Helen and I celebrate our 30th vlog with a special edition on kids and video games, specifically, younger children and Web-based games. We’re tackling this topic in conjunction with Angela and Tracy of Lesbiangamers.com, who will be doing an upcoming episode of their vlog Gay Girls Who Game that looks at older kids and other gaming systems. (If you have older kids who game or you’re a gamer yourself, you should definitely check them out.)
We share a slew of our favorite games, including some associated with TV shows and other mass-market products, as well as a bunch of independent games from places you might not expect. One show-based game even features an actor from the lesbian comedy 3Way, featured at After Ellen. (Bonus points if you can guess who before watching the vlog.) We also discuss our philosophy of video games and the benefits and perils of letting young kids play. Plus: panda-goats and a reminder about Blogging for LGBT Families Day.
If the Veoh video above isn’t working (sometimes their server can be flaky), you can try it at Daily Motion.
Brought to you in partnership with After Ellen.
10:36 am
Kids' Activities, Video Blog
Get my blog as a widget from Widgetbox
Mombian YouTube Channel: Positive videos of LGBT families
Allyson
on May 29th, 2008
@ 2:04 pm:
Wow, great show! You hit all the ones our kids love and gave me lots of new ideas.
One interesting challenge we face is “age level appropriateness management” with multiple kids. (Wow, I should be an engineer.) We have four kids between the ages of 4 and 9, and the whole gang tends to gather around the monitor during Computer Time. As a result, we’ve found our little ones sometimes lose interest in games more appropriate to their age and gravitate toward what their older sibs like. I wish I could offer some ideas on how to deal with this (short of separating them during computer time, which would be difficult), but we haven’t come up with any yet.
Michelle
on May 29th, 2008
@ 3:30 pm:
I enjoyed the segment. So far my 3 year old and five year old haven’t expressed much interest in video games. My daughter, who is extremely physically active, was bored with Wii after about 15 minutes. Which is fine by me.
Interestingly, I watched your segment just after I read an article entitled “Getting Kids to Switch Off”. It was all about how kids in North America get a failing grade for physical activity, due, in part, to our fascination with sedintary pursuits. And, contrary to some beliefs, I don’t count Wii as real sport.
Don’t get me wrong, we’re not Amish nor Luddites – we watch TV, we have DVD-players in our vehicle (only allowed to watch them on long trips). I appreciate that some video games are educational and I myself enjoy the occasional video game.
My friends take all video games away from their children during the summer. During the school year their kids can play on weekends only for 2 hrs.