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DDN: Games are a fun way to spend time with family

From the Dayton Daily News: Jill Kelley
My husband and I finally gave in this year, and our sons got a video game system for Christmas. We fought the good fight, though, and managed to hold off the gaming frenzy for a few years as we have watched their friends get drawn into that multilevel vortex, one by one, since preschool.

It was really my husband who needed the convincing; he was worried that the 6- and 8-year-old would read and run around less if given the opportunity to play video games. I was less worried. I figured if we agreed to limit the time spent with the games and make sure they kept up their other interests, it would work out.

Besides, I thought it might help our competitive tykes have a little more structure as far as the rules of their one-on-one games are concerned. Their “football” and “soccer” endeavors in the living room are much less like recognizable sports and much more like a 21st-century version of Calvinball.

But I can understand my husband’s perspective. He didn’t grow up with video games like I had. My brother and I still talk about the good old days in front of our Atari 6400, swinging on vines in “Pitfall” and blowing up enemy silos in “Missile Command.”

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