The American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association agree there is a cause-effect relationship between TV violence and aggression in children. Researchers believe violent videogames will have an even greater negative impact on children because of their participatory and repetitive nature. Research on violent videogames affirms that they increase aggressive behavior and thoughts as reported by Professor Jerome Singer in his March 2003 paper at Yale University, "Exposing Children to Violent Themes via Electronic Media, Games and Toys, A Report on the Research".
Videogames Teach Killing
David Grossman, retired Army colonel and psychologist, warns that violent videogames use the same techniques as the military to desensitize soldiers to killing. Grossman is the author of Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie & Video Game Violence [Random House, 1999].
Grossman calls violent videogames mass murder simulators because the child drills, and drills to kill every living creature on the screen. In these videogames, murder is rewarded with points.
Playing With Toy Guns
Guns aren’t allowed in most preschools, yet they remain a popular toy.
Joan Almon, coordinator of the Alliance for Childhood, and a former Waldorf preschool teacher, advises against giving toy guns to preschoolers. She says the exception would be in a hunting-oriented culture. “With hunting, you just don’t go into the woods and slaughter all the animals; it’s a different picture,” says Almon in a phone interview.
“People often say if I don’t give him a gun, he uses a stick or his finger. But a finger will go back to being a finger and a stick can become something else. When you give a child a gun, you tell him that this is acceptable,” says Almon.
Almon says it is natural for boys to want to point and aim at something. She says there are many healthy games that allow this, darts being just one.
Why Kids Play War Games
Professor Diane Levin of Wheelock College in Boston, Mass. explains why children play war games. She says children have developmental needs to play at being strong, especially when they are feeling weak. “Superhero play can meet children’s needs . . . On the other side, people are concerned that kids are going to learn violent lessons from that type of play,” says Levin in a phone interview.
Levin and her colleague, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Lesley University, Cambridge, Mass. wrote The War Play Dilemma: What Every Parent and Teacher Needs to Know [Teachers College Press, 2006]. Through research, they discovered that an increase in violent play among preschoolers could be traced to TV deregulation in the mid-‘80s, which allowed television shows to sell toys through TV programs, many of which were violent – Masters of the Universe, GI Joe, Transformers.
Levin says what children really need is creative play in which they learn to work through problems. Too often, today, children are just imitating what they see in the media, especially when they play with toys that are connected to a TV show or movie. Electronic media is being aimed at younger and younger children, who, in turn, are losing their abilities to imagine and solve problems creatively.
Teaching Kids Alternatives to Violent Play
Levin has suggestions for parents who are concerned about violent play. First she suggests that parents limit their child’s exposure to violence as much as possible. Second, instead of buying violent toys, give children open-ended toys that allow them to use their imagination. Violent media and toys encourage the use of violence to solve problems, she says. Third, if a parent sees a child involved in violent play, they can complicate the play. “Tell them ‘when you play like that someone gets hurt.’ Make them think,” she says.
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