Books vs. video games. Where to begin? This is a topic that has often been debated by parents and children alike. Let’s talk about parents first. There are three types of parents: one would be the voracious readers, the other the gamers, and lastly, the one who takes joy in both activities. Children, on the other hand, will take their cue from their parents, that is until they reach the age when they will put their foot down and say adios to Dora the Explorer.

It is important to explain the benefits of reading and video games so that we can make an intelligent choice in guiding our children with their activities. Ultimately, we want our children to choose an activity that will make them more creative and be a better person.

READING. There are many benefits of reading. Lana Winter-Hebert gives us the following:

1. Mental Stimulation – The brain requires exercise and stimulation to prevent it from losing power.
2. Stress Reduction – When you lose yourself in a good book, you allow yourself to relax (unless you are reading a gripping novel!)
3. Knowledge – Building on your knowledge equips you to face life’s challenges with much confidence. This is also perhaps one thing they cannot take away from you.
4. Vocabulary Expansion – The more you read, the more exposure you have to new vocabulary words.
5. Memory Improvement – Reading stretches your brain muscles to remember every detail of the story you are reading.
6. Stronger Analytical Thinking skills – Analyzing the details, plot and characters of the story will help you understand the story better.
7. Improved Focus and Concentration – Multi-tasking is a good skill but it doesn’t help much in lowering our stress level. Reading is quite absorbing which allows you to regain control improve productivity.
8. Better Writing Skills – Just like how an artist influences the work of a student, so does an author.
9. Tranquility – Choosing a book that promotes inner peace will greatly affect the state of mind of the reader.
10. Free Entertainment – Books can get pricey sometimes (although cheaper than video games and consoles!), but did you know that public libraries could also offer a good assortment of books? If you are a fast reader, you can browse inside a bookstore or you can also download ebooks for your gadgets.

Furthermore, while reading a book, you are the best director in the planet because it is through your imagination that the story comes to life. Also, a good book will not go obsolete. You can still pick up an old book and the experience you will have will still be as rich (if not improved) as the first time you have read it.

VIDEO GAMES. Often times, video games get a bad rap but truth be told, there are some benefits from playing certain types of games (within reasonably playing hours).

1. Interactive – Unlike books, games are more interactive, allowing the players to change the outcome of any given game at any given time.
2. Mental Stimulation – Although games do not improve ones attention span, it does improve concentration and memory skills.
3. Improve Problem Solving Skills – Games engage the intellect and make one more analytical and practice decision making skills.
4. Improve Hand-Eye Coordination – Tracking your avatar and making combination moves with several buttons takes a lot of “training”, or game time. Improves focus and concentration to do three things at once.

There could be ten more reasons, or even a hundred to add to the list above but it is simply trying to point out that the problem is not really whether we let our child pick a book over a video game or vice versa. It is actually the ability of our children to choose to read quality books and pick out games that would entail more than just improving one’s avatar. At the end of the day, our children should be able to answer this question:

What benefit did I get from the experience?

Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

-VBS

This article appears in the September, 2014 issue of TLA Blaze.