Kids and Video Games: Yay or Nay?

Video games and kids--what's healthy and what's unhealthy about it?

I ask because my oldest, Lucy, has taken to playing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Her first video game love is Super Mario 64. Mario's voice and movements cracked. her. up. when I first showed the game to her. She'd start mimicking the sound effects and stuff too, funny stuff.

Simply moving Mario in the direction she wanted him to go was the hardest part to learn for her. She came close to mastering it, but then Megan bought me Skyward Sword for my birthday. Showed that game to her, let her play it, and like a fish to water, Lucy was immediately interested.

It was playing this game that honed her directional skillz on the controller. She doesn't hold the nunchuck ("unchuck") and the Wiimote ("the black fing") at the same time, opting instead to hold one at a time with two hands, switching off periodically.

This shit is awesome!

Playing video games has replaced tv for her! "Can I play Zelda?" was her first request today, and she played over an hour. She was sedentary, on the couch, laying there just like a fat lazy gamer. Like her old man.

Segueing perfectly into my next point, I put this question to my readers:

How healthy or unhealthy are video games for kids?

Here are some pros, in my mind:
It's been teaching Lucy how to multitask, respond to stimuli, take action when something bad is happening, and steer. Basically.

Here are some cons, in my mind:
She's just sitting there on the couch for hours.

Here's an argument to that point: she does that with tv too.

Oh, she also likes to play Super Street Fighter IV, which is probably way less healthy than Skyward Sword, just for the sake of the violence. It's really cartoon-y and there's no blood, but still those characters are punching and kicking and being mean to each other.

I don't think it's gonna encourage Lucy go hitting and kicking other kids, but I still don't think it's good to make her used to the idea. The damage has probably already been done with the time she's already spent with the game. I'm just thankful she's more interested in Zelda