I was really impressed with his imagination.
But I have a big worry about him now.
He went to his friend's house yesterday.
His friend started playing Nintendo DS.
Since my son doesn't have it, he was only watching him.
My son asked his friend to lend it to him, but his friend was absorbed with playing it and would not lend it to him.
I went to his house to pick him up at 4:30pm with my 5-year-old daughter.
His mother told me:
"Please come in. They are still playing."
We entered the house.
I talked with her about the game.
I knew that she had not given the game to her son yet when he was 5 years old.
But she said that she gave it to him last year.
She said:
"It is a lot of causes of troubles.
I made him promise that he can play the game after he finishes his homework, he can play it for 15 minutes a day, and he can't take it out from the house.
But one day, he heard from his friend that his friend can play it for an hour a day.
He insisted that he also can play it for an hour a day.
It is useful when I want him to wait for something quietly.
He is really quiet during the game.
But it is really hard for me to let him stop playing the game when he doesn't break his promise."
I could imagine the situation easily if my son would have the game.
As I expected, he told me after we came home:
"I want DS! I will buy it for my money which I save!"
I thought I need to tell him my thoughts and worries.
"I can't say you may.
It is very expensive toy, so you can't buy it with your money.
As a kid, I was absorbed with Nintendo Family Computer.
I often went to my friend's house to play it. It was really fun.
It was really fun. My mother bought it to my sister and me when I was 10 years old.
I was absorbed with playing it. I sometimes played it for more than 3 hours.
After that, my sister bought the Gameboy. I often played it for a long time.
Then my eyesight got worse.
Now I can't see well unless I wear the contact lens. I really regretted. But my eyesight will never recover.
I know you have a similar character with me, you will be surely absorbed with playing the game.
You didn't stop playing the game when I told you to stop it.
I know it is fun, and I am not saying that I will not give you the game in the future.
But if I give you the game, we will need to decide some promises.
And I am really worried whether you can keep the promises.
I don't want to get angry with you about the game even though the game must be fun.
And I am worried whether you will not have time to draw and make something because of the game.
I want you to spare your time for such creative activities which you love.
That's why I can't agree with your idea now.
If you will keep our promises, I will change my mind.
Because I liked playing the game before."
He looked tired to listen to my long story.
Actually, I don't know his friends who don't have the game.
I might have to think it flexibly, but I have more worries than advantages now about the game.
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Hello Kumi-san,
ReplyDeleteSounds as if you are having the debate that a lot of parents have regarding their children's time spent playing computer games. I had a lot of computer games as a child but I was more interested in how the computers worked and programming them rather than playing games. So for me it wasn't counterproductive.
I suppose one thing you could do is if you do let him get the DS is to only allow him to play games which are educational in nature (I think they call this type of software Edutainment in English). When I was a child the educational games software for computers was very poor, but that is no longer the situation and educational gaming software can be very fun to play and very effective at getting information into children's heads. I am surprised that Hiragana/Katakana/Vocabulary/Kanji learning software is not given to every school aged child in Japan from birth by the government of Japan :) (As they as so good with technology in your part of the world).
Plus although this is a little unfair to your child if you do get him the DS you can use it as a reward, in that you could say that he only gets to play with it if his studies are always good and such like. It's at this point that it comes in handy to find out exactly what your child is supposed to be learning for his age group in school and seeing if you can make him advance through those targets faster than normal and if he does he can do the DS. Though I do not know how you would find out what the school syllabus is for children in Japan of his age and what his learning targets would be for a certain year. I admit it's academic advancement through bribery but it can be effective.
It is to my regret that I did not have access to the Internet when I was a child, I could have learned so much more and be a lot better at certain topics that interest me, but that I struggle with now because I did not get access to the information when I was younger, or had teachers which were not very good at getting the information they had into my head when I was most able to absorb it.
In any event I am sure you will be able to navigate easily around this problem.
Here is a list of the issues found in the rest of the post:
Part 1:
This line:
My 7-year-old son made the device which can play marble run last evening.
Should be:
My 7-year-old son made a device which can play marble run last evening.
This line:
I knew that she had not given the game to her son yet when he was 5 years old.
Should be:
I knew that she had not given the game to her son when he was 5 years old.
This line:
"It is a lot of causes of troubles.
Should be:
"It is the cause of a lot of troubles.
This line:
I made him promise that he can play the game after he finishes his homework, he can play it for 15 minutes a day, and he can't take it out from the house.
Should be:
I made him promise that he can play the game after he finishes his homework, he can play it for 15 minutes a day, and he can't take it out of the house.
This line:
He insisted that he also can play it for an hour a day.
Should be:
He insisted that he should also be allowed to play it for an hour a day.
This line:
But it is really hard for me to let him stop playing the game when he doesn't break his promise."
Should be:
But it is really hard for me to stop him playing the game when he doesn't break his promise."
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteThis line:
I could imagine the situation easily if my son would have the game.
Should be:
I could imagine the situation easily if my son were to have the game.
This line:
"I want DS! I will buy it for my money which I save!"
Should be:
"I want DS! I will buy it with my money which I save!"
This line:
It was really fun. My mother bought it to my sister and me when I was 10 years old.
Should be:
It was really fun. My mother bought it for my sister and me when I was 10 years old.
This line:
Now I can't see well unless I wear the contact lens. I really regretted. But my eyesight will never recover.
Should be:
Now I can't see well unless I wear contact lenses. I really regret it, but my eyesight will never recover.
This line:
I know you have a similar character with me, you will be surely absorbed with playing the game.
Should be:
I know you have a similar character (to/as) me, you will surely become absorbed with playing the game.
This line:
But if I give you the game, we will need to decide some promises.
Should be:
But if I give you the game, you will need to make some promises.
This line:
And I am really worried whether you can keep the promises.
Should be:
And I am really worried whether you would keep those promises.
This line:
If you will keep our promises, I will change my mind.
Should be:
If you will keep your promises, I will change my mind.
This line:
He looked tired to listen to my long story.
Should be:
He looked tired while listening to my long story.
This line:
Actually, I don't know his friends who don't have the game.
Should be:
Actually, I don't know of any of his friends who don't already have the game.
This line:
I might have to think it flexibly, but I have more worries than advantages now about the game.
Should be:
I might have to be more flexible in my thinking, but for now there seem to be more disadvantages than advantages to having the game.