Being a father of three young boys I am constantly trying to figure out the balance of gaming and other activities. Growing up has changed tremendously over the past decade with social media, interactive gaming and You Tube. I encourage my boys to be outside and stay active. We will spend many hours outside playing hockey, swimming or going to the skate-park. They do how ever have a fair share of time in front of screens. We live in a day where You Tubers are famous and kids want to be like them. My kids and many others I know spend a lot of time watching You Tube videos. At first I did not like it and thought they where wasting there time. Then I started to think more about it and figured that there is know difference from watching a T.V. program or a You Tube video. The amazing thing that I did see come from the watching of these videos was the knowledge they were retaining and putting into practice. For example, my 9 year old (Masternoah31 on You Tube and my 5 year old (Mightymayson31 on You Tube) called me in the room to show me something they were working on in Minecraft. To my surprise they have both made two completely different, but both equally impressive mansions. These were not little houses, but huge detailed estates wit pools, gardens and much more. I was amazed and asked how the heck did you build those. They all came back to multiple videos they have watch online. Minecraft is a amazing game and tool for young kids in my view. This is essentially Legos on TV, with out the high price of blocks and the pain of stepping on them around the house!!! This game makes them think, makes the build and allows them to gain a skill in computer software that could be used in there features.

Embrace the video game era for your children. Like everything in life BALANCE is key. I took it upon myself to learn the game/games and be involved in what they are doing. It was really impressive when my 9 year old wanted to start his own You Tube Channel and a few days later my 5 year old followed suit. Check them out in the links below and look forward to my Kids with You Tube Dreams post to come.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCupjzXKI16za-Jlp_zzxSkQ