Help! My Teen Is Glued To The Video Console

How bad is incessant video gaming? It's all about duration and intensity. There are studies out that talk about medium and long term changes to the brain from these actions. More so, when combined with multi-tasking (texting, bbm-ing, facebook, watching a movie at the same time) the grey-matter in your child's noggin is being trained to be three miles wide and one inch deep.

What do we do about it? One of my clients calls it the cereal factor. He has noticed that during school time his brain is crispy, like new cereal that is ready to eat (mmmm, cereal) but when break-time comes the brain ends up looking and acting like cereal that has been in the milk or soy-based substitute way too long. We get mushy-brain.

The holidays are one thing, now it's school time!!! In a previous article, I did make some suggestions on how to get your kids through the holidays mush-free but now they are in school and every moment that they are not at school, they are at their video games. How do you approach this?

The Best Outdoor Games For Children

If you're like most parents, you probably remember that much of your youth was spent outside. While there are exceptions, most parents today grew up playing outside at parks, in their backyards, or elsewhere. Today's kids are too often glued to the television, but you can help them get some fresh air, exercise, and even learn a few things by helping show them cool games to play outside. There are a variety of different fun outdoor games for kids, whether you've only got a single child or an entire classroom full of them. And they're normally inexpensive or outright free to play, which is a major consideration in today's world.

Schools often rely on cool games for kids to play outside. Something as simple as educational field trips can help them stay active and learn, but games on the playground can be great choices too. Kids outdoor relay games offer a way for kids to get active, challenge themselves, and learn to work together. They'll teach teamwork, good sportsmanship, and much more. They're essentially little more than stick games, too, since they let kids use little more than a stick as a baton. This is a far cry from online stick games, which are simply stick figure flash games.

Fun Holiday Games With Educational Attributes

The holidays are about spending time with friends and family, enjoying some traditions, and simply having a good time. Depending on your plans or the holiday in question, adding a few holiday games to your celebrations can certainly improve spirits and create memories that will last a lifetime. Whether you want to add some online Christmas games for kids to your day or are looking for some ideas for Halloween games to add to your Halloween party, there are plenty of traditional and video game options available for you to choose from. It only takes a few minutes to find the best games for any holiday occasion.

If you're having a Halloween get together, there are plenty of Halloween kids' games or adult themed Halloween games you can play. Bobbing for apples is an obvious one, as is the old game of blindfolding a player and having them feel different 'body parts' - grapes as eyes, spaghetti as brains, and so on. You can also have a spooky scavenger hunt, but if you're trying to plan out Halloween games for kids be sure that you don't make them too scary. Of course, there are often online themed video games based on Halloween that you can add to your party as well.