Looking around at the world today, it is easy to see how technology is a fact of life. One way or another, technology affects every aspect of society. This is especially true for our gifted kids. They were born into technology; they find it at home, their school, during their learning times as well as their playing times either by themselves or with their friends. So is technology good or bad for gifted children? Does it interfere with their learning and development? What should parents do to the constant exposure of technology in your child’s life?
As parents, we tend to focus on more of the potential dangers of video gaming rather than the potential benefits. Gaming is a normal part of childhood and if you know what to look for, these video games can be a powerful tool to help gifted children develop certain life skills.
Today’s kids have more access to content than ever before. The internet provides a myriad of websites, educational content, audio and video files, and online libraries. Kids can follow their special interest in areas like music, art, or even academics.
Research has studied the use of technology for many years. That research has concluded that video gaming technology helps kids with their hand eye coordination, faster response times, and helps to increase their spatial visualization. Studies show that gifted students with exposure to video gaming have more developed motor skills and have made excellent physiotherapists and other medical professionals. Video gaming has helped gifted kids with ADHD to become more focused while learning social skills from various games and simulations. Overall they have become better decision makers. Research has also shown that the use of video gaming has helped with pain management by taking children’s minds off their pain or discomfort.
When a parent sees children watching a TV show, on the internet or playing a video game, it may not be the content that draws your child in. What most people don’t realize is, that there is more to the content than what the average person sees. One researcher suggest that gifted children are attracted to various forms of TV because they see it and understand it differently while taking various aspects of the content compared to academically average kids. The same can be said with video games; the very nature of the game is that there is a learning curve. While playing a game, one can view themselves as unskilled, then they learn, master it and then can move on to the next task or level. With this scenario, your child is learning the rules, along with its continuing application of cognitive skills.
Video games can help promote growth in a child’s brain. For instance the classic game Legend of Zelda has the player searching, negotiating, planning, problem solving and trying different approaches to advance to the next level or task. With newer games today children have the opportunity of “Modding”. This term is defined by a player being able to customize their characters’ appearance while developing new game levels, in addition to working on creative self-expression, deep understanding of game rules and structure, and various ways to highlight their personality and interests. Games like Age of Mythology, Civilization and Age of Empires can spark your child’s interest to read about history and cultures. Games such as these can help a child pick up on a wide range of complex language, content and connections that can serve as preparation for future learning. One of the bigger frustrations from parents is that most kids see video games as a social activity, not an isolating one. Video games can create common ground for kids to make friends, giving them the ability to hang out, and provide structured time with their friends. Some research shows that boys are more likely to play video games with a group of friends, either in the same room or online. In addition young boys say the games were a frequent focus for conversation among their peers.
One interesting factor is that players of sport type video games such as basketball, football and even skateboarding can become encouraged through their play to learn new skills or moves and then practice them in real life. Other games allow your child to take turns leading and following, depending on who has the specific skills needed in that game. Teenage boys in this area found that playing these types of online group games help them to gain leadership skills such as persuading and motivating others, while being able to mediate disputes. Another interesting factor is that games can help produce the opportunity to teach. While learning how to play games, your child can communicate with their peers about how to solve certain situations in the game. When they become masters of the game they can gain the recognition of being the “go-to” kid who knows how to beat the toughest parts of the game.
We are all familiar with or at least heard of the games Minecraft and Roblox. These games help promote and build creativity, just like with Legos, you can go though and build or customize your environment. These games also teach those real world social skills. One of the most over looked value of most strategy based games such as these is resource management. Your child has a limited amount of resources at any given time and needs to decide wisely how to use them most effectively. While most kids will not even realize it, they are learning cost-benefit analysis, such as things like when to save and when to spend. These games also work on your child’s patience. It can take a long time to assemble and create the environment they really want or envision. Just like as adults, we have to learn the skill of patience when we want that certain car, house or even vacation.
A few other key social skills that your gifted child can learn from games like Minecraft and Roblox is perseverance, teamwork, and how to deal with various personality types. With perseverance, your child may not quite build the amazing structure correctly the first time around, but they will learn how to recognize where they made mistakes and try again until they get it right. Regarding teamwork, there are online options that kids can play creating an opportunity to work with others around the world. Using the online options your child learns how to cooperate with others to build and create amazing things. A good social skill they will learn is being able to work with others in the game, is that not everyone behaves or likes the same things. When times like these arise, your child learns the important social skills of negotiating and compromising. This leads to appropriate and effective communication to where your child moves away from being a solo player to being able to work with others using respect and conflict resolution.
While most parents may only see video games as the ones you see on Xbox, Playstation or Nintendo Switch, there are a vast of online games that are great for gifted kids in helping them not only academically, but to also promote thinking skills and overall higher learning skills. A few of these websites are Sharp Brains(https://sharpbrains.com/), an award winning site that is more intellectual in nature, works best for adult-child discussions. At Brain Food (http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/), they use realistic lateral thinking puzzles to help stimulate problem solving by an indirect and creative approach. Mensa for Kids (https://www.mensaforkids.org/), a site created by the high IQ society brings the fun of learning through puzzles and games designed for gifted kids and Cool Math (https://www.coolmathgames.com/), one of the world’s most popular educational game sites.
Research further suggests that when asked what qualities make a best friend, children ages four to seven often associate friendships with sharing materials, activities, or offering assistance. Older kids (above the age of ten) chose sharing their interests, private thoughts and feelings, and having a mutual sense of respect and affection. As kids get older they increasingly understand that friendship in terms of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit become more interdependent, and imply understanding of thoughts, feelings, and personalities. Gifted kids tend to be at a higher level of development in their understanding of mutual benefits and may fall out of sync with same age peers in expectations about friendships. However, they may also have not yet fully developed to the level of mental age peers, especially in the early years. This is where video games can help. Video games give a child the opportunity to practice those skills in a safe, structured environment, to where they can control the outcome. Over time, gifted kids can become more in sync with their peers not only in terms of mutual benefits, but mentally as well.
Here are some suggestions to find balance with video games in your home:
- Use video games as a way to bond with your child. Look to find time to set aside to let them teach you about their game. Let them be the expert and bring you into their world. At Dandelion, we welcome your child to bring their favorite game or app into their sessions to allow them that time to be the expert and show us how to play their favorite game or app.
- When your gifted child refuses to do homework or other responsibilities and instead opt to play video games, as their parent, ask yourself “Is this a video game problem or a homework problem?” If your child finds the work to easy or unengaging, adjustments may need to be made at school or at home.
- Give some leeway to avoid any “turn-it-off-now” arguments. Many games require players to complete a task within a certain time frame or they will lose their progress. Other collaborative games rely on teammates in real time. Although giving them several reminders when it is time to stop playing is more work for the parent, it is worth the effort to avoid the dysregulation of having a game interrupted. At Dandelion, that is why we provide your child with time countdowns when their session is about to end and give them the leeway to complete what they were working on in their session.
- Use an app to manage daily time limits and bedtimes without having the last minute arguments. All gaming systems and devices have some form of parental control available in their software or available for download. This will help you as a parent to have options to monitor exactly how the devices are being used.
At Dandelion, we view all video games as neither good nor bad. We look to help children better understand time limits and recognize reasoning as to why there are limits and when video gaming can become an addiction.
If you need help finding that balance? Contact us today to schedule a first time appointment.