A different take on gaming

Every educator and parent I talk to right now is super concerned about screen time and in particular, their children gaming-like all the time! As a result, we often spend more time in conflict with our kids because we are so frustrated and worry about the impact of gaming and screen time on their brain. Let’s face it, in a game, your child is powerful and successful when in real life, they may not be. Also, gaming platforms are designed to be addictive which is important for adults and kids to know and understand. Using a timer is a good idea, as is developing routines. But gaming is only becoming more popular and so looking at it from a slightly different perspective may help some of the household tensions you may be facing. In Education game based learning and gamification have been used by educators to bring some of that hard fun into the classroom for many years and now especially during hybrid learning.

Transferable Skills

We need to make sure our kids are not glued to their devices and games all day; I am NOT suggesting that is good for anyone. But it’s also our job as parent as educators to recognize skills kids are developing, and name them and help them transfer some of those skills to other contexts. I share this idea in my book, Raising Digital Leaders and in a Tik Tok–I am really new to TikTok so don’t judge 🙂

@jencasatoddVideo games are not just a waste of time! Help kids recognize the skills they are developing as they play ##raisingdigitalleaders ##techtips ##parenting ♬ Leave The Door Open – Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak & Silk Sonic

Connections

Another undeniable aspect to the gaming conversation is the collaboration and connection kids have been able to establish through gaming chats. THANK GOODNESS that kids have been able to be in contact with one another in this way (I write this from a still-at-home Ontario). This is what Lisa Monthie, a mom and assistant director of Instructional Technology from Texas, and I talked about when Raising Digital Leaders was in its infancy stages. Even pre-pandemic Lisa shared about how her son made a life-long friend via a gaming platform. An excerpt from her parent vignette is here:

Most of Jackson’s games were played by children—or people who claimed they were children (this became a running joke:
“Mommy, that eight-year-old sounds like he drives to school!”). There was one sweet voice that stood out to us, a girl we would later know as Abby. She and Jackson were the same age and seemed to play the same games at the same times. Abby was always positive and cautious about what information she shared. She only told us she was from Canada after months of play. Jackson and Abby would always encourage each other, and
soon Jackson began calling her his friend. I would often talk to Abby’s mom in the background of the game, and sometimes we would jump in the game and just talk.
When Jackson and Abby both received iPhones for their birthdays, Jackson wanted to FaceTime and play online with Abby. We hopped on the Xbox and talked with Abby and her mom, and soon Jackson and Abby exchanged phone numbers. Playing games and FaceTime became the way they talked about all sorts of issues, from bullying to school challenges. Abby even saved up her allowance and shipped Jackson real maple syrup
from Canada (which, if you have never had it, is the best). Almost five years later, the games may have changed, but
Jackson and Abby’s friendship remains strong to this day. Jackson hopes one day to travel to Canada to visit his Canadian bestie. And it all started with an Xbox.

I LOVE Lisa’s perspective and am honoured that she shares her voice in the book.

If you are and educator, check out my previous posts about Gaming in Education: