Last school year, nine-year-old Elijah did something his family would never have expected: he got up in front of the whole school and danced in the talent show. Never mind that the moves were inspired by victory dances that take place in the video game Fortnite. ?If it wasn?t for his friend putting this together, Elijah never would have been in a talent show,? says his mom, Narie Ju-Hong, who adds that all his male classmates, even the very shy ones, voluntarily agreed to participate in the dance.
Video games have influenced Ju-Hong?s family, including six-year-old Claire, in other positive ways. For example, they play the dance competition game Just Dance multiple times a week, and compete for who has the best dance moves. ?You actually work up a sweat,? adds Ju-Hong. While console-based games, like Nintendo and PlayStation, have been popular with kids for decades, tablets, smart phones and computers have made screen-based electronic games more accessible and affordable than ever. Exact numbers for Canadian kids aren?t available, but research in the United States from 2011 found 91 per cent of American kids play video games?and that was before tablets were popular.
If video games aren?t already part of your family?s life, it?s likely only a matter of time before your kid asks about Minecraft, a game in which you use blocks to create worlds and beat challenges. Fortnite, a third-person, multi-player shooter game, is also popular, though more controversial (and one that Ju-H...