Never to early to start gaming...
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My daughter has been using an iPad and iPod touch since before she could walk, with supervision obviously. She's now got our old iPod touch which is entirely hers to use, although she calls it a "shoo shoo" absolutely no idea where that came from lol.
She's started to play on the main PC now too, I'll load up some games for her and help her play, she's not really getting the idea of a gamepad yet though but likes to try. Currently she's playing pac man and "The driving cars game" aka Zero Gear.
On the iPad she plays the Littlest Pet Shop and some other games, always supervised and more importantly always with in-app purchases off.
I've no problem with her playing games, as she prefers and still spents vastly more time playing with her toys which range from lego, My little Pony and Pet shop to toy cars and play dough. I do play with her a lot though, hide and seek and chasing each other etc. Everything in moderation though, but most importantly interacting with the kids.
It's the parents who dump their kids on front of the telly and dont' interact that deserve a slap, not people who supervise their kids playing games. I'm looking forward to her growing up and playing Minecraft with me and having a wing-girl in flight sims
She's started to play on the main PC now too, I'll load up some games for her and help her play, she's not really getting the idea of a gamepad yet though but likes to try. Currently she's playing pac man and "The driving cars game" aka Zero Gear.
On the iPad she plays the Littlest Pet Shop and some other games, always supervised and more importantly always with in-app purchases off.
I've no problem with her playing games, as she prefers and still spents vastly more time playing with her toys which range from lego, My little Pony and Pet shop to toy cars and play dough. I do play with her a lot though, hide and seek and chasing each other etc. Everything in moderation though, but most importantly interacting with the kids.
It's the parents who dump their kids on front of the telly and dont' interact that deserve a slap, not people who supervise their kids playing games. I'm looking forward to her growing up and playing Minecraft with me and having a wing-girl in flight sims
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Personally I would discourage my children from gaming. I think having your son watch you play games is somewhat 'lazy parenting' as you can just kick back and game while he watches. You'd be better off doing something like introducing him to a musical instrument or doing an interactive activity together like a puzzle
I'd much rather my kids develop a natural talent for something a bit better than playing video games.You could be setting your kids down the road to mega geekdom so I'd save the gaming for when your son has gone to bed TBH.
I'd much rather my kids develop a natural talent for something a bit better than playing video games.You could be setting your kids down the road to mega geekdom so I'd save the gaming for when your son has gone to bed TBH.
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Would a box of crayons and a colouring book not be more appropriate?
Correct, this is exactly why it happens. This is precisely the reason that kids 20, 30, 40+ years ago were playing with toy guns, knives and swords, and pretending that sticks were guns and swords and playing soldiers.
I remember back when I was a kid (a good 20+ years ago), my mum and dad would sit me down in front of COD and Battlefield, and let me play for hours on end.
The world was such a better place before these violent video games. If you look through history, there was never any violence, no wars or fighting, no one ever got murdered or beaten up, and then suddenly, the first video game was released, and overnight the entire human population degenerated into a bloodthirsty mob, obsessed with k/d ratios!
Or it might be a load of ignorant rubbish, perpetuated by parents who are unable to admit to themselves that maybe their little Johnny wasn't a complete angel who stabbed his friend because he was corrupted by GTA, and in fact was just a bad'un.
Your logic is flawed, if the child was brought up correctly then they would not have been a "bad'un".
Its the parenting that effects the child's future.
I agree to a point, but that doesn't explain how the same parents can have several "normal"/decent kids, and still end up with a "bad'un".
It also doesn't explain why kids have been playing at "soldiers" with toy guns/swords/sticks for decades (probably centuries) before the violent video games that everyone seems so eager to blame...
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Give the kid minecraft or something! pretty cool i am impressed but probably not best letting a 2 year pop heads with a heavy machine gun...
This is a 2 year old we are talking about though....I certainly don't think i had any toy guns or swords at that age. 8 years old, yes, 2, no.
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Do you have kids?
I would have agreed with you before, but having had kids I can say 100% at a young age they copy what they see do as they don't understand right/wrong or the concequences of their actions.
Sit a toddler infront of Thomas the Tank and before long you will see them pretending to drive about like a train, stick them infront of Power Rangers and they will run around play fighting, not saying that playing Battlefield will mean they run about with an M4 shooting people later in life, but you are setting them up to be a more violent child at school.
Also, age ratings aren't just there for fun. My dad misguidedly let me sit and watch a bit of Terminator 2 with him when i was about 10 (ish, cant remember exact age, but pretty young). The scene where everyone's flesh gets ripped off by the nuclear bomb going off haunted me for a long while and made me scared of nuclear war for a good year ( i used to get worried every time i heard a plane go over head thinking it was a missile and had to go and look out the window to check it was a plane) 
Letting someone under 10 watch a graphic 18 rated film is not a good idea.
Letting someone under 10 watch a graphic 18 rated film is not a good idea.
I do actually have a 2 year old, and I completely get what you're saying - I wouldn't let him play them (or play them while he's watching), I do however disagree with the people saying that violent video games are responsible for making people violent. Before video games people blamed films, before that, I'm sure they blamed books and photographs. The reality is, that some people are just violent.
It's just people looking for a scapegoat; playing violent video games doesn't inherently make you violent, in the same way that not playing violent video games doesn't necessarily stop you being violent. Otherwise we would all be mass-murdering psychopaths.
So what is your reason for not letting your 2 year old play/watch them then?
Because a) I'd rather play with him
and b) because he's a sensitive little monkey and doesn't like the sudden noises and movements
he's going to end up a lazy gamer slob who prefers sitting indoors gaming then going outside if you don't limit his hours to a few each day.
by time he's an adult he will be a a loner with social issues
oh wait....
I think the OPs child is to young for violent games he might stab you thinking it's just a game and you will respawn.
wait until he's old enough to understand the difference between real and gaming
by time he's an adult he will be a a loner with social issues
yea you just have to look at old disney cartoon from when they were uber violent and the amount of animal torturing sickos those cartoons breeded
oh wait....
I think the OPs child is to young for violent games he might stab you thinking it's just a game and you will respawn.
wait until he's old enough to understand the difference between real and gaming
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I do actually have a 2 year old, and I completely get what you're saying - I wouldn't let him play them (or play them while he's watching), I do however disagree with the people saying that violent video games are responsible for making people violent. Before video games people blamed films, before that, I'm sure they blamed books and photographs. The reality is, that some people are just violent.
It's just people looking for a scapegoat; playing violent video games doesn't inherently make you violent, in the same way that not playing violent video games doesn't necessarily stop you being violent. Otherwise we would all be mass-murdering psychopaths.
I don't think that they turn you into a murdering psychopath, as when you are older you have other skills and life experience to deal with reality vs virtual worlds.
People that do things like Columbine shooting etc have issues which I do not think can be attributed to playing violent video games - so I agree it can just be people looking for scapegoats rather than looking at the real issues of mental health.
However, a young mind, influenced by violent games, goes to pre-school, plays out what they learn from home and get in trouble, start getting the other kids not wanting to play with them as they hit them, move into infant school, start getting into more trouble etc. Before they have an understanding of right/wrong and how to interact with others they can get in trouble which could set them off down the wrong path (it may not - but I don't want to risk causing my own kids problems just because I want to play violent games infront of them - hence leaving playing till they are in bed and not exposing them to material not meant for them)
Ah yea, But if the parents had say 4 kids, One of them will feel left out and have a feeling of less attention and love from the parents as its hard to give all kids the same. Now in that situation there will be a child with more "bad'un" in them due to the situation