Modern parents are on the verge of making a huge mistake in raising children. While wishing well for their children, they deprive them of time and space for play, thereby limiting the development of imagination - a skill that is the basis of innovation and competitiveness.
The results of a study conducted by toy company Radio Flyer and ReD Associates showed the alarming consequences of overprotective parents today. Before every holiday, adults begin to rack their brains over which toy will be interesting and useful for their child. However, before purchasing another wooden construction set, parents should think seriously.
The development of imagination is facilitated by games that child psychologists call “voluntary” ( unstructured play) - in these there is no clearly defined scenario, there is no final goal, and devices are not used. The child himself comes up with his own worlds and embodies his own ideas.
According to a study conducted in the United States, children whose parents give them freedom of action have the most developed imagination, that is, they give them the opportunity to decide for themselves when, where and what to play. However, most modern children simply cannot play on their own - they need instructions from adults or the toy itself.
The conclusions are disappointing: today's children need to be taught to play random games. Child development specialist and psychologist Peter Gray also noted a constant reduction in time spent on voluntary play. According to other data, children aged 8 to 18 years spend an average of 6.5 hours in the company of gadgets every day, and many are even afraid to go outside without adult supervision.
Modern parents are puzzled by how to create conditions for involuntary play. A study of children from infancy to 9 years old showed surprising results - neither wooden toys nor their digital analogues create conditions for unstructured play. So what is the parents' mistake?
Consequences of playing Minecraft
Take cubes, for example. The current generation of children passively presses buttons and toys themselves entertain them, and when they get bored with a toy, they persistently demand another one. Some parents have even formed a new tradition: throwing out “old” toys before the holidays to make room for new ones. Other parents admit that they buy their child a new toy a week and also keep toys in reserve.
Having become accustomed to constant novelty and change of entertainment, children simply stop playing with ordinary cubes, as a result of which they lose the skills of playing with stationary objects. Parents shrug their shoulders: “We don’t want our children to get bored.” But herein lies the secret: boredom motivates children to play with “what they have.” If we want to develop children's imagination, we need to keep children bored.
What then about computer games like Minecraft, which one parent described as “blocks on steroids”?
In this popular game, kids mine resources, craft items, construct buildings, and explore new worlds. In the "Creativity" mode, players have unlimited supplies of resources and tools, which allows them to create objects of increased complexity. This is where there is unlimited freedom of imagination - take it and build it!
However, as the study showed, after a series of games in Minecraft, children felt stressed and irritated. Many agree that the aforementioned playing only “kills time” - once a child begins to understand the mechanics of the game well, that is, play well, the experience of exploration and creation turns into endless construction in order to avoid boredom. One of the adults correctly noted that under such conditions, even a favorite activity turns into a routine.
Creating conditions for unstructured play requires not only limiting the child from certain entertainment, but also giving him complete freedom. However, as the study showed, this practice does not always show inspiring results - young respondents, left without their usual toys, started fights with peers (and sometimes with parents) and experienced irritation, drowsiness and confusion. Obviously, the problem here is not with toys, but with the fact that children are not used to playing on their own.
The idea of random games is often discussed, but ways to create conditions for them are rarely presented. Below are three excerpts from a study by child psychologist Peter Gray who recommends the practice of free play.
1. Parents must clearly understand what “free play” is and what it gives
In free play there is no clearly defined beginning and end - children entertain themselves, adults do not help them. This approach may confuse parents who are accustomed to seeing educational and educational tasks in games, as well as those who believe that participation in a children’s game helps them become closer to their child.
2. Children should play independently every day
When parents try to introduce several hours of free play between the child's other activities, the child experiences distraction and irritation. For this problem to disappear, children must learn to play independently, and not wait for parents, teachers or new toys to entertain them.
3. In free play, children should be guided by the behavior of adults
It is no secret that children copy the behavior of adults, but the latter, immersed in work, often forget about this. Parents should set an example for their children and show that spending time without gadgets can be a lot of fun.
How are these ideas implemented in practice? It’s very simple: a father-photographer takes his two-year-old daughter for walks. While he is filming nature, the child selflessly plays with what is nearby - he imagines, explores, and gets to know the world. The adult does not interfere; the girl manages the process herself. However, the parent is nearby - minding his own business, he looks after her, and the child is inspired by the actions of the father and copies his behavior.
It so happened that my attitude to raising children (and who else to raise, not adults) has always been based on humanism, bordering on connivance. Even in my youth, teaching English to teenagers in a private school and to my peers in a medical college, I perceived each student as a whole universe with its own unique laws, life circumstances, opportunities and talents. The students quickly caught wind of this feature of the young teacher’s worldview and, of course, sometimes used it shamelessly - telling amazing stories about unfinished homework and making me crawl under the teacher’s table with laughter.
Of course, over time, my humanistic fervor, not fully comprehended in my youth, faded slightly - I began to understand that people, in addition to free will and choice, need rules, boundaries, rituals, stability and a foundation. Children - even more.
