My son loves hanging with his dad. He loves sports, throwing a ball around , fishing and doing various other father/son activities. One of him and my husbands favorite past times is of course …video games!
Honestly I can’t say I have ever worried about him playing games because I just never thought about it. I was so used to him and his dad playing that I truly wasn’t concerned, that was until I walked into our den one day and saw that my husband and my eight year old were playing “Call Of Duty”.
For those not familiar with COD it is a military special ops themed game with a lot of shooting. Of course I was somewhat pissed at my husband because the responsible mother in me did not want my son playing a game that depicted a combat zone and screamed war. In other words I didn’t want him playing anything that had him shooting people or putting a permanent connection in his head to a place his dad might have to go if he ever had to deploy again.
I was pretty annoyed and proceeded to ask my husband “why he thought it was okay for our little guy to play Call of Duty”? “I mean damn what happened to Mario Brothers or something” I said.
My husband then said:
” this game isn’t really all that bad when the child is supervised and the adult takes the time to explain the difference between fantasy and reality”.
After I thought about it I realized he had a point. I was never one of those parents to ban my kids from watching TV or keep them away from technology. Like anything else I always explained to them the importance of understanding right from wrong and fiction verses nonfiction.
I know there are people who are against any sort of [violent]videos games because they think they promote violence. While discussing this with my husband in casual conversation a few days ago he proceeded to tell me that video games like “COD” can actually promote gun safety and when kids are properly supervised while playing these types of games, parents can take the time to explain to their children that guns indeed are dangerous and not to be taken lightly.
My son is a good kid, honor roll student and the most compassionate little guy I know. For us personally we would rather be the ones to introduce him to this type of themed game verses at another person’s home where we have no control on how it is being perceived or explained to our child.
As a service member for 13+ years my husband has always been very open and honest with our children about life in general. So I should have expected our initial views on this video game situation to be different at first, but I can safely say we have come to a true understanding on something that is such a serious issue these days.
Do you let your children play war themed or violent video games?
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Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market.
She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries. 10 Comments on Yes We Let My Eight Year Old Son Play “Call Of Duty”..Do You?
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I personally think 8 is too young for that type of game, regardless of how much explanation might accompany it. There are lots of things in this world that we can explain to the kids, but that doesn’t make it appropriate for them.
I agree that I would rather it be us that introduces it my children than someone else. Not sure if I’d let my 8 yr old (don’t have one lol the closest I have is 2 and a girl) because the situation hasn’t been presented before me but I don’t see too much wrong with it! And I think it’s a great idea that your husband uses that time to share that info with him.
My kids do play video games but we stay away from the War types like COD, Halo and violent ones. We will decide when they are ready but it will probably not be until they are in their teens
I DO have an eight year old son too…. And yes I let him play all the COD and Halo and shoot them up games. He plays with dad and also some on his own. I do not think there is anything wrong as long as the difference of reality and fantasy is explained. These games have actually helped my son and husband bond after a deployment because it gave my husband something just for them and a way to explain more about deployment.
We monitor our 6 and 9 year old playing COD. We are always in the room and we watch the violence. It’s actually not that bad. We do limit the amount of realistic violent video games. There is violence in the world and it’s not realistic to hide it from them..
Even kids games like skylanders has violence. It’s really up to the parent and it’s their job to parent as they see fit.
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Dieses Thema ist nicht so einfach wie es scheint. Danke für die Aufklärung.
Ciao grazie. Ho riferito questo articolo per il mio incarico. Grazie
I let my 7yr old play but I don’t let him have the headset while on xbox live because I think that’s more of a problem then the game itself ……I also monitor him n most of the time play split screen with him he understands its a game just like him n his friends play army in the yard….
I am really torn on this for my 5yro he like to play shooting games, but I feel torn between if is okay or too much for his age. I think we grew up with my little brother playing games and then going in our backyard to play soldiers or cops and robbers with our toy guns. Those are very fond memories for me and my brother. I am really torn on this.