Video games have come a long way and so has our relationship with gaming. It’s become more of a passion for many regardless of age or gender. Nowadays, parents know a lot more about gaming than their kids do because most of them have grown up playing video games themselves.

But this wasn’t always the case and there are still parents out there who think gaming is generally wrong. As kids, many of us wished our parents knew how we felt about video games and what are the benefits of gaming, especially when we are in school. Keeping all that in mind, we have decided to explain gaming to parents in an easy-to-understand way.

Parents and Video Games

Many parents think (or at least used to think) that gaming leads their children to social isolation. They believe their kids would isolate themselves in a dark room, playing violent games all day. But that’s not entirely true, it doesn’t have to be this way. Kids can build healthy habits by playing video games for a few hours every day.

And the reason why many parents still think of video games as a “bad habit” is that they don’t know about video games and their benefits. There are many studies out there suggesting that playing video games helps in developing problem-solving skills, improves communication, enhances hand-eye coordination, and even helps develop soft skills that are now essential for the job market.

Learn about Video Games

Of course, there are problems with excessive gaming, both physical and mental. But parents can help their kids avoid these problems by simply talking about the video games that their kids are interested in. You can learn about their preferences by asking them why they love a certain game. This way, they will be more comfortable expressing themselves and you will get the chance to learn about their favorite games.

And if there are games that you think are too violent or not good for your kid, you can tell them that. You can even have a parent-kid gaming time, where you spend some time playing video games that your kids enjoy and get a different point-of-view. This has been a great way for many parents to realize that video games are not isolating their kids but are helping them connect to their friends and the vast community of gamers in the world.

Everything has its Pros and Cons

As someone whose parents used to only see the bad side of gaming, I can tell you that it’s all about perspective. My parents would often stop me from playing games but it was video games that fascinated me to learn game development and even teach others. And now my parents see things differently, they even play games that I develop to help me with play-testing.

So, everything has its PROs and CONs, it’s all about how you utilize something, and as parents, we need to understand that and the best way to do it is simply to ask or better yet… join your kids in gaming.