Nothing educational about roblox, Minecraft etc?

[Pastasau]

My dc is 8 & since last year all her friends have been meeting online (zoom) to play Roblox, Minecraft etc. They spend hours on these games & I understand sometimes beg their parents to buy extras within the games... Also they were huge tic toc followers also.
My dc has no device, she reads loads & loves art & crafts.
We are getting her a tablet for homeschool, I hate having finally succumbed but another device is necessary.
I know sometimes dd feels lost when they talk about the latest tic toc or what's happening on roblox😢 but I don't want her on a screen when she's such an avid reader & crafter.
She hasn't seen her friends from school since before Xmas but on the class whatsapp group last night most of the parents were so thankful for Minecraft so they could work in peace...
Aibu to think that these games are not educational & children would be far better reading, playing lego etc...?

Minecraft is educational and creative and can be collaborative. Imagine infinite lego with extra learning about geography thrown in.
Roblox is collaborative and encourages team skills but I don’t feel it is educational. Same for Fortnite, which I (and my dc) hate.

I strongly feel that by denying your child a device, you are denying them both essential tech skills (read about Digital Literacy) and a chance to connect with their peers during lockdown. You can use parental controls to limit screen time, but it’s more helpful to think in terms of quality of resources being accessed imo.

How sad for your dd. I am not sure if you were aiming for a stealth boast or you just have a very narrow idea of what is educational but you are limiting the scope of your daughters world.

Education is not just academic, its emotional and social. The ability to connect with others, build and explore the world around them.

Your dd sounds a lot like mine. Mine has an ipad but is just as likely to be found with her head in a book or baking or some other project than on a screen. In which case it probably wont change anything much.

But for some kids it can be a whole new world to explore. My son (10) doesn't like to read and when he was younger wasn't particularly imaginative - independant play usually involved instruction from me e.g. go and build a dinosaur with the lego etc..

Minecraft has been a great tool for him, he needs to read and write to use it and is so much more creative, he has recently bought the java edition and started coding. He has also taken the skills he uses on minecraft onto lego and built some amazing constructions.

During the last lockdown his homework from school was to make a comic strip. This is something that would usually be difficult for my ds but instead we started with the minecraft lego, built characters and used minecraft to develop the world with challenges and quests and voila we had our story.

It also provided skills in social interaction, when we had to stay home, the characters on minecraft need to work together so you have communication and negotiation skills.

Finally it's fun; a childs work is their play. I think we forget this far too much.

YABU OP. Things don't always have to be educational otherwise where is the joy in life. My DD loves roblox and minecraft she is also an great reader and crafter and loves ballet and dance. My autistic five year old loves YouTube and watches some great stuff on it (a lot of shite as well to be fair). You need to find a middle ground in my opinion it doesn't have to be all or nothing.

Love mincecraft. Creative and peaceful.

Roblox is awful. It's a load of shite content with elements such as gambling and other money suck type gatcha mechanisms.

@VestaTilley

YANBU, I’ll be keeping my DS off tablets and phones for as long as I can.

Maybe minecraft is a bit educational, but I can’t see it genuinely helping get a child through an Engineering degree- what will help with that is excellent GCSE and A Level Maths.

Parenting is so hard and I don’t blame people for needing a break, especially if they’re WFH, but I think people kid themselves if they think video games really help their children.

I’m sure I’ll eat my words very soon, but we’re going to try our level best to keep DS on the traditional books/musical instruments/swimming/arts and crafts and sports track for as long as we can, if that’s what he wants, as I really don’t think screens add much value.

What if a child plays minecraft AND gets excellent maths A levels?

as I said upthread. My daughter is 6. Plays minecraft with her dad. She also has swimming lessons, does gymnastics, reads to herself daily and all the other acceptable middle class pursuits. Once they're introduced to the world of gaming that isn't it for everything else.

Your neighbour sounds like a shite parent, but just because he/she parents their children like that doesn't mean you will do so.

I think you're depriving your DC of the social aspect of Minecraft/Roblox in a year when many children are missing out on vital social interaction due to the pandemic.

Be a parent - restrict access to an hour a day (you can set the limit electronically so you don't have to argue with DC on how long they've been playing/just another 5 minutes etc.) and let her play with her friends.

Education is about more than academics. Social skills and negotiation and teamwork are all important.

Minecraft education is a good resource. Minecraft often used in schools.

There’s so much snobbery with parents these days. As parents we all have the right to choose how much screen time our dc get but I feel like parents that don’t allow gaming etc (your choice of course) feel like they are superior.

Yet too much screen time is bad too.

There needs to be a healthy balance. My 10 year old games. It’s fun, all his friends do it, it often gives me some let up time!

My partner is a gamer too and has been since he was young. He said as a teen he would stay up all night. As an adult he still games when he has time but he has a good job, earns good money and has not affected him as a human being. A great hands on dad and hasn’t affected him at all. Gaming can be a great escape from the real world especially at this time.

In all honesty we would struggle this house without it.

Like I said my son life’s roblox, minecraft etc etc. He also has an iPad and a Nintendo switch where he plays Lego games, Mario kart etc etc.

We all need to make our own choices but finding a healthy balance too.

There is so much more to education than reading and doing crafts. Computers are not something to be feared.

Social development is a massive part of education, and playing with friends on Minecraft or Roblox is great for developing social skills like team work, managing conflict, compromise, negotiation and just having fun together.

On Minecraft you can get very creative too, building worlds and you can create worlds with friends which taps into both creativity and imagination through role play.

Both my children have built their own games on Roblox which I think is incredible. They learnt so much. It's not easy to build your own computer game.

I really don't get why people get so weird about letting their children play these games, especially when they use them creatively and/or socially. As long as you are monitoring and ensuring safeguards, I can only see them as valuable additions to the rest of the learning experiences our children are exposed to.

...and in this world we live in, where technology is rapidly developing and crucial to understand in much of the job marker, I honestly think that allowing children to develop their computer skills and get tech savvy from a young age is v important.

I don't allow:

Roblox
Tiktok
Youtube
Any other social media access

I allow
Small amounts of minecraft (30 mins per week). He's not allowed to play online with friends. He is only allowed to play it with a friend once per month & that is his cousin, both sets of parents supervise.