“Pearls” of Wisdom on Gaming
Micheal Pearl, a renowned Christian author who has written extensively on parenting, has a monthly publication entitled No Greater Joy Magazine. In the latest edition, he contains what I consider to be some very insightful thoughts on the whole gaming issue.
This particular article was in response to a letter he received. The letter writer had already been convinced that his sons had created an idol of Playstations. This father’s question was about how to win his sons over to living a life apart from the Playstation nation.
.You may have heard Thomas say: “Its easier to get the game out of your home than it is to get it out of your gamer’s heart.” Mr. Pearl has some advise on how to accomplish both: “‘Never take something away without replacing it with something more interesting and better.’”
“Rather than doing a police raid and confiscating the wicked thing, provide them with a more interesting alternative that will cause them to choose to walk away from the altar of digital deity.”
Some creative examples are listed:
“It may be that they do not find anything as fun as punching buttons and looking at a flashing screen. But I know some things that will get their attention—a day shooting guns, camping, fishing, hunting, fixing up an old pickup truck for them to drive when they get old enough—taking it out to the country on a Saturday and letting them drive just a little on the back roads. A normal ten-year-old will drop a Playstation to sit behind a real wheel and feel the power of the gas pedal. Skateboarding, paintball battles, rappelling down cliffs, making bows and arrows, and throwing knives and tomahawks are just a few of the radical things that will get a kid’s attention. You just need to think outside of your own box.”
As someone who was a ten-year-old at one point, he’s right. For me, it was speech and debate that really got my attention, I found that once you get the hang of it, research and public speaking can create a rush comparable to the one gamers experience. I’m serious. It’s addictive and productive.
Being a former gamer myself, I consider this to be true “Pearls” of wisdom. But don’t just take my word for it, read it for yourself.
Update: New Link for the Article entitled “Playstation” from the December 2007 edition of NGJ.
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