Mars Rover Rescue is a kid's Science Book By Space X Engineers

I know it's a hard time for a lot of people out there, so let's keep this light. I was made aware of a new Kickstarter campaign by Andrew Rader, an MIT Phd and Space X engineer. It's a children's book called Mars Rover Rescue and it is aimed to present space science in a way that is approachable and easy for kids to understand. It is a really interesting project that I think you should support, especially if you have or know any children who are interested in space. 

REDUX: Raising Kids With Games

In light of recent holidays and the slew of parents introducing their children to games for the first time, I though it was time to readdress the way we approach responsible gaming with our little ones. If you're struggling with ways to promote healthy game time with your family, I recommend giving this a read.

Ours has always been a house of gamers. My wife and I both play games and have since before we started dating. We courted over Halo and have used Borderlands to keep in touch with some of our friends who have moved away. Our kids have been interested in games for a long time and in recent years have started playing games on the console and PC. A while back, my brother asked me what our policy was for regulating our children's time with games and I found it difficult to answer. Since then I've received a few requests for an article on the same topic. I've taken some time to look at our rules for games and hope that what I present below will be useful.

Raising Children With Games

The Maw was one of the first games they played. An old picture, but I think it illustrates good game manners well.

Ours has always been a house of gamers. My wife and I both play games and have since before we started dating. We courted over Halo and have used Borderlands to keep in touch with some of our friends who have moved away. Our kids have been interested in games for a long time and in recent years have started playing games on the console and PC. A while back, my brother asked me what our policy was for regulating our children's time with games and I found it difficult to answer. Since then I've received a few requests for an article on the same topic. I've taken some time to look at our rules for games and hope that what I present below will be useful.

My Eight Year old Writes More Efficient Code Than Me

My oldest daughter never ceases to amaze me. She's in second grade, and obsessed with Doctor Who, loves dragons, books and games. We play chess at least once a week (she's teaching her little sister to play as well), she's my co-pilot when playing War Thunder, and  is always in pursuit of games we can all play together.

Not long ago, she came home beaming. She took a certificate out of her backpack saying that she had participated in the Hour of Code. The our of Code is a national movement to get computer science and coding into the classroom. This year, my daughter's class joined thousands of other students to learn some basic code from developers themselves. 

When child meets game...

Games fill my house. They are very hard to avoid with two consoles, three computers, and so many board games that I have lost count of them all. Not to mention the various role playing books, dice, minis, and random accoutrements scattered through out the place.

Surrounded by all of this I don't know why I was surprised when my eldest daughter (5 years old) brought me a controller and asked me to teach her a game. She has played Rock Band with my husband and I before but she has never shown an interest in playing any of the other games in the house by herself. She knows that the 360 plays Dora and Sponge Bob whenever she likes, and I taught her how to use the Kinect voice commands (I caught her talking to the Kinect that day and I swear to God I heard her whisper "Xbox, I love you" at one point) but her interest seemed limited to those functions. Most games the hubby and I play are done 'after hours' when the kids are asleep so as to shield them from the blood and gore popular in most modern games.

Having just put the baby down for a nap I was caught a little off guard. I didn't know what to say, I tried to think of a child friendly game to set her up with. I settled on Flower and quickly set her up on the PS3. Of all the times I had thought about playing games with my children I had never thought about that first introductory moment and what I should give them to play. I will admit to a little bit of parental anxiety about letting my daughter play a game alone for the first time. This introduction opens up that wonderful parental hairy ol' can of worms that is virtual entertainment. I now have to work out how much to let her play and what games to let her play. I shouldn't worry too much. Being a gaming parent I think I have a good grasp of what is kid appropriate and I will certainly try my best to teach her proper game moderation, something I think a lot of parents unfamiliar with virtual entertainments know don't know how to do.

I am comforted by the knowledge that games are not new to her. We play together all the time and video games are just a new addition into her wide and varied collection of games, one of her current favorites being "Faye Wray and King Kong" inspired by her curiosity about the poster that hangs in our home. Children and adults alike are hard wired from the beginning to learn through games, play comes naturally to us all. Right now she is enjoying 'running' through the grass and 'catching' flowers. I think once she has a better handle on the controls I will set her up with What is Bothering Carl? a computer based story book that was part of the PAX 10 in 2009.

In the mean time I will do my best to not listen to the talking heads and their fanatical fear mongering bull that video games are corrupting our youth much in the same way they decried the use of pinball machines and comic books.

If you feel any trepidation yourself about introducing you children to video games think about the nay sayers while you watch this: