Computer games. Part 1 of many

Not being fans of computer games, the many quandries raised by children's interest in them are new.  Their wish to play them is strong and as such their reasoning becomes as fluid as water finding its way into your house in a high wind - relentless, unexpected and stealthy: giving rise to an overarching quandry (meta-quandry?) which is about how and if, one can harness that energy and drive to obtain more minutes of screen time into doing something other than sitting in front of a screen on their own for as many hours as they can get away with.  Let's not go there, too complicated.

There are agreed durations measured in less than an hour, which are subjected to constant testing, but do keep these activities down a bit.  We also look for games which have a social and even educational element, and certainly minimum violence.

Minecraft it is, a PC based game with a huge following, and purchased from pocket money.  It is certainly imaginative though slightly roughly then we'd like.  It also comes with optional books, which have been bought and devoured, and the ability to play online with others.  This really is one for kids - compared to the Wii, x-box etc the game play is slow and the graphics extremely dated.  Online cooperative play has not yet been taken up but one of them voluntarily called a friend to discuss an element of the game - social skills too.  So far so good, let's see how it works out...

Star Gazing

It's always worth asking for a bit more time.  In this case an impromptu visit with two of the three, to the science quarter in Oxford was the usual rewarding, but slightly odd, combination of children's arts and crafts (making a comet out of bubble wrap and streamers) and a proper opportunity to see something amazing, in this case peering through seriously grown-up telescope hardware at Jupiter and the moon.  As usual with these things, star gazing was packed and well worth the wait, and as usual the guys running it seemed bemused and touched by our interest, bringing out food and setting up experiments for the queue.  More please.