Warcraft and Toontown taught my kids a heck of a lot

Okay, so I was one of those moms, and still am I suppose, that doesn't particularly monitor my kids with time watching TV or while on the computer. I found that just when I would be at the point where I'd start to worry about how much time they spend in front of a screen, they then mellowed out all by themselves - or got bored or moved on - without me fighting with them about it. Well, I guess video games and the X-box have been the big influences of their time over the years. Warcraft was first, then Toontown, on to World of Warcraft (WOW) and then Halo - with a short stint of rock band (my favorite). I have to say that my kids learned a ton from playing (obsessing about) these games.

Strategy, collaboration, and accuracy was learned and practiced as they built armies and spoke online with their teams. And, they learned to type might fast as they learned their way around a keyboard at a young age.

Tootown is where they learned about meeting strangers online and begun social networking - years before Facebook took over that function. They created their toon (profile) and while mastering different tricks they met up with people in different rooms.

My youngest graduated to World of Warcraft and continued to build armies and meeting online friends and about this time my oldest became a member of the YMCA and focused on soccer - leaving the gaming world behind with only a few stints of FIFA Soccer when a friend came over. Not to worry though, he is now in-tune with his Facebook account.

And then came Halo (which I admit was a bit too violent for me) and Guitar Hero - my youngest got so good at Guitar Hero that he started taking drum lessons. He was already playing the violin so he knew how to read music, but his drum teacher was impressed on how quick he learned the drumming techniques (Guitar Hero isn't suppose to be anything like actually playing the drums, but I do believe it at least helped create the passion to learn how to play correctly). He has now found his bike and at 13 is extremely social as he runs around with this pack of friends - with only occasional X-box challenges as part of their activities.

So, I believe that video gaming provides valuable opportunities for learning. Kids love to play video games (as do many big kids, aka adults) and if playing a game online or with a console motivates a person to learn math, strategy, team building skills, and or a new language, then let the games begin! My kids are comfortable with the computer, new software, and use it as a tool for school daily. And so, I may have not been such a bad mom for letting my kids have unlimited amount of time on the computer after all - well, maybe I don't have to feel quite so guilty anyways!