Kids rule the wired world and high tech toys like robots are as ubiquitous as yesterday’s talking soft toys. Kids these days are so technologically inclined that it scares me. Challenge a kid to a Nintendo game and get ready to be left in the dust.
I'm sure he ain't looking for a Tommy GunAlthough pc games and a game of Guitar Heroes on the Nitendo Wii are not the usual modes of learning, it does benefit kids in many ways. His ability to strategise, and quick think, uses his motor skills and alertness will all be on radar as he plays these types of strategy games.
The article featured a Primary 2 boy, Jonathan Chew and his passion in gaming. Jonathan soared to level 15 playing Ace Combat 6 within 2 days, defeating his father,45, a banker, who was left behind in level 3. Jonathan devises strategies as he plays the games. To me, this is essential to a kid, especially in their early years, as their mind can absorb and retain information like a sponge, and being analytic and having the ability to strategise does help in their studies for the future, especially in inferring and mathematical concepts.
I have never sat down and thought about issues like these this way. I would look at a robot and think “Wow! That is so cool!”I have never thought about toys in terms of its communication value. A simple handheld game is a form of communication. A high-tech scribbles is a form of a computer in which it in turn is a form of communication. These are the sort of communication devices mapped out for kids these days. No wonder my godson was so thrilled when his watch could release bullets.
As for me, I’ll stick to my plain old soft toys.
6 comments:
Toys play a big role in our upbringing. It gives us skills like you mentioned for more complex obstacles like maths or even science. It is essential for kids to engage in activities of such as it stimulates their thinking at a very early age. a game like Jenga could be associated with our damn computer science module. Again, a toy is a form of communication for the kid, could we see a Seung-Hui Cho in the making from one who holds a toy machine gun or pistol?. just a thought.
Yeah
i understand how oLD UR ARE feeling. when i was explaining CAPTAIN PLANET to my tuition kid, he thought it was lame. SOMEONE WHO WAS MY SUPERHERO is now considered LAME. i guess these toys like everyother things have to keep up with times!
what about games that have been causing kids to go on shooting sprees? are you really sure that computer games help the kids? we have had cases of children being addicted & thus being less socially active, shunning people. yes of course toys are essential for the development of kids in terms of self discovery & exploration. However, it's still up to the parents & respective schools to educate the kids, what is right & wrong. Other factors like enrolling kids in music & sports also play an important role in their development.
Kids may rule the wired world and high tech toys. But it's the adults who created them. Kids today are so technologically inclined because they are exposed to it by the adults and they are made more available to them then our time. Wait. Your time. Haha! They are so much cheaper now than few years ago which are mre expensive and ugly. They are also much more accessible. Wherever you go you can find them. For free even. For instance the computer stations in some macdonalds or the library. Being it a good or bad thing is up to the message that has been thought by the adults to the kids. For instance a gun, u can either ask him to be the police or the thief. Human absorb the best at a young age. Teach him to be good and he will be wise. Intro to him a bad move and he will think it's alright.
I remember playing "teacher-teacher" or "masak masak" when i was young.
That was what my childhood was all about. the growing imagination &creativity that flowed from playing.
It was always with more than a 'class'.
These days, interaction between toys &children are so limited that there is no social interaction.
Toys are not car tracks or barbie dolls anymore. Toys belong to another category, it now falls under a device. PSP or WII. Its just you &that small rectangular thing. Sad how the world have changed and undervalued the meaning of interaction a child can get from toys &his playmates.
i personally think that a child should grow up having a childhood, one which encompasses tree climbing, sandbox playing, and knee skinning.
to me, video games are tools of anti socialisation. i believe we all know the gamer, who constantly spends time facing a screen, be it a LCD one from a laptop or one from a PSP.
yes, it can be argued that online games provide interaction, but here is the human element in that? you don't even know if your opponent is a pimply 14 year old or a 41 year old transvestite?
unless, your family is the author of this blog, who uses the advancements of technology to bring the family closer together with their weekly Wii sessions.
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