Should you let your kid play Minecraft?
Pros and cons, is it really educational, healthy boundaries, and how to have a conversation about it with your child.
The pandemic has tested many parent’s views on what constitutes too much screen time. Many of us looking to protect our children from screen time succumbed to the inevitable — and found some benefits to adaptive learning apps, virtual tutoring or simply giving ourselves a little break while we let our kids watch their favorite show (experiencing various degrees of guilt or liberation in the process)
One of the insights we’ve had that during the pandemic is that not all screen time is created alike. There are learning apps (and other educational media) that engage children and promote learning and creativity, there are ways to interact with your child while they are using digital media that promotes learning and reduces the risk of addiction, there are competitive games and non-competitive ones, educational content and for lack of better words, violence and trash.
In the self-directed learning community, some argue children should be allowed as much screen time as they want, finding children will get bored once they’ve had their fill and go play outside or do other activities. Some families also feel that it’s important for children to learn to navigate screens while they’re young, as opposed to an all or nothing approach.
There’s another point of view that suggests children should have natural restraints. If screen time requires a parent to purchase a device or use up a ton of iCloud storage, then the child should need to earn the money to pay for that.
In the Reggio Emilia approach, we talk about the environment as the child’s third teacher. With this viewpoint, we see that self-directed learning takes place within a controlled environment. Whether we are being intentional about the environment we set up for our children and the tools we put at their disposal (markers, iPads, books, a fluffy rug), there is still an environment in place that impacts their learning, for better or for worse. In this philosophy, we can choose to include electronic devices, the apps and games our kids use or not. With the right environment (and that could be an outdoor playground), self-directed learning can be extraordinarily enriching. With the wrong environment, it can border on neglect.
Many children love playing Minecraft. And certainly, Minecraft does teach many important 21st century skills, building, teamwork, math, engineering creativity and problem solving, which are arguable more important than academics in a world where skills of entrepreneurship and flexibility are more valued than ever — and people may change careers many times in a lifetime.
However, it also has qualities some parents would rather not expose their children to: it can be addictive, some games have weapons and obviously the more time a child is in front of a screen, the less time they are physically engaged.
At Modulo, we’ve created a Minecraft club that attempts to mitigate some of the more negative qualities of the game. Children take frequent movement breaks and art breaks. The instructor is there to ensure there aren’t weapons used in the game. The teacher also makes sure kids are engaged and reflecting on what they’re doing, mindful playing as opposed to addictive playing.
However, we’ll be the first to admit it’s an imperfect system. Every child is different and has a different relationship to technology.
Perhaps the best solution for parents is to start with their own values and tune in to what’s right for their child. Before you do anything, get really clear for yourself how you feel about the game and what your reasons are for letting your child play it, not play it or put limitations around it. Make sure those reasons are sound and logical. Don’t forbid it because your neighbor is anti screen-time. Don’t allow it because your child has a temper tantrum when you try to limit them.
If a parent feels that they’d like their child to have more agency over their learning and the child really wants to play or if a parent feels fine about it but feels a little peer pressure around not letting their child have screen time, respect those intuitions and let the child play as much Minecraft as they want or put some limitations that feel good around it.
If a parent really feels uncomfortable with their child playing Minecraft, it’s perfectly fine to exclude that from their learning environment, a good approach might be to explain very carefully to a child why they don’t feel it’s a good idea to play Minecraft or why it’s important to limit the time around it.
Many parents are really surprised to see how well their children respond to reason, even if those reasons are emotional ones (such as weapons make me uncomfortable because war makes me sad). Children, like adults, do not enjoy arbitrary rules that don’t make Sense to them. We encourage parents to go in as much detail as possible with their explanations and really listen and respond well to their child’s responses to those reasons. What is most critical is that a parent has real empathy for their child’s desire to play (perhaps they enjoy it, perhaps their friends do it and they want to feel included or are curious) — and then within the context of respecting their child’s reasons for wanting to play, offers a meaningful discussion about their own reservations and even enforces a rule or limitation around it.
For more on communicating with children and establishing healthy boundaries, we highly recommend the book “How to Talk So Kids Can Learn” by Adele Faber.
Good luck with your choices and conversations around Minecraft and remember, the person who knows what’s best for your child is you, so respect your intuitions, while making sure your child feels heard and respecting their point of view
