[sharkweek]

Random question for the HN crowd piggybacking off your comment:

What age did you introduce video games to your kids?

My oldest is 5 and I let him tinker on the PS5 when I’m around playing things like Sonic or he really likes Astro’s Playworld.

We limit it to maybe 15-20 min a day but I swear it’s like I tell people I let him watch R-rated movies or something when I mention that I let him play video games at his age.

Curious what people here view as age appropriate.

[xoxxala]

My youngest son was 3 or 4 when we played Everquest together. He sat on my lap so he could see the monitor and killed snakes in front of Qeynos for 10-15 minutes a night for a few months.

We constantly played console games and board games as a family. The kids got their own handhelds about 7-8. We supervised what games they could play until high school, and limited their game playing/TV until 16 based on their grades and good behavior. After that, they really didn't need limits as they were responsible enough.

I was far more concerned about them having a cell phone. We resisted as long as possible, and then started with dumb phones without a data plan.

[elijaht]

Don't have kids yet, but I started playing at age 5, didn't notice any issues (although that may be in the eye of the beholder, ha)

I actually think video games did me a decent amount of good with reading and math skills. Lot of RPGs, minecraft, etc. I would definitely set time limits and try to push towards more "brainy" games

[wholinator2]

Yeah. Although it was good that I quit when I did, my time with world of Warcraft when I was 9 leveled up my typing and communication skills so fast. Since I'm particularly prone to min/maxing I also got some good experience with math and unintuitive systems and how to guage what was better. (Percent increase vs flat increase, hit speed vs hit damage, etc.)

[volfied]

My son has been playing various Mario games since age 5. He can hold his own on Mario Party and has finished Odyssey. When we were kids, I was playing GTA, Mortal Kombat etc, so my childhood wasn't necessarily a good example.

That being said, his reading and math abilities are quite good and we attribute that to videogames, and a healthy dose of Mo Willems books.

[low_tech_love]

My kid is 4 and plays a few specific games that I allow. He loves ”fire boy & water girl” for example, and he used to play Super Mario Run but it was not turning well so I cut that. Sometimes we play SNES Mario games together but he usually finds them too hard. Also some Mario Kart on emulators, and some Minecraft.

[TehShrike]

We let our oldest start pretty young. He could beat Monument Valley at 3 and beat Shovel Knight at 5.

Our current limits for our 5 and 7 year old kids are one hour, three days a week.

In some ways it feels like letting them read visual novels. The media itself is usually great, I just worry about them getting used to the easiest forms.

[duxup]

5 or 6 is when I let my kids start. Limited time, parental supervision.