For children nowadays, they have access to a wealth of electronics and games in general. The technology that they have is far superior than anything prior generations could have dreamed of and while it’s a great advantage to have, there are downsides to it. You should be mindful of how much children are spending online as having too much of anything can cause problems, especially from a young age.
With that being said, if you’re looking to improve your child’s development, here are a few reasons as to why games are worth investing in.
Useful for problem-solving
A good way that games help children with their development is through problem-solving. Often enough, the games that your children will play, will be games that are challenging. They might need to go on a long journey throughout the game to complete it and be successful. For other, shorter games, the problem-solving might need to be working out a strategy or your next move in poker or solitaire for example.
Problem-solving is one of those core skills that can be helpful to have when you’re trying to navigate life in general. From your personal life and solving problems around the home like a toilet being blocked or an appliance not working, to your professional life where you’re responsible for for certain projects that might have challenging peaks to it.
Great for memory and focus
Memory and focus are definitely two helpful skills to have and games like mahjong are certainly helpful to play as kids to improve and develop memory. Focus and memory go hand in hand and while the world is more fast paced, it’s important that focus is prioritized so that your children can identify when and where they need to hone their attention in on something.
The brain is a complex organ and one part of it, the memory found in the hippocampus and other related structures in the temporal lobe, is one that needs developing. It also needs nurturing and maintaining especially as you get older. You might find yourself easily forgetting things as you get older and that can prove an issue in both your personal and professional life. Therefore training your child’s brain to retain information starts from an early age.
Helps with imagination and creativity
When it comes to development of your child, it’s important to encourage imagination and creativity. These are two skills that important to develop, especially from a young age. We all need imagination and creativity regardless of what career path we go into in life. Creativity can help to bring something new to the table and imagination can often be a way of creating something that’s not been done before. As kids, it’s great to get lost in your imagination and being creative helps you to explore new pathways that they might not have considered before.
With games, there’s a lot of creativity and imagination that’s already gone into the games themselves. Imagineers as they’re called by Disney in particular, exist beyond just this big brand. They’re the ones behind all of the games you play, whether it be online card games to big world map games that take you on an adventure.
Useful for emotional regulation
Emotional regulation is always something that’s good to have as a child. As they’re developing, their emotions won’t be like that of the average adult because they’re still learning. For children, particularly of a young age, their development is very much influenced by how they can regulate their emotions and what others teach them about emotions.
When it comes to games, it can be really helpful to play them for the purpose of regulating their emotions. They can be helpful to prevent and reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. It can be helpful to explore the wide range of emotions that we all feel from elation to anger, happiness to sadness.
With so many wonderful games to choose from, there’s a lot that can be explored through online gaming when it comes to emotional regulation.
Help to be more sociable in real life and online
For any children who are growing up, they’re faced with the challenge of meeting new people and making friends. Many games that are played online often require a collaborative effort where the individuals need to communicate with one another to achieve the common goals. That helps children understand the importance of teamwork, practicing it within gaming and then transitioning it into real scenarios.
Playing games online also helps to nurture friendships and while it’s important to stress the importance to young children not to trust or meet those they meet online, there can still be a friendship formed through gaming online. A lot of games offer that community feel to which is important for children who are going to grow up with people from all different places and backgrounds.
Great for motor skills
There are a number of motor skills that require your attention when it comes to ensuring your children develops well and with the best motor capabilities needed to thrive in life. For example, hand-eye coordination is certainly a critical skill to have but it’s something that can sometimes lack in some kids. With gaming, there’s a lot of motor skills that can be benefited by playing them. Many games will require this precision in movements and the repetitive nature that so often is incorporated into these games, is useful when developing muscle memory and dexterity.
These skills are something that’s useful for the everyday activities from drawing to writing and more. Even sports benefit from these defined motor skills, so gaming is important for most to play regularly.
Games can really be helpful when it comes to child development. With that being said, it’s well worth looking at how you can enhance your child’s development with the use of gaming both online and offline. The potential it has for any child is far beyond what many parents may or may not believe.
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