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raeanna74 · 02-07-2005, 08:33 AM

I have a 4 yr old daughter. My girl loves scary movies and wants to play shoot-em up games. I've let her watch something - not TOO scary - WITH me. I've also let her try a game. Hubby has guns and we've let her hold them with us around. She has toy guns. She loves to play shoot-em up. Our rule is that she can shoot at pretend "bad guys" but she's not to point ANY gun at another person. That rule may change but at her age we're not sure how well her grasp on the pretend versus reality is even though she seems to have it in hand.

BUT she's is at such an impressionable age where she's absorbing information at an increasingly fast rate. Playing these games or watching lots of television is not the best way to cultivate this valuable time for her to learn some of the most important things to get through life. I don't see these things are terrible for her to be exposed to but I have many other things that would be much BETTER for her to be exposed to.

Also - every kid is different and she may not learn from the 'violent' game to be violent. BUT then again she MIGHT learn to BE more violent. We'll never know until it happens. I think better safe than sorry. Especially at this age. There are so many other BETTER games for her to play that I see no usefulness in encouraging her to play the violent games. I won't buy them for her. I won't rent them for her. I will discourage them and perhaps restrict them. I have no set age where I will begin to allow her to play these games. It all depends on how she matures and how violent or constructive she becomes.

So many times with kids I think people look at things as the right or wrong way to raise them. I think it's more a matter of degrees - what will encourage their maturity and intellectual growth more than another thing. Yes we all need downtime and I'm not saying she needs to do INTELLECTUAL games all the time. She can have fun and downtime doing anything she enjoys.

Just find something that your kid enjoys and can use for downtime that isn't going to create tension with his Mom and that can benefit him more. It sounds a little to me like he just wants to play the game cause he sees Dad playing it. Try playing it more often when he's asleep or not around and do more stuff that's a little more age appropriate when he IS around.

02-07-2005, 08:33 AM	#38 (permalink)
raeanna74 I'm not a blonde! I'm knot! I'm knot! I'm knot! Location: Upper Michigan	I have a 4 yr old daughter. My girl loves scary movies and wants to play shoot-em up games. I've let her watch something - not TOO scary - WITH me. I've also let her try a game. Hubby has guns and we've let her hold them with us around. She has toy guns. She loves to play shoot-em up. Our rule is that she can shoot at pretend "bad guys" but she's not to point ANY gun at another person. That rule may change but at her age we're not sure how well her grasp on the pretend versus reality is even though she seems to have it in hand. BUT she's is at such an impressionable age where she's absorbing information at an increasingly fast rate. Playing these games or watching lots of television is not the best way to cultivate this valuable time for her to learn some of the most important things to get through life. I don't see these things are terrible for her to be exposed to but I have many other things that would be much BETTER for her to be exposed to. Also - every kid is different and she may not learn from the 'violent' game to be violent. BUT then again she MIGHT learn to BE more violent. We'll never know until it happens. I think better safe than sorry. Especially at this age. There are so many other BETTER games for her to play that I see no usefulness in encouraging her to play the violent games. I won't buy them for her. I won't rent them for her. I will discourage them and perhaps restrict them. I have no set age where I will begin to allow her to play these games. It all depends on how she matures and how violent or constructive she becomes. So many times with kids I think people look at things as the right or wrong way to raise them. I think it's more a matter of degrees - what will encourage their maturity and intellectual growth more than another thing. Yes we all need downtime and I'm not saying she needs to do INTELLECTUAL games all the time. She can have fun and downtime doing anything she enjoys. Just find something that your kid enjoys and can use for downtime that isn't going to create tension with his Mom and that can benefit him more. It sounds a little to me like he just wants to play the game cause he sees Dad playing it. Try playing it more often when he's asleep or not around and do more stuff that's a little more age appropriate when he IS around. __________________ "Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama My Karma just ran over your Dogma.