Resources for Parents of Boys:
Books:
Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys |
by Dan Kindlon |
| The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life | by Michael Gurian and Kathy Stevens |
| Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood | by William Pollack |
Strong Mothers, Strong Sons: Raising the Next Generation of Men |
by Ann F. Caron |
Websites:
http://www.williampollack.com/
http://www.boystomen.info/about.html
Articles:
| Games assault self-control |
| The Daily Telegraph November 30, 2006 Young people who play violent video games show increased activity in areas of the brain linked to emotional arousal and decreased responses in regions that govern self-control, a new study has found. The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to record tiny metabolic changes in brain activity in 44 adolescents who were asked to perform a series of tasks after playing either a violent or nonviolent video game for 30 minutes. The children, with no history of behavior problems, ranged in age from 13 to 17. Half played a T-rated first-person shooter game called "Medal of Honor: Frontline," involving military combat, while the other group played a nonviolent game called "Need for Speed: Underground." Those who played the violent video game showed more activation in the amygdala, which is involved in emotional arousal, and less activation in the prefrontal portions of the brain associated with control, focus and concentration than the teens who played the nonviolent game. "Our study suggests that playing a certain type of violent video game may have different short-term effects on brain function than playing a nonviolent, but exciting, game," said Dr. Vincent Mathews, a professor of radiology at Indiana University School of Medicine in the States and the study's author. After playing the games, the children completed tasks requiring concentration and processing of emotional stimuli while their brain activity was scanned. Alterations in brain function reflecting changes in blood flow appeared as brightly colored areas on the magnetic resonance images. "What we showed is there is an increase in emotional arousal. The fight or flight response is activated after playing a violent video game," Mathews said. The findings were presented at a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. The $13 billion U.S. video game industry, with revenue rivaling Hollywood box office sales, is at the center of a cultural battle over violent content. Lawmakers' various attempts to ban the sale of violent video games to children have been blocked by some US courts. Video games with a T-rating (for Teen) are considered suitable for ages 13 and older. They may contain violent content, strong language or suggestive themes. Numerous behavioral and cognitive studies have linked exposure to violent media and aggressive behavior. Now, researchers are using advanced imaging technology to scan the brain for clues to whether violent video games cause increases in aggression. Mathews said he hopes to conduct additional studies on the long-term effects on brain function of exposure to violent video games. |
| Gamers, Parents: Who's The Boss? |
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Report Says Controls On Kids Are Lax By DAVID LIGHTMAN November 30 2006 WASHINGTON -- Most parents think they're strict when it comes to regulating their children's video-game playing. But the kids tell a different story. Nearly two-thirds of parents of third-, fourth- and fifth-graders say their families have rules about how much and when their children can play video games. Yet only 36 percent of children say such rules exist in their homes, according to the annual "Video Game Report Card" from the Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family, a nonprofit research group. The disconnection between parents and children appears again and again in the report. Parents said their children play games an average of five hours a week. Children reported playing nine hours a week - 13 for boys, six for girls. And nearly one in four parents say they "always" help their children decide what games to buy or rent. Not so, say the kids. Only 30 percent said their parents were so actively involved. What all this shows is that parental control is clearly the "weak link" in efforts to curb video violence, according to David Walsh, the institute's president and founder. With the games' makers and sellers largely cooperative - and largely escaping the kind of criticism these reports have engendered in other years - Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., one of Congress' leading advocates of curbing violent games, said Wednesday, "It's time to focus on parents and urge them to pay attention. Play what your kids play - if you can." The report was unusually upbeat when looking at retailers and game-makers in the $10.5 billion-a-year industry. The institute conducted a "sting" operation, sending 14 children, ages 10 to 16, into stores between August and October. They tried to buy M-rated games, which are labeled as suitable only to people 17 or older because they may contain "intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language." Large stores, notably Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart, won praise because children who were sent in by researchers to buy M-rated games were not allowed to do so. Policies were more lax at smaller stores, though. "Stores specializing in video games seemed to be willing to let profits take priority over enforcing the policies they claim to uphold," the report said. The news was better on other fronts. The Entertainment Software Rating Board, which rates games from EC (Early Childhood) up to AO (Adults Only), and has often been a target of Lieberman and other critics, came off well this time. "We are encouraged to see a visible effort by ESRB to educate parents and teachers," the report said, "and a corresponding tendency on the part of retailers to educate employees and parents." Also doing well were the console makers, who rated an "A" from the institute. "Every new console entering the market now includes parental controls," the report found. "Considering that only a few years ago such parental controls were unthinkable, this is amazing progress." The chief problem, the report says, is parents. Industry officials agreed. "We, too, believe the best parental control is the parent," said Microsoft spokeswoman Molly O'Donnell. The company last month began a campaign to better educate parents about its Xbox 360's Family Settings parental-control feature. Parents, said the experts, should know what their children are doing when they play, and what it means to their health and well-being. The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended no more than one to two hours of gaming a day, but the institute's research found 22 percent of children play for two or more hours. The report cited a new study showing that almost half of "heavy gamers" are 6 to 17 years old. And, the institute found, "children who spend more time playing video games are heavier and are more likely to be classified as overweight or obese." And, it learned, "playing video games in the bedroom is an added risk factor for overweight and obesity." The American Obesity Association has estimated that about 30.3 percent of children 6 to 11 are overweight and 15 percent are obese, double the percentage in the late 1970s. The numbers are similar for teens. According to one study cited by the institute, children who play the games or watch a lot of television have a lower activity level. All this may be spawning another serious problem: game addiction, which the report called "another alarming game-related health issue." Lieberman noted that South Korea now has about 40 treatment programs that deal with video game and Internet addiction. "If the situation in South Korea is any indication of what is to come here," the institute report said, "we will be largely unprepared for the number and intensity of cases of such addiction." The solution all comes back to parents, Walsh said, explaining it this way: "We have to put our kids on a media diet." Contact David Lightman at dlightman@courant.com. |
| 10 Worst Video Games |
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There's a new list of video games Santa will want to avoid putting in your kid's stocking. A Minnesota media watch-dog group has released its annual video game report card and ten of them are getting an "F," because they contain graphic sex and violence. The National Institute on Media and the Family says parents need to pay more attention to what their kids are playing and take a stronger stand in protecting them from sex and violence. It's alerting parents about games like these, that include images such as a chainsaw-wielding killer and blood-splattered shooting rampages. A man clubbed several victims in a bloody scene from "Dead Rising." And characters spew obscenities in "Saints Row." The Institute is praising major retailers, Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy for not selling "M" rated games to kids in the sting it conducted. The group is also recommending 10 more positive games for children, including this "Madden Football '07" game. And science is proving there's good reason to be concerned about kids playing violent video games. A new study out this week found that violent video games stir up the brain's emotional-response center while reducing activity in regions linked to self-control. It's the first research to demonstrate that violent video games can affect the way the brain functions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parent Alert! Games to avoid for your children and teens Gangs of London - Rated M MediaWise recommended games for children and teens LEGO Star Wars II – The Original Trilogy - Rated E 10+ |