As Christians, it’s important to help our children navigate every area of life. While there are many resources to help parents with health, diet, school, social life and general development, some areas are less well catered for.
Video games are one such area. Because they are relatively new and require a degree of digital literacy to understand, Christian parents can find themselves on the back foot.
Fortnite is the latest gaming craze that over 45 million youngsters are playing. Newspaper headlines focus on the negative or dangers of games like this and struggle to offer parents direction.
In my work with families over the years I’ve helped parents gain the understanding and confidence to play an engaged role in the gaming of their children, rather than letting them play what they want or out-right banning games.
Guiding children towards gaming health in this way is easier than you might imagine. You just need advice and information. Some good places to start are the Video Standards Council (VSC) PEGI ratings or content aimed specifically at parents, such as the videos I create.
However, there’s still nothing quite as good as a well researched, plainly written book aimed at parents. This year I was invited to create this gaming book for parents by crowdfunding publisher Unbound.
Taming Gaming offers advice on how to guide your child to gaming health. It will also include chapters on digital wellbeing, the spirituality of video games and how to enjoy games in youth groups or church settings.
It will offer beautifully laid out tried and tested “family gaming recipes”. Each recipe shows you everything you need to know with jargon-free instructions that take the guesswork out of gaming together. Parents can access a broad diet of cutting edge games that children will love, helping to navigate this unavoidable part of life.
Pre-order your copy, or one for your church via the Unbound website.
