How young do we go?

In the world of high competition video gaming I am amazed at the way video games are now being marketed to a young generation. My teenager has all the latest and greatest game systems available, he plays the PS2, PS3, Xbox, and the new Xbox 360 as well as hand held versions of these games. I have kept a strict watch over the content of his games and of his time spent in front of the televison so he is not obsessed with playing but enjoys it all the same.

A few weeks ago my sister purchased a new game system the V-Smile games for my three year old without my permission. However, she went along with all of the marketing hype to tell me how wonderful this game system would be for my three year old to learn from as all the commericals are advertising all over the televisions. I allowed her to go ahead and give it to the little one and I was wanting to see exactly how educational this might be.

She has three games to chose from currently and while I will admit that they all are about learning from shapes and colors, to letters and numbers, this still in my eyes is a video game system. I would much rather her learn these lessons from myself, a real live person who interacts with her and can talk back and forth and get her view points. I do not want her to sit in front of a TV screen to learn all that I am suppose to be teaching her. Needless to say I have packed away the V-smile in the closet and we are back to the coloring books and crayons for now. There should be a limit to these games and I know I have reached mine.