A couple of weeks ago my 12-year-old son did something that resulted in him being grounded from video games for the rest of the school year. I can’t remember what he did, so apparently it must not have been horrific.After enduring his punishment for a couple of days during the week—which wasn’t really a punishment, since he only gets to play video games on the weekends anyway—he presented his mom and me with a hand-written petition entitled, “Why I Shouldn’t be Grounded.”With his permission I’ve reproduced the entire document below, exactly as he wrote it, except for the explanatory notes that I included in [these brackets]. According to a recent study by Oxford University in England, kids who play video games are better off than kids who don’t play. Andrew K. Przybylski, who led the study, found that gamers have fewer emotional problems than non-gamers.He also says that kids who play games are more social than kids who don’t. Studies have also shown that games in which players help other characters may boost kids’ cooperative behavior.Playing video games is also a great way for kids to wind down, says psychologist Chris Ferguson, who has studied calming effects of gaming. “It seems to be an activity that soothes people and can reduce their stress.” (which, with ISTEP coming up, I need) [Note: ISTEP is the standardized educational progress test in Indiana] “They have a bad day, they play, they feel better."In a recent study in Germany, 23 adults played Super Mario 64 for at least half an hour every day for 2 months. Scientists then compared scans of the player’s brains before and after the experiment. They found that the tissue in some parts of the gamers’ brains got bigger. The bulked-up areas of the brain are used for tasks like remembering things and problem solving.Another study, this time in Michigan State University, claim gaming makes kids more creative. They asked 500 12-year-olds how much they played video games then had them take a creativity test. The kids who played video games the most got the highest scores, meaning they were the most creative (which I could use for my character design career).Also, I have 2 major things coming up. A Switch [Nintendo’s new gaming console] arriving, and a 5-hour-long drive to Holiday World. What can I do in the dark besides sleeping, that I can do to keep myself entertained for a period of time that requires nothing else besides an extra game or 2, and most of all, has so many positive factors to it? Well, gaming, of course!And I will make you this bet, I will spend 4 hours straight doing school things (i.e. study, viola, cleanout folders, etc. etc.) if it will get me ungrounded for the rest of the year.Also, I have been doing so many great things in school that you have just been blowing off. Remember my godly 250 on my L.A. MAPS? [Another language arts standardized test. I can’t find an exact scale for this, but 250 does seem rather high.] Or my 100+ in orchestra? Or my 2-quarter streak of A/B honor roll? Or the perfect 180/180 in math homework?And the only reason I got a 79% on the test is because I didn’t measure the angles correctly because my protractor was too big.At the very least, acknowledge the fact that this was so long and took so much time and effort to write.Alright, I’m done. My hand hurts.His petition worked. He was ungrounded soon after. Wasn't that well-written and fun to read? You should subscribe to my blog and we'll send you an e-mail every time I write a new one. Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.
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