I think that in this digital age especially it is good for children to get to grips with technology. In some areas I think the kids know more than the parents – I know I for one have to ask my children how to turn the television over, or which remote I actually need to use! For us gaming has been a big part of our children’s lives and I bought my oldest son his first Playstation almost 16 years ago and since then we have seen the Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 (in both black and white!). Gaming is part of their balanced lifestyle and it is utilised as a reward within a restricted time period – they still get to play out with their friends, go on days out, play with LEGO and craft.
Why Playstation is Good for families
The Playstation is suitable for such a large variety of ages, as individuals, in pairs, and for a whole family game play (dependent on the game). There is such a variety of things that you can use it for (watching television, movies, listening to music, catching up with friends) as well as a whole host of different games you can play on it. In fact it made more sense than buying a Blue Ray player which we could only watch films on!
Helps children develop:
- Hand-eye co-ordination
- Problem solving
- Losing
- Working as a team
- Use their imaginations
- Practice makes perfect
- Turn taking
- Boundaries
Parents engaging in activities that children enjoy with them are good developmentally – as well as fun for all
As well as many games actually provide children with great insight and knowledge. As well as an awareness of technology such as how the control works, taking care of disks, functions such as eject and play, etc.
How Playstation lets Parents Keep Control
- Parental Controls – determine who is playing what and who with
- Age ratings – stopping those younger playing games/watching movies they shouldn’t be
- Internet Access – blocking certain sites or disable the internet altogether
- Messaging – the ability to disable text and chat messaging
- Money Matters – if you want to give your children freedom to download content then you can set up a sub account with a monthly spending limit. They will only be able to download content in their age range.
These two have just met and are completely different ages but Playstation brings them together
Playstation Family Friendly Games
There are so many games out there that you can buy for the Playstation which are family friendly. Some of our favourite games include:
- Little Big Planet 3
- LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- LEGO DIMENSIONS
- Skylanders Imaginators
- Tearaway Unfolded
- Minecraft
- Ratchet and Clank
- Rocket League
- Overwatch (this is a 12+)
- Tower Fall Ascension
- Trick Towers
Playstation the Future
You can be assured that Sony are always developing and Playstation are always at the front of the latest and greatest advances – such as the new Playstation 4 Pro, Virtual Reality headset. With this in mind you can get a Playstation Plus account for £39.99 a year which: allows the user to download 2 titles a month, as well as online gaming with 10gb cloud storage; Share Play (so you can play with your friends even if you haven’t got the game but they have); Vote to Play – which titles come to the PS Plus monthly game collection; and Early access with betas and demos of the latest new games.
You may also be interested in Ellie Gibson’s; A Parent’s Guide to PlayStation
My family and I were invited to a Playstation Event. All opinions are honest and my own.