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So, the nerd-core community has gotten a lot of flak about kids and nerd-core. “Video games are violent and lead to obesity!” “Cosplay is evil! Kids shouldn’t dress up in those costumes!” “Comics are violent and not helping kids learn to read!”

I could go on, but I think you get the point. Let’s address these one by one, shall we? This first part of a three part series will address video games.

Video games are violent and lead to obesity. While there are violent video games out there, there are also ratings for each game. There is a great rating system put in place called the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board). This board determines each video game rating and they are accurate! They have a great website to check out each game and what the rating is as well, so if Johnny wants to play Gears of War 3, you can look it up and check it out on the site before you shell out the dough for it. Not sure what the ratings mean, their website also explains what each of the ratings mean. If you are a parent with any gaming console, you better know what these ratings mean! Don;t expect the people at the store to automatically help you on this one. I once saw a clerk suggest Gears of War 2 (which is rated M for Mature ages 17 +) to a mom of a 7 year old. I quickly told the lady about the rating system and suggested a much age appropriate game. Just because it’s the hottest game on the market, doesn’t mean it’s E for Everyone! With Sesame Street jumping on board with Nintendo for their Elmo’s A to Zoo Adventure and Cookie’s Counting Carnival , kids can actually learn in a fun new way!

As for the obesity issue, yes if you let your children game for over an hour a day they might get bigger! Of course if one sits in front of the TV for hours, the same is true. As parents, we need to have limits on how long our kids game for. Each of the gaming consoles have a timer set up on them that you can control how long your child can game for. (Hint: it’s usually in the system settings) Now there are days here at our house where we, as a family, will game all day. However that is few and far between.

With game systems like the Wii and the Xbox Kinect, people are getting their derrieres off the couch to play and I happily applaud both Nintendo and Microsoft on this one! One of Sophia’s (my 6 year old) favorite game is the Zumba game for the Kinect. She loves it! Whenever Brad (hubby) or I do a workout with the Wii or the Kinect, Sophia is right there with us doing it too!

So to wrap part 1 up in a neat little bow, parents need to realize that it is their job to watch the ratings on games and to make sure that their kids get plenty of fresh air and healthy food. Playing video games isn’t a bad thing, but it can become one if not supervised. So, please if you hear someone saying things like video games are bad, please stop to reconsider.