As an active member of the gaming community I often read commentary of those who do not play or have not played since the days of Pacman.

I find that most non-gamers image of games is about 20 years out of date. While there are still a few games which are simple exercises in button mashing and pattern recognition, many modern games, develop cognative and analytical skills. Some titles have a elaborate puzzles which require a lot of thought and logic to solve. Some games require resource management, others make you think outside the box for solutions to problems. Others still are exercises in creativity. For me gaming has actually made me more focused at work.

While I agree that too much of anything (games, TV, music etc) can throw life out of balance, I also believe that games can spark imagination and creativity,and that many of tomorrow's enterpreneurs are today's little gamers.

Of course it is easy to blame gaming and other distractions for kid's lack of performance at school, but I think a lot of this is smoke and mirrors to cover the fact that we have an out of date education model (one designed on the 19th century) that in many ways destroys a childs natural desire to learn and grow (but that is for another discussion entirely)

My advice to parents is to be involved in your child's gaming, watch and play along with them. Also parents should take the time to read the labels on the back of the package, be mindful of age appropriateness of the title and do research online before buying.

If any of you have questions, about gaming in general, or a specific title, feel free to PM me.