Walking and Talking

With the dogsit we just completed my sons and I did a lot of walking and talking.

The two dogs loved walks and we promised to take them on one each visit. That added up to 8 walks for the guys and myself over the past 4 days.

(I did the 4 early morning visits and walks alone, and told B that when they were not with me to talk to, I talked to the dogs instead... about the trees, the squirrels and what good girls they were.)

The walks with my boys reminded me of an article Sandra Dodd wrote called Leaning On A Truck.

In it she talked about how sometimes the best way to communicate with your child is when you are both leaning against a truck, looking out over the horizon- or playing LEGOS, or doing a craft, or.. taking a walk with two Australian Shepherds. In other works, not with eyes locked on each other, or with mom's brow raised looking for the right answer to come forth. But just shooting the breeze with something to distract and ease the atmosphere.

Well, today as we walked the dogs we were talking about video games.

Bryan had read an article that said that National Park attendance in the U.S. is down because of video games. He was very skeptical. That was a mis-statement and unprovable. Why? I asked. Could it be true?

We talked about the cons of video games and that it is possible for them to take over kids' lives. Yes, but so can TV, he said. It isn't the media itself, it is how people use it or parent allow their kids to use it. Like Guns don't kill people, people kill people? I asked. Yup, he said.

Humm....

As we continued to talk on the subject, we led the dogs around the block.

I wondered out loud that if we had had different dynamics in our house would we have banned video games, too? We talked about that for a while, then my oldest came out with this:

Video games are educational, but not in the way that people think. Often he had seen games that had a set of facts they wanted to get into the child's brain, so they designed a game around it and called it educational. Those are not the real educational ones.

The ones where you really learn something are those that take something interesting and make a game, and it all becomes interesting and any facts you learn are part of it. Like Civilization, where you learn all about history, but the game is not artificially designed to try and 'teach' kids history.

Or the many strategy games they play-- they are so deep-- deeper than some books and all TV. (he said)

What about TV? I asked.

My youngest said it is OK, but like VG, you have to be selective. Again it is not the TV that is bad, it is how it is used and what you choose to watch. Plus, he said, it is passive. VG require interaction.

The more we talked, I pondered. I have really seen how VG have added a lot to our lives. Are we alone?

Do other parents see the value, or are many just afraid to open Pandora's box. Why can't adults see what is really available in video games? I wondered this out loud.

I wonder if I should write a book on this? I pondered also out loud. Not that I have ever written a book before, but it crossed my mind.

Later in the walk, my almost 16yos said.. 'About that book, Mom.. maybe you could also write about..."

Maybe we have a new project brewing...