hey welcome to watchmojo.com
I’m your host Derek Allen and in part
two of our interview with dr. Lawrence
Kutner we speak to this parenting expert
about girls and gaming as well as what
parents should do if they’re worried
about their children’s gaming what do
you think is still lacking in research
out there on this subject well there
still is a lot of research to be done
especially but with girls you know we
were surprised to find girls were
playing a lot of these games among boys
and again this is seventh and eighth
graders we found the most popular game
series when we did this a few years ago
was grand theft auto and Madden football
and halo were the other top ones for
girls the number one game series was The
Sims but number two was Grand Theft Auto
we never would have expected that now we
have some preliminary anecdotal data
that they may be playing it differently
than boys and so that’s one of the
things really to explore how are girls
playing games differently than boys and
are there different markers of risk for
them and also markers of benefit you
know we have to remember that kids
benefits often from these games not just
the obvious things like hand-eye
coordination but helping them explore
new fields and get interested in new
things what would you suggest for
parents for teachers when they see their
kids getting involved and wanting to
play these m-rated video games parents
know their kids better than anyone else
and there are certain things that you
have to pay attention to for example
developmentally there are some issues
Grand Theft Auto contains a tremendous
amount of satire but up until a certain
age kids don’t really appreciate satire
they may not get this social and
cultural references but also they may
take it very seriously
so satire goes literally over their
heads and so they see the game very
differently than that you may see that
your child gets more upset at the end of
a session of playing games that’s a
marker of a problem most people feel
better after playing games for a while
those kids who play the most violent
games are the ones who have consoles TVs
and computers in their bedrooms one of
the things you can do as a parent is
keep the console keep the computer out
of their bedroom put it in a public
place now one of the reasons for this
has to do with impulse control with
young teenagers if you have all this
electronic
in their room they’re most likely or
more likely to have trouble with sleep
because they’re distracted and it also
allows you to keep an eye on what they
are playing but as a parent you know you
know your kid better than anyone else
and you know what may be appropriate or
inappropriate but even if you think
something is inappropriate for your
child it’s important to talk about
what’s going on whose kids don’t just
play games at home they play with their
friends you want to keep the
conversation open so if they have a
question about what’s going on here
what’s the moral value here why is this
person acting that way that they feel
more comfortable coming to you one of
the great things that you can do as a
parent that the kids were telling us
that really they wanted and not very
many parents did is play the games with
your kids let them show you how to
operate the controllers if you’re not
used to that and frankly let them beat
you at the games which isn’t too hard
because they’re gonna be better than you
are but it’s a rare opportunity for a
child or for a teenager to really be
better at something than a parent and
that’s an important feeling to have when
you’re a teenager you often are feeling
pretty powerless among all the adults
and this gives you a sense of power and
it also helps build a connection with
your kids and worst comes to worst it’s
fun
I’m your host Derek Allen and in part
two of our interview with dr. Lawrence
Kutner we speak to this parenting expert
about girls and gaming as well as what
parents should do if they’re worried
about their children’s gaming what do
you think is still lacking in research
out there on this subject well there
still is a lot of research to be done
especially but with girls you know we
were surprised to find girls were
playing a lot of these games among boys
and again this is seventh and eighth
graders we found the most popular game
series when we did this a few years ago
was grand theft auto and Madden football
and halo were the other top ones for
girls the number one game series was The
Sims but number two was Grand Theft Auto
we never would have expected that now we
have some preliminary anecdotal data
that they may be playing it differently
than boys and so that’s one of the
things really to explore how are girls
playing games differently than boys and
are there different markers of risk for
them and also markers of benefit you
know we have to remember that kids
benefits often from these games not just
the obvious things like hand-eye
coordination but helping them explore
new fields and get interested in new
things what would you suggest for
parents for teachers when they see their
kids getting involved and wanting to
play these m-rated video games parents
know their kids better than anyone else
and there are certain things that you
have to pay attention to for example
developmentally there are some issues
Grand Theft Auto contains a tremendous
amount of satire but up until a certain
age kids don’t really appreciate satire
they may not get this social and
cultural references but also they may
take it very seriously
so satire goes literally over their
heads and so they see the game very
differently than that you may see that
your child gets more upset at the end of
a session of playing games that’s a
marker of a problem most people feel
better after playing games for a while
those kids who play the most violent
games are the ones who have consoles TVs
and computers in their bedrooms one of
the things you can do as a parent is
keep the console keep the computer out
of their bedroom put it in a public
place now one of the reasons for this
has to do with impulse control with
young teenagers if you have all this
electronic
in their room they’re most likely or
more likely to have trouble with sleep
because they’re distracted and it also
allows you to keep an eye on what they
are playing but as a parent you know you
know your kid better than anyone else
and you know what may be appropriate or
inappropriate but even if you think
something is inappropriate for your
child it’s important to talk about
what’s going on whose kids don’t just
play games at home they play with their
friends you want to keep the
conversation open so if they have a
question about what’s going on here
what’s the moral value here why is this
person acting that way that they feel
more comfortable coming to you one of
the great things that you can do as a
parent that the kids were telling us
that really they wanted and not very
many parents did is play the games with
your kids let them show you how to
operate the controllers if you’re not
used to that and frankly let them beat
you at the games which isn’t too hard
because they’re gonna be better than you
are but it’s a rare opportunity for a
child or for a teenager to really be
better at something than a parent and
that’s an important feeling to have when
you’re a teenager you often are feeling
pretty powerless among all the adults
and this gives you a sense of power and
it also helps build a connection with
your kids and worst comes to worst it’s
fun
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