Christian Science Monitor on Video Games

Janine Wood, a writer and mom, writes an opinion piece on CSM asking: Do I love my son less than other parents because I never bought him a PlayStation?

Mothers despise video games. Here's what they say: Video games are addictive; they leave less time for reading; they are violent; they are the cause of endless arguments.

Why, then, does almost every young boy in my neighborhood own a video-game system?

"They nag you so much you finally have to give in," said one mother. "It's all a matter of guilt. If everyone else has video games, we feel we should have them, too," said a friend.

Are mothers to blame, then, for the short attention spans and the lagging test scores that are sometimes linked to video games? I think we are.

YES, finally a parent taking responsibility in their children. Rejoice! For far too long, the American parent has been blaming the video game industry for social ills stated above. Why are your kids playing video games? Oh cause you bought them.

"If parents are not a moral and intellectual corrective, then they fail in their duty, and they fail to see their child become a self-disciplined, considerate citizen of the world," said a teacher to whom I turn when I feel I am losing ground. After a long search, I discovered a neighborhood boy who doesn't play video games. He and my son commiserate together. But they have started a book group, and they play board games. It would have been much easier to have given in. But I won't. And so the battle continues.

I applaud this mother, she did what she thought was the best for her kid, not what was the least amount of trouble. How can we get more parents to actually parent, instead of pestering the government to ban the things they will not deny?