I was interested in how video games helped you in your life. Did they teach you anything? Have they made you closer to someone? How were they beneficial to you aside from entertainment? The article the Myth of the Media Myth this week reminded me of a conversation I recently had with a total stranger.
I had a parent semi chastise me for letting my young daughter play her DS while we waited for a table at a restaraunt. The conversation turned to games being bad for children in general and how she would never let her boy play video games.
Her kid, a year older than mine, asked her what a one word sign said and she told him. I then asked my daughter to read several different signs around the waiting area. She did just fine then went back to playing Kirby. She was amazed and praised my daughter for being able to read so well. I told her that video games helped me teach her.
That's right, video games helped me teach my child to read.
For some inexplicable reason, my daughter would get all flustered when I tried to teach her how to read with books. She knew all the letters and their sounds, but would get all nervous and just guess at the words. I figured that she was just bored. Children's books, after all, aren't the most riveting of stories and my daughter has a very strong imagination that needs larger fuel than children's stories could provide.
I sat down and used RPG Maker XP to make a short series of games staring her. We sat together in my office chair and she played through them.
She was into it. I didn't even have to prompt her and rarely even had to help! After rescuing me from the evil necromancer Vrax, our virtual selves went on and destroyed Vrax only to discover that she was the last one who could summon dragons and that Vrax was only a puppet. She loved it. More importantly, she read it. After the first episode, I became merely a cushion that she sat on as she played. Nearly forgotten except when hitting an odd word here and there.
Now, I still make some of those but it's becoming harder to make challenging words for her to read. We also play more adult games since she can read the rules/cards/etc.
So, thank you video games for helping me help my child.
How did they make your life better?
I had a parent semi chastise me for letting my young daughter play her DS while we waited for a table at a restaraunt. The conversation turned to games being bad for children in general and how she would never let her boy play video games.
Her kid, a year older than mine, asked her what a one word sign said and she told him. I then asked my daughter to read several different signs around the waiting area. She did just fine then went back to playing Kirby. She was amazed and praised my daughter for being able to read so well. I told her that video games helped me teach her.
That's right, video games helped me teach my child to read.
For some inexplicable reason, my daughter would get all flustered when I tried to teach her how to read with books. She knew all the letters and their sounds, but would get all nervous and just guess at the words. I figured that she was just bored. Children's books, after all, aren't the most riveting of stories and my daughter has a very strong imagination that needs larger fuel than children's stories could provide.
I sat down and used RPG Maker XP to make a short series of games staring her. We sat together in my office chair and she played through them.
She was into it. I didn't even have to prompt her and rarely even had to help! After rescuing me from the evil necromancer Vrax, our virtual selves went on and destroyed Vrax only to discover that she was the last one who could summon dragons and that Vrax was only a puppet. She loved it. More importantly, she read it. After the first episode, I became merely a cushion that she sat on as she played. Nearly forgotten except when hitting an odd word here and there.
Now, I still make some of those but it's becoming harder to make challenging words for her to read. We also play more adult games since she can read the rules/cards/etc.
So, thank you video games for helping me help my child.
How did they make your life better?