Two little boys, age 4 and 5, signed on for piano lessons with me a few weeks ago. I am really enjoying them for the most part -- so smart, quick, enthusiastic, and adorable too. Like two little peas in a pod! They come from a privileged upper middle-class home, go to a private school, absolutely love their music, and Mom loves learning along with them (YIPPEEEE!!! says teacher) In fact everything about their lives appears idyllic, but there's one thing I don't understand. With all the caring and smarts and advantages this parent appears to have, why oh WHY does she allow those two to spend hours on end playing hand-held computer games??
They come in for their lessons clutching their precious "D-S's" (never heard of that before, but they are like tiny little Nintendo units). One flies over to the sofa and settles in for half an hour of digital oblivion, while I teach his brother. Then they switch around - and the first several minutes of the second lesson is usually wasted while #2 urchin comes back down to reality, telling me about every last oh-so-exciting (?) moment of the game he was just playing. (That's when he makes through the lesson at all -- sometimes they are so red-eyed, whiney and restless after being square-eyed and totally "out of it" for half an hour we cut the lesson short, and Mom helps him catch up at home).
Now, I can see what a great babysitter those things make. The kids don't make a squeak -- hardly move at all with one of those things in hand, leaving Mom free to work away on her lap-top oblivious to everything going on around her as well. What a great way to handle little kids and hospital rooms, airplanes, music studio waiting areas etc, huh?
NOT! For one thing, all those hours gazing at a screen, no matter how small, is bad for the eyes, the brain, the body and the emotional state. I know this for a fact -- I remember playing a pinball-type video game for hours and hours on end many years ago, determined to beat it. Well I did beat it finally -- but was I happy? No. I was just miserable, cranky, achy, and swore I would NEVER play that or any other stupid video game again. And I haven't. But I'm glad I had that experience -- at least I understood, first-hand, what was going on with my own kids!
My kids wanted to spend ALL of their spare time glued to those games, and they would have if I'd let them! They became quite the gaming experts, winning all the time --- but were they happy?
No. The more time they spent playing, the more their moods would deteriorate and by the time they finally put it down, they'd be just miserable, fighting, cranky, irritable, impossible to be around. It was so predictable!! And they were no pre-schoolers at the time. They were almost 10 when I finally broke down and allowed their step-dad to hook one of those things up to the TV - a mistake I would never make again!
But back to my two little Mozarts-to-be -- they had to reschedule their first four lessons because they were both sick for almost a month they first signed up. Had colds, couldn't seem to get over it. Hmmmm -- I wonder why! Could it be that hours and hours of video-gazing, on a regular basis, is bad for the immune system too?
But I think the last straw finally fell last week. Urchin #2, almost 6 yrs old, had an "accident" on my couch while waiting for his lesson - he was so absorbed in his "D-S", and Mom in her lap-top, that neither one realized what was happening until a certain odour filled the air. Very embarrassing for them, and quite a pain in the you-know for me, having to clean the furniture ... AARRGGHHHH!
I have been considering asking them to please leave the games at home from now on -- better for them, better for me, better for the furniture. But I know it will be like asking them to remove their eye teeth, and I want them to LIKE coming here, and .... and ... oh, what to do what to do!
Anyway, this thread seemed like a great place to safely let off a bit of steam re children and video games. So thanks, Mudcat, and thanks to you all just for reading all this (if you did!)