Gaming. It might be a gift from God to children and a burden to parents.

What does gaming really do for children?

Child’s side:

Children love video games. They learn how to focus, and enhance hand-eye coordination and problem-solving skills.

Focus is really needed in games like Clash Royale, where staying AFK (away from keyboard) is like saying bye-bye to 30 trophies. You need to know how to look at your cards and memorize the opponent’s layout

Hand-eye coordination is developed when you are playing Brawl Stars, and you need to fight an enemy Brawler. When you see the Brawler, you need to look at your ammo, the enemy’s hit points, and your aim button. You also needs to know how to escape.

As for sharpening your problem-solving skills, take Pokémon X, for example. In the Santalune City Gym, you have to stand on a spider’s web. You can only walk on the silky parts to get to Viola, the Gym Leader. It’s kind of puzzling when you have to figure out how to get around; it took me 15 minutes to do it. It wasn’t easy, but I figured it out. See? Gamin has a lot of benefits!

Parents’ side:

Parents believe gaming is not very beneficial to their children. Parents see playing video games as a waste of time, especially if a child neglects everything else and just focuses on the game. It is also a big distraction to children. When Pokémon Go was first launched, new items would always involve someone getting into an accident because of playing the game too much.

What do I think? I believe that both sides have merits, and that gaming can have both good and bad effects on children. You just have to know when the right time for play and study is, and you can game away! —CONTRIBUTED INQ

The author is a 12-year-old who goes by that pen name in this reprint from Xavier School Hoofprint publication.