Nevertheless, I believed and still consider myself not to have the right to create greenhouse conditions around a child, trying not to adapt the lives of those close to me to a growing person, but to help the growing person get used to the world around him. This is not a matter of discipline and not an attempt to raise a child “convenient” for society - quiet and always obedient (which, of course, is nothing wrong with, but I only saw such people on Soviet postcards). Boundaries and rules are needed not so that the child is not noticeable, but to make it easier for him to get used to the world of people.
Let's say, the rule “listen to the end of what they tell you, and then speak out yourself, it will be more convenient for everyone”, I consider justified, and “I’m an adult, I know better, and you keep quiet” - obscurantist. Borders should be drawn for the purposes of protection and prevention, and not for the purpose of prohibition.
Still from the film “The Wall”, 1982.
The same rules have always applied to available information. The question “Where do children come from?” - an honest answer in an accessible form, where, how and why. The question “Mom, will I die too?” - an honest affirmative answer and a conversation about the fact that the memory remains alive in our family, friends and descendants.
In general, my position in raising new people came down to two main factors: the desire to organically fit the child into daily life family and the desire not to limit his access to what does not pose a danger to his life and the comfort of others.
These two factors influenced my attitude towards a growing person's access to digital entertainment. Me, my family and my friends - modern people, who have been actively using and interested in digital technologies, gadgets and the Internet since their youth. Soon the Internet became my place of work; naturally, the son constantly saw his mother behind the screen of a laptop, smartphone and tablet; I’m used to the fact that I search for answers to some of his questions on Google; to the fact that cartoons can be watched on YouTube; Besides, you can play Cut The Rope on your smartphone. I am pleased with the way my son’s gradual immersion into the digital information environment took place and I am sure that for his age he has developed an adequate understanding of the network - as a place where one gains knowledge and where one can find, if desired, everything that interests one.
Something went wrong
My son got his own smartphone when he was 5 years old - he got his dad’s old phone. He played on it all parts of Angry Birds (a great game for children who are not destined to walk with a slingshot in the yard) and Bad Piggies (a cool engineering puzzle - I couldn’t cope with the levels, but a five-year-old could easily). In the summer before entering school, he acquired Minecraft Pocket Edition in his arsenal. I was even glad - how many times have I written about this toy right here on Newtonew, and I was always going to offer it to my son, but then somehow it happened.
Minecraft is, without exaggeration, a cool game, almost instantly after its release it acquired a fan subculture. I am still not able to understand what is so attractive about it to children of senior kindergarten and primary school age. While adult players may well be nostalgic for eight-bit graphics and enjoy the square Minecraft world, children have no such nostalgia. Nevertheless, elementary and middle school students are crazy about her - just look at how many let’s play films have been filmed and posted on YouTube by young, unspoiled souls. I came to the conclusion that in Minecraft everything is connected that, in principle, distinguishes computer games from all other types of entertainment:
- the opportunity to build your own world;
- non-linear way of interacting with the game world (not like with a book);
- interactivity (not the same as when watching programs and films);
- instant feedback;
- extensive opportunities for communication and self-expression (thanks to the gaming community).
These are excellent properties that develop systemic and strategic thinking, digital literacy, planning skills and even communication skills. Under several conditions: you yourself know how it all works, you are ready to spend large number time to learn game world together with your child and... do not use the mobile version of the game.
It is Minecraft Pocket Edition, the official mobile application Minecraft has led to alarming consequences.
The Dark Side of Minecraft
We had Minecraft installed on a spare laptop at home, which didn’t really belong to anyone, and therefore came into the possession of our son - on an old MacBook (in this case, Mac OS is important) Anton launched his favorite toy, looked for tutorials himself, watched let’s plays on YouTube. I carefully controlled everything he watched, since he surfed through my active Google account. The version of Minecraft that Anton played on his MacBook and his playing style evoked only approval from me - he learned simple commands in the terminal, found new blocks, independently learned to handle them, and explored the possibilities of the world.
But I couldn’t call his style of playing on a smartphone constructive. One thing needs to be said here: there is a huge shadow industry serving Minecraft - modifications, or simply “mods”. A mod is a file with code that changes the original content of the game. They can add new features, for example, allowing you to play your own music in the background or add electricity, elevators or new dimensions to the game; can change appearance, for example, change textures; or they can seriously influence the entire course of the game, providing a loophole for cheats - for example, giving an unlimited amount of resources. Mods are not officially supported by the manufacturer, but there are a huge number of launchers that allow you to install and run mods. This is very easy to do in Minecraft for Windows and in mobile version Minecraft.
An entire industry is built on these mods, with millions of views.
Mods, when handled skillfully, can greatly enrich the gaming experience, complicate and diversify the game; but, unfortunately, the opportunity for easy money turns out to be much more attractive. Anton couldn’t figure out how to install mods on Mac OS, but he also had a mobile version!
In general, all that Anton’s game on a smartphone has become is searching, viewing and testing dozens of different mods. The main goal of the game - the development of your own world - was forgotten. The imagination, spatial thinking, and patience necessary to collect resources were left out of work.
All this was replaced by a mindless race for new mods, their updates, short joy from visual goodies and huge amount resources and quick disappointment from each acquisition - what you didn’t earn yourself soon gets boring.
And it will be difficult for an adult to stop himself if he finds himself in a giant hypermarket, where there is a lot of everything and everything is free - just reach out and take it. Candy? As much as you want. The most delicate pate? Yes, take it straight from here. Lemonade? Croissants? Caesar salad? Imagine yourself in such a place. The temptation is great to overeat, then suffer from indigestion, then reproach yourself for weakness of spirit and promise yourself that never again, but... But again there is a neon sign of this hypermarket, and again you cannot restrain yourself, and again then you get angry with yourself.
It is even more difficult for children to control their desires. And irritation from what they have received undeservedly also grows in them, but they are not aware of the reason for their negative emotions.
After a couple of months of playing Minecraft like this, I ended up with a capricious, apathetic, nervous child. A little more and it would look like this canonical example:
I had to do something drastic. During the winter holidays, after a week of skiing and reading books from his mother’s childhood in his grandmother’s house, Anton did not find his smartphone in its usual place.
Mom, where's the phone?
- He is temporarily not with us until you and I both understand what you are interested in, except for mods for Minecraft.
And guess what? This explanation, short and honest, was enough. Sometimes we check the official website together to see if the game (not mods!) has been updated. I did not restrict access to the laptop, to the desktop Minecraft version, which I like, he plays on the weekends. Read the entire home library of children's books. Anton no longer depends on charger, and the morning doesn’t start with the words “I’ll just install this mod and get dressed.”
Still, I have not lost my faith in video games and believe that they belong in school. After all, games at school are the default licensed versions without easy access and adult supervision. Moreover, there are successful examples and experiments - a Norwegian teacher, or even in Russian schools.
Minecraft: CHILDREN AND ZOMBIES SURVIVAL CARTOON ABOUT CHILDREN IN MINECRAFT VIDEO GAMES MINECRAFT VIDEO FOR CHILDREN
Minecraft adventure of children and zombies survival in minecraft and passing the map. EvgenBro made a cartoon about children in Minecraft where children survive against zombies in the video minecraft games! Video for children and series about children (kids, baby) Will children and zombies be able to survive? cartoon in minecraft!
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MINECRAFT WHO IS YOUR DADDY IN MINECRAFT?! WHO"S YOUR DADDY?! https://goo.gl/Q6M5Cx
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REVIEW OF MODS IN THE GAME MINECRAFT | MINECRAFT https://goo.gl/lT9LPo
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But also a fairy-tale world, where at their small age they can already create and build something. This is what attracts them to log into the game every day and spend time there.
The universe through the eyes of a child
When we first enter the world, our little brothers see only funny graphics that are made in the form of squares. They like this world for its simplicity. Children in Minecraft do not have to be afraid of enemies in the form of zombies and spiders, because they fight back with weapons or other means. At the same time, the map is quite large and the children think that a whole world is opening up in front of them on the screen of an electronic gadget. They move independently, fly and explore colorful locations for themselves. Perhaps the developers had no idea before the release about the future popularity of their game among children, but the result is now visible to everyone. According to statistics, two out of three people under the age of eight are familiar with the project or have been playing it for a long time.
Development of boys and girls
First of all, children in Minecraft find a world for themselves where nothing limits their capabilities. They are not raised there, there are no parents, and therefore you can feel complete freedom of action. After several trips and pampering, the kids are thinking about building something on their own. They begin to accumulate blocks and try to create a creation the way it appeared in their imagination. The more the guys try to create, the faster and better their thinking begins to work. Development also occurs in terms of art, because it is here that inclinations for drawing, modeling, writing or other areas can first develop.
Parents should take a closer look at how their children play Minecraft, because this will help to understand their interests. If relatives spend a few minutes of their time in this world with the kids, then this will help find common language and maintain good relationships.
Children inside the world
In addition to the little players themselves, children are also present inside the virtual world as non-player individuals. If the server has a building system and the presence of NPCs, then there are kids in the villages. Children in Minecraft can go to one of the villages on the map to get acquainted with the life of their fake peers. Together with their parents, during the day they plow the land, plant seeds and take care of the house. When they have free time, the guys gather in a crowd and start playing hide and seek. The player can agree to their offer to join this activity. In gratitude for this, the kids will treat the user to a carrot, which they quietly stole from the garden while their parents were not looking in their direction. It's worth spending a few minutes getting to know these charming inhabitants of the game's fairy-tale universe.
Conclusion
When the developers saw the popularity of the game among kids, they released a series of animated films, where the events of the Minecraft game are in the center. The cartoon for children quickly gained popularity, and at the moment Kids from all over the world love to watch it. Parents are often frightened by the popularity of the game, because children often talk only about it. Here, as in any other addiction, the main thing is to know the line. It’s better to sit down with your child to play for half an hour and see what he is doing in the virtual world. It’s not worth taking away the pleasure completely, but it is important that the child walks outside and has fun with friends. This compromise will suit both the children and mom and dad. It is impossible to go against the trends of the new century, and the game Minecraft will continue to interest children from all over the world. It’s better to simply supervise your child’s activities as much as possible and make sure that his interest does not develop into addiction.