Influence of Games on Children
Webster’s Dictionary defines “game” as “sport of any kind; jest, frolic” but what if games are more than that? Not to suggest that games are a serious business. Their whole purpose is amusement and entertainment. However, games—specifically those that are originated and executed to the backdrop of an elementary school playground—are essential to character development in young children. Currently, there is a trend across the country in school districts to ban the recess essentials that older generations know and cherish. These “games” are a necessity for our nation’s youth. They install children with the skills needed to live a morally sound, virtuous, mentally proficient, and physically durable life.
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First off, children forge morally sound qualities during play. Our nation has always made it a priority to teach children the ways in which they must interact with one another to become successful and acceptable in our society. The “Golden Rule” is an example of such: “Treat others as you want to be treated.”
There are four basic virtues that all other virtues and benevolent characteristics evolved from. These four were identified in the early Dark Ages and are still considered to be the cardinal virtues. They are, simply: prudence, the science of what to do and what not to do; temperance, abstaining from excess; courage, ability to conquer fear or despair; and justice, the quality of being just or fair, and rendering to every one his due or right. Even in basic school yard play, these qualities are ever-present.
Prudence is about enjoying oneself as much as possible and suffering as little as possible. Prudence can be seen in dodge ball, for example, by the actions of the students. Anticipating a hit shows prudence. The student enjoys the thrill of dodging, but has taken into account the risks involved in play. Temperance, like prudence, pertains to the art of enjoyment. It is that moderation that enables us to control our pleasure instead of our pleasure controlling us. In dodge ball, it is knowing when to take a rest and sit out a game. Courage is easily identified. Children stand up to their fears of
The cardinal virtues are seven virtues that help guide us to have good morality. Prudence is the first virtue and is having the common sense enough to think about what you are doing and what are the consequences. Temperance is finding moderation in your lifestyle. Justice includes traits like honesty, the ability to give-and-take, keeping promises, and so on. Fortitude includes two kinds of courage: the
One very important virtue includes prudence, the virtue that disposes us to see rightly, the way things are in the world around us, and to employ that truthful vision to act rightly. It enables
After reading Children Need to Play, Not Compete by Jessica Statsky I thought she brought up some very valid points. I do think that this is a topic that should be scrutinized. I have a different view of the subject. I think that competition can be physically, and psychologically harmful if left unchecked by "abusive/uncaring" adults. I do think that with the right, caring and team work fostering environment competition can fostered without harmful effects, and can lead to learning lifelong skills that can bring emotional joy.
Through play, children are also able to form relationships with their peers, therefore developing socially. They are able to “learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills” all of which are important skills in a child’s world as well as the adult world (Ginsberg 183). This is especially prevalent in young school age children, who have had relatively few social encounters without the presence of their parents before entering school. These young children will often make life time friends by sharing a popular treat at snack time or borrowing a color crayon to another child who has broken theirs.
Summary In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete.” Jessica Statsky provide a clear and cut harmful reflection of high profile adult games when played by children. Stasky believe that the involvement in such adult standards games result only harm in the minds and bodies of children. Competition in sports not only cause injuries as a result of excessive straining of young bodies and a bad way of playing but also the concept of winning damages the actual mean of game that is team work and socializing.
The Cardinal Virtues are the four principal moral virtues first laid down by Plato and adopted by the Catholic Church. The Cardinal Virtues can be practiced by anyone and they represent the foundation of natural morality. Jackie Robinson and the film 42 are great examples of moral strength and the Cardinal Virtues. The Cardinal Virtues are also ever present in the news of today, both positively and negatively.
“Virtue is the perfection of human activity — that is to say, virtue is human activity at its best. Virtue describes the best traits of human action. The word itself comes from the Latin word for strength or power, vis. As with any human strength, it is built up through repetition. Do something good repeatedly and it becomes a good habit; do it long enough and it becomes a virtue. Virtue is developed by positive action, so merely avoiding evil or sin is not virtuous. Virtue consists in acting in a positive way to bring about good things such as justice, mercy or
you ask what the virtues are, it is likely you would be told that we
Beside the mental effects of gaming, lay the physical effects. Another belief of gaming is that it is physically threatening, and if not taken in moderation, that may be true, but at face value, some video games can be a very useful tool for physical fitness. “Serious” games, as mentioned previously, are games that are designed for personal improvement, but as stated by Mark Baxter, “serious” games are just a subgenre of a more encompassing genre known as lifestyle games. According to Baxter, these games lack the more academic focus typically associated with “serious” games, yet still focus primarily on improvement through tier one gaming experiences. An example he gives of a successful lifestyle game is Wii Fit, which is a game that consists of exercise activities. He also claims that games like these have been adopted in several physiotherapy rehabilitation centers (Brain Health and Online Gaming). Baxter is right on this claim. These lifestyle games, also known as fitness games, contain a variety of physical benefits, including rehabilitation, and thankfully, several console designers are attempting to embrace these positives. In 2006, Nintendo released the Wii console, which is the console Baxter’s example was played on. It saw large commercial success due to its ability to provide gamers with an entertaining and physically stimulating experience, selling over one-hundred million units worldwide. This console allowed players to exercise in a unique way that entertaining,
Excessive video game playing has been a problem with today’s youth they have had more influences over the youth than ever before. That brings to my attention a question, how do video games affect the youth of our society? Excessive video game playing, especially violent video games, can lead to youth violence, a decrease in academic success and many other negative things. I realize that some parents believe that they can be good for children, I agree but I also disagree in some cases. Some parents allow their children to play video games to keep a social life and to learn how to use strategies. This is true in some cases but not in all cases. For instance, other children that play video games alone and are in their rooms constantly can
There are two different kinds of virtues in the Catholic Church. There are Cardinal Virtues and there are Theological Virtues. The Cardinal Virtues are prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice. The Theological Virtues are faith, hope, and love. These virtues show us how to live our lives in accord with what God wants us to do. Prudence shows us what we are supposed to do and how we are supposed to conduct ourselves
Since the Early 70’s video games have been giving a bad name. Parents state that video games rot the minds of children and are influencing them do be violent. These accusations are far from the truth. In my research I found that there are many positive effects of gaming. Some of these effects are increased skills, creativity, general knowledge, and also help those in need. Parents can also take proper precautions and look into a game before buying it to see if it meets the criteria discussed in this paper.
The repetition of the statement claiming that video games do not help children in their educational enterprises is unfair. There have been numerous studies conducted providing evidence that children gain structural knowledge while engaging in video game play (Pillay 2002).
the surface as they did a decade or two ago, but the games have become
Another part of Aristotles' theory includes the idea of virtue. From my understanding, Virtue of character has a lot to do with our actions. It looks at what makes us do what we do. He explains, “Virtue, then, is of two sorts, virtue of thought and virtue of character” (Aristotle 18). In order to reach eudaimonia, we have to act virtuously. That is done by doing the right thing and knowing that you are doing it. Virtue of character is something that we do not automatically just have. It is something that we have to work on and practice. With practice, right actions will become habits. The virtuous person is someone who does not have to think about what the right thing to do is, they just do it.