daughter Zany talked me into starting with the original before hitting The Orange. No she is not my daughter. The young lady is attending University and it's a joke because I am old enough to be her dad. That and her mom was hot back then...

Have been bookmarking different things around the web to blog about. The list is growing daily so I need to start working them. Here is the first.

Since I was just talking about gaming I am going to being with Grand Theft Childhood. In this day and age of knee jerk media who scream video games are the devil at fault every time there is a shooting on a school campus or a kid looks at another kid wrong there needs to be some legit facts on the topic, not some pundits made up lies that he gets busted on later.

Check out that link to learn more about kids and video games. Here is some info quoted from whattheplay.com about the book:
"In 2004, Drs. Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl K. Olson, co-founders and directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media, began a $1.5 million study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice on the effects of video games on young teenagers. In contrast to previous research, they studied real children and families in real situations. Drawing on their research and other studies worldwide, they wrote Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do (Simon & Schuster, 2008). "

Here is my common sense advice to parents of gamers. Just like you decide what shows your kid is allowed to watch based on their maturity level and the shows ratings (you do know you responsible parents are SUPPOSED to do this don't you?) you need to do the same with video games.

Letting little Johnny run in and get any game he wants by handing it to you so he can avoid the store policy of not selling to the underaged puts YOU at fault for letting little Johnny play it. Same with buying it for him as a gift. If you are not gaming savvy take the five minutes to google it or at least read the damn box and check out the rating for it.

I am a gamer. My generation is the first generation to grow up with video games. We are still a strong demographic buying games today.

My daughter will be one of the lucky kids who will be brought up responsibly gaming. We have a Wii and PS3 in the house and I am sure we will have whatever new consoles come out as she gets older. Not for just for her. I buy them for me but I sure as hell know she will enjoy using them too.

It's doesn't take a rocket surgeon to teach your kid how to frag. It takes a responsible parent to balance it out with schoolwork and such.