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Soldat_Louis
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I've just read an opinion by Janine Wood, "homemaker and writer", at the [I]Christian Science Monitor[/I], entitled [URL=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0504/p09s02-coop.html]Why moms give in to video games.[/URL] Here it is :

[QUOTE=Janine Wood]
[B]Why moms give in to video games
Do I love my son less than other parents because I never bought him a PlayStation?[/B]
By Janine Wood

Deerfield, Ill. - 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.

We complain to one another about the hours wasted in front of a screen and then spend exorbitant amounts of money and violate deeply held beliefs to ensure that our kids won't be pariahs in the playground at recess.

And what can we do? All the boys are playing. So our moral core erodes.

"It's because their parents love them. That's why all my friends have PlayStations and I don't," said my 13-year-old son. When he was younger, I let my son play a limited number of games on the computer. The computer is broken now, and he thought it would be an ideal time to upgrade to a video-game system. Do I love my son less than other parents love their children because I never bought him a PlayStation? Or do I love him more because I insist that he spend his time reading or playing outside?

Of course it's not a question of love, but of endurance. "If I don't give in now, he'll rebel later on," said one mother after deciding to buy a PlayStation.

We tell our children to "just say no" to drugs. Resist pressure from peers, we say, while simultaneously doing our utmost to make sure our children fit in.

And we grasp at anything to help us feel good about our decisions. "Did you read the latest study?" a friend asked me recently. "Children who play video games are better coordinated and make decisions faster than those who don't," she said.

When a study shows that children who play video games can read a 300-page book with lots of dense text or feel sympathy for the poor, then I'll be the first one in line at the computer store. But it's not only the content of the video games that is so destructive. It's what boys are not doing with their time: They aren't studying, they aren't playing, and they aren't talking to one another.

"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.

• Janine Wood is a homemaker and writer.[/QUOTE]

As [URL=http://forevilresidents.blogspot.com/2007/05/christian-science-monitor-on-video.html]"For Evil Resident" blog[/URL] noticed, there are good news about it :

[QUOTE=For Evil Resident]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.
(...)
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?[/QUOTE]

But to me, a problem remains. The mothers Janine Wood is talking about don't do one mistake, but two. The first mistake is to "give in" on something they despise just, to avoid future rebellions from their children. Mrs Wood noticed it, and she's right. But the second mistake, and the biggest one, is to go on despising them without making any effort to KNOW or UNDERSTAND them, whether they buy it or not. Mrs Wood didn't notice it, because she's doing this mistake with the other mothers she's blaming.

Contrary to "other mothers", Janine Wood didn't give in to video games. But like them, she gave in to her own despise, ignorance and prejudice. After all, it's her problem that all of them despise video games. But it's my problem that she despises truth.

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