great ordinary happenings

These subjects of hate and violence have surfaced lately, most especially after that school massacre in Finland.  We know there is so much of these stuff in the present world, and it’s so tragic.

Has internet, especially with the emergence of the YouTube in the gruesome happening, contributed to this? Of course, it’s a debatable topic. My point of view here is, we cannot attribute this to any one factor like the internet, though it can also be admitted, this may have, in one way, contributed too. Even before the internet, computer games have already been violent, and much more now with the  availability of sites which if unchecked by guardians or parents are not suitable for the young. These games are very addicting, and elders should be more vigilant with their youngsters’ use of the pc (personal computer) to check the sites they frequent. Well, not only for this reason.

When we were in Cebu, we had an internet cafe, an off-shot of having computers which were used in my computer-aided seminars for practising engineers.  It seemed natural to include pc games to our offered services: computer rental, encoding, printing, research/surfing the internet, and the like. One time, as I was watching over the place, with so many boys coming out from their classes and playing pc games, I heard one shout (on top of the noise around), “You stab him!” Another shout heard: “you kill him!” When I looked over, on one monitor, I saw blood dripping from a knife, and it sort of shocked me - I was not familiar with these games. As I silently just hanged around some more, I’ve observed the young players gleefully happy when they could kill their supposed-to-be enemies, either by knife or gun. Hmmm some of the caricatures of the games were even devilish.

After conferring with the family, we decided to exclude these pc games as part of the services we offered. Our thinking was, and is: These games can affect the psychology of the young minds, subconsciously leading them to a culture of hate (to the point of killing) and violence,  the effect of which would be acceptance of killing as ordinary without a bit of the qualm of conscience. The dangerous ultimate there would be a mindset of: it’s okay to hate, it’s all right to kill!

Young moms with children who are always on the pc, it’s better to check them out, what games they are playing, and to hang around a bit when they are at it,  for you to observe. You may not necessarily tell them outright to stop, but you have to explain the damage these games can do to them. Then, as always, be firm but kind, you have to impose discipline. Limit their time spent on the pc? Our ruling when the children were still in grade and high schools (computers were not common that time) , no TV during school days, could be only during weekends. For the present-day moms, no TV and computers during the school days could be the rule. Unless maybe if there are researches to be made, especially now that lessons and assignments are mostly computer-connected.

An effective way of control is to give an alternative activity which is also enjoyable for the child, not just to tell them “you can’t do this”. Online (or in VCD’s/DVD’s?) wholesome games are available, in fact there are interesting, thought-provoking, educational games too. Why not take time to help select? Giving time to teach or to be involved with the activities of the children to be able to know when discipline is necessary, is one good investment not just for the youth’s character-building, but for your peace of mind in the future as well.

Hey moms, this is a challenge to you, God bless your child rearing.

Filed under: parenting