Like anything else, video games are fine if you don't OD. People have been wasting time on throwing knucklebones and playing poker for eons. At least this suite of entertainments helps players develop a facility with computers, an essential tool.

Very true. Also Computer games are part puzzles that take a lot of thinking to work through. Not a bad quality to develop at a young age. There's not nearly as much thinking when staring at the tube.

There is definitely a generation gap when it comes to computers. Some Boomers pick up on them and some are just plain scared of them. The 2 principals in my firm don't use their computers for CAD. Twice now I've gotten the comment from one of them that drawing must be just like video games for me. Not really, however, video games is where I got my start. We always had Apple II's to play on every summer in the early 80's, since my dad was a school teacher and could bring them home. Also anytime I had to go to my dad's school with him was a treat, because he'd take us straight to the computer lab while he worked late. A babysitting computer? Yes of course it was. I have never considered it a disservice either.

Now with the internet things are different, however. Parents need to be much more gaurded about their kids access. My 5 yr old uses the computer a lot. She has her own. She can get to PBSkids.org without help (since its her homepage) as well as load the CDs to play her games. (BTW NickJR.com is not kid friendly like PBSkids. It has POP-ups and ads all over the place which she accidently clicks on. They just confuse her. What a stupid way to create a site for kids.)

What Mary Anne said about kids doing what their parents do is exactly right. My girl only asks to get on the computer when my wife and/or I am on the computer. Obviously this is why I gave her her own. It sits side by side with my wife's computer. So far the 2 yr old has only expressed interest in banging the keys and that puppy that shows up when you do a search on XP. Unfortunatley for me my wife never showed her the puppy on her computer, so she thinks it only lives on mine. Clicking on the puppy makes it do tricks. One of the tricks makes the puppy walk away. As soon as that one happens I close the window and say bye bye puppy. Sometimes she buys it, and sometimes not. Its a wonder I get any real work done at home sometimes.