We recently had a combined birthday party for our 12 year old and our 8 year old. They got some really wonderful gifts and were so excited! Each of them received a Nintendo DS and several games to go with them.
You can only imagine the shock I felt when I realized that all but one of the games was rated E 10+! Unfortunately I didn’t see this until after the games were all opened and I could no longer do anything about it . . . or could I?
As we head into the Christmas shopping season I really want to share with you a powerful tool for parents that is literally right at your fingertips! The ERSB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) has a great website. Here you can search for ratings by game or you can search the database of games by rating, platform and content. Great information to have available right? Well, you’ll be thrilled to know that it absolutely doesn’t stop there!!!!
I was amazed to find that they offer a Parental Control area that provides parents with a step by step guide to setting up and utilizing the Parental Controls in the various gaming systems. This option is not available in all systems, but systems such as Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 3 all come equipped with parental controls. You can also set up controls in Windows Vista for computer gaming. For those of you who have older systems, they offer links to the individual manufacturers websites where they offer more information on their controls and ideas to keep your children gaming safely!
Unfortunately there is not a parental control setting on the Nintendo DS, so I will have to monitor them by choosing the games that they receive and are allowed to play. We already have some pretty tight restrictions on gaming around here, but it never hurts to reevaluate based on age, child, behavior, content and more!
Parents please beware! Something I was even more shocked to discover through my research is that children can download unauthorized and illegal software that removes these protective parental controls. It is always a good idea to monitor your child’s internet browsing and downloading anyway, and this is just one more reason why!!!
I had thought about ending this post with my interpretation of the gaming system, but I have decided instead to simply say . . . research it, read up on each game your child receives and just because they got it as a gift and have opened it doesn’t mean that it is ok for them to play without your permission (though they will totally try to convince you how terrible a parent you are if you make them throw a new game away)! Around here, it is a policy to wait for Mom and Dad to give you the ok to open a game before you charge ahead and do it anyway, so if the boys make the decision to do it their own way there may be a tough price to pay.
Just one more tool for you as a parent!!!
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