How to Choose Age-Appropriate Video Games for Your Child: 5 Golden Tips

Speaking of the most popular gifts for children, how can one forget about video games? Children love video games and there’s no harm in it. Video games work wonderfully well in improving your child’s cognitive and mathematical skills. Not just that, they’re also great for improving your child’s mental calculations and productivity levels. All you need to do is choose the right video game for your child and s/he will definitely benefit from it. Now we’re sure choosing the right video game must be hard because there are thousands of video games available online. 

Since there’s a huge variety to choose from, narrowing down the best options could be overwhelming. However, you don’t have to worry as we’ve got you covered. In this article, we’re going to share with you a few golden tips that will help you pick the right video games for your children, those that are age-appropriate and productive. The same goes for other devices, too. That being said, here are a few things that you must keep in mind when choosing video games for your child. 

Check Out the Reviews

Parents and other users often leave reviews on different games and these reviews are super helpful when deciding what game you should pick and why. Thus, checking out the reviews is imperative. Start by searching with the titles that you like and you’ll come across a wide range of video games. After that, have a look at the reviews of those games and then decide. 

Don’t Forget about the Ratings

Always check the ratings of the game and make sure they suit your child’s age. Games from different application stores are rated according to the ESRB rating classification system. It has two categories, early childhood (EC) and adults only (AO), so be careful when checking out the ratings of the game. Some games are also rated as M, which means mature. In case a game is rated M, it may not be the best option for your child unless your child is an older teen. Games rated with M usually have inappropriate content like slang language, sexual content, or intense violence, everything you wouldn’t want your child to see or hear. A few examples of such games are Halo and Call of Duty, and of course, they’re not the best options for children. 

Take Care of Your Child’s Interest 

One huge mistake parents make when choosing a video game is not keeping the interest of their children in their minds. What you need to remember here is that you’re choosing a game for your child, so s/he must like it. Remember that the genre you pick is the one that your child likes. The same goes for the theme. For example, if your child likes Barbie, you must pick the video game with a Barbie theme, or else, it would bore them and they might not feel like playing it for the second time. Similarly, if your child has a sporty nature, you must pick a game that’s related to sports so that your child enjoys it. After that, the idea is to make your children happy. 

Play Along with Your Children 

The best thing to do is play along with your children. It will not only help you bond with your child but will also give you a better idea about the game and if it’s really a good fit for your child. In case it isn’t the best one, you can pick another game and give it a try. It’s as simple as that. In fact, it’s the best way to monitor your children’s online activity without them realizing that they’re being monitored. What could be better than that? Children never respond well to being monitored. It goes without saying that being monitored irritates them. So, in this way, they won’t know that you’re monitoring them and they won’t be irritated.

If not, you can simply go for parental control applications. Of course, children are not aware of the dangers that come along with the internet and it isn’t a safe space anymore. Things like hacking, phishing scams, and GPS spoofing are quite common in the world of video games. Thus, we recommend you go for parental control software. For example, if your child uses an Apple smartphone or tablet, install a parental control app for iPhone or iPad. The same goes for other devices, too.

Pick a Variety of Games

Filtering a bunch of video games and narrowing down a few could be a cumbersome process, especially when you’re not into gaming and know little to nothing about it. Chances are your children may not like the first game you pick and need another option. Therefore, we suggest you narrow down a list of the best video games and try one at a time. In this way, you wouldn’t have to go through the same process over and over again. It will not only save you time but energy as well. 

The Final Word…

When choosing video games for your child, please make sure to keep the tips mentioned above in mind. If anything, they’ll help you make the right choice. However, we cannot emphasize enough that screen time should be limited and internet security must never be compromised. Children are naive, so one must be careful when exposing them to the internet.