Video Games
I was just remembering about the time, when I was a kid, that my father broke his leg skiing. This was in Boston. Me and my sister had wanted to get a Nintendo forever, but my father shunned those kinds of things and never let us get it. During this trip, we had been given a certain amount of money to spend as we saw fit. So when he broke his leg he went to the hospital. We went to Lechmere and bought Nintendos. We were the happiest kids in the world. I think we got GameBoys too, it was crazy. I felt like the luckiest kid in the world.

We went to see my dad in the hospital to say goodbye because we had to go back to Guatemala for school. He had to stay and heal. He was in bed and his hair looked like it was wet. My mom told me it was because of the morphine. He had this button in his hand he kept pressing and the smile on his face never faltered. He just lay there looking at us, smiling. I had never seen him like that. My mother told us it was the morphine.

So, for some reason, we unzipped a backpack and showed him what was inside. He looked in without any interest and didn't really react. It was like he didn't care. The Nintendo was in the backpack. And then we went home to Guatemala.

I also remember that on his way home, a few weeks later, he had a stopover in Miami and we asked if he could buy us some gameboy games. He shrugged it off and when he got home we crowded around his suitcase and his crutches. When we asked about the Gameboy games he looked at us seriously and didn't say anything. The drugs had worn off.

So Anyway, this is what I was thinking of when I remembered something I've felt about videogames that I've never seen anyone else mention: the positive side.

If there is one thing videogames have taught me, and I think they can teach kids everywhere, is never to give up.

So many times I would get to a certain part of the game and say to myself "Wow, that is impossible." And at first glance, it is. There is no way you can beat this boss, pass this level, etc. But you try again and again, and again. Your mind starts to figure out how this could be done, then your fingers start acquiring the necessary dexterity to do what your mind wants them to as fast as it wants to.

And then you pass. You win. You succeed.
This is a very valuable lesson that video games can teach young kids.

Keep trying, nothing is impossible. You can do it.

What else can teach an 8-year-old that?