The twins have been playing games on their electronics for a long time without much thought from me as a parent. I always check the age rating when they ask for new games and often say no based on reviews and ratings. As they get older they are getting more and more into multiplayer games and frankly that is opening up a scary new world.

I fought the requests for a long while but it got to a point that it’s hard to say no when the games they are asking for are played by all their friends. We did research and selectively approved games. Their dad even plays several of the games with them.

These games all have chat features and we have talked to the kids in the past about what kind of information can and can’t be shared on the internet. School covers it as well in their technology class. So imagine my surprise when I overheard my 9 year old telling some random person on the internet “I can’t play with you when my dad is around or I will get in trouble because I don’t know you in real life”!

This serves as a reminder that kids are kids they will always push boundaries and as parents we must always monitor and protect our kids from the scary world around us. I had a long talk with the boys about being sure to use their friends screen names and reminding them that while they are talking to their friends on these games there may be others in the game overhearing their conversation trying to find out things about them for all the wrong reasons!