Some people jump up violently when they hear the word "video games." There is a common stigma about how video games negatively affects the spirit of today's youth by rotting their brain and draining them of drive to do anything in life. Do you remember those school shootings a few years ago? Those shooters played certain, violent video games that involved killing a lot of "bad guys" with lots of guns. And guess where most of the blame was pinned on...

Look around and see the hard-core video gamers that society loathes so much: the isolate locked in his room playing an online game for hours on end, the disconnected teen who trades a family trip for a day playing video games, and the introverted child who is able to play with his hand-held console but is unable to talk to anyone else.

With all this evidence presented before them (and their first-hand experiences bolstering that evidence,) an angry mob of parents would probably burn anyone who says that video games are educational toys that could help their children grow and develop into fine adults. But believe it or not, that is what they are meant to be.

Stop for a moment and think: what are educational toys? Or rather, where can you learn from something? Video games offer stories to tell, situations and problems that the gamer must overcome. As parents, your children are exposed to these situations, and their problem-solving skills are tested as they proceed along the story that these games offer.

Of course, standard toys don't normally let you use big guns to kill the evil alien or hack and slash your way out of a dungeon. That's the difference between a bucket of Lego blocks and video games: the latter deals with more mature themes and mature decisions, especially the morally-questioning ones.

Video games are double-edged swords. Without any parental guidance and involvement, they will definitely rot the brain of your child, especially if they play it in excess and disregard everything else in life. However, when parents play with their child, interact with them in a game setting, and teach them what lessons they could learn from video these video games, then these games transcend their stigma from being "brain-drainer toys" to being "brain-enhancing educational toys."

As parents, take time to watch your children as they play. Don't immediately dismiss the games as brain-rot. Make an effort to understand what they're playing and how the game works. Once you've done that, you can then set the necessary limits and at the same time, help your child integrate the positive lessons the game has to offer while helping them interpret the more difficult moral situations that they are placed in the game, like killing or other similar situations. The higher the age-rating of the video game, the more interpretation it will need, as these games offer much more mature situations than their brethren that are designed for younger ages.

With that said, all video games offer situations and problems to solve. As parents, it is your role to help your child understand these situations so that they can separate the fanciful situations of the game from the real-life lessons that they can bring with them as they grow up.

Now who said video games serve only to rot brains?