Tips for parents

Hints and tips for when your children ask you for games and you are unsure of what they are

here are some of the tips and ways i used to use to get my mum top buy me gory and violent games with some pretty foul language when i was far to young to get them

Tip 1.  when your child says mum / dad can i have this game look at the game age rating there is a website that you can access to see why that particular game has been given such a rating here is a link to the website

United Kingdom ratings commission or (PEGI)
http://www.pegi.info/en/index/

United States Of America  (ESRB)
http://www.esrb.org/index-js.jsp

use the search bar to find the game your child is asking for

Tip 2. when you find out why it is an 18 or M and your child says "but mum/ dad it has the option to turn it off" not always true 9/10 there is an option to turn the blood off but no option to turn the swearing off be strong and tell them no because games like Grand Theft Auto etc all have there ratings for a reason

Tip 3. what should you do if your child buys the game for themselves . If i was you i would take the game off them as it is unsuitable and i would recommend taking it back and informing the shop that they have made a mistake and they should have asked for proof of age dont kick up a huge fuss as it can result in a ban but sometimes they will take the game refund the money and give you an apology discount towards a game in the future.

Tip 4. how to control what your child is playing on there console every console has parental controls  if you do not know what they are here is a little explanation on how they work first off the Xbox 360 parental controls 

first off when you turn the Xbox dashboard go along to console settings you then select parental settings
select the option user settings once selected you are then able to set what age your child is able to play and lock the settings with a password something that they wont be able to figure out to change them later this will result in when your child puts a game that is above what the settings allow it will bring up a messege saying

Parental controls active age settings do not allow this age rating to play please ask the password holder to input password to unlock

now for the Playstation 3

these are a little easier to set first when you turn on the playstation on the XMB  which is the playstation home page scroll along to the settings menu which is before the user section on the far left once there scroll down till you fins system settings you will then see parental controls now on the playstation it isnt set by age it is set by number here is a little explanation of how it works

level 1 is for very young users between the age of 5 and 9
level 2 is for slightly older and will allow the playing of games of an 11+
level 3 is for players of games with a rating of 15+
level 4 is for 16+
level 5 is for 18
level 6 is for 18+
level 7 is for anything above 18 with certain options it is also used for some 16+ games
level 8 is for games with certain options and also including vulgar language and alcohol
level 9 is the maximum age setting which is for all games this game allows everything with any content to be played

select the level that applys to the child e.g what ever you do not want your child exposed to in video games and you can ajust these freely again you can password lock these settings if you need to

Tip 4. Online gaming  personally i think that if your child is below the age of 14 they should not be allowed to play online as there is no way to control the content they are hearing due to the head set functionality with the latest generation of consoles unfortunitly there is no way to avoid it other than to not allow them to create ether an Xbox live account or a PSN account and let them play online it is much safer to allow there friends to come over and play with them in the house that way they are not hearing language that is unsuitable for them to hear. also it is a very real danger that there is no option to block players adding people unless you block the request but as with everything on the internet there is the possibility for them being the target of pedophiles on xbox live and psn it is sickening to think about i know but they are out there and they will use any means necessary to get to children to be safe i would say do not allow your child to play online when they are under aged as also from personal experience they become targets of bullying online with people swearing threatening them because they arent playing at the same level as there team mates causing them to lose to be safe just say no

Tip 5. take time with your children to play games with them it is a great oppertunity to bond aswell as for you to learn what they are being exposed to in the video game universe and it might help you to pick up some terms they use and some little things that might help when buying games for there christmas and birthday

thank you for reading i hope that it has been helpful i will try and add some more soon please let me know if you as a parent found any of these helpful and if you would like any more information of any of the points please messege or comment to let me know and i will give you some more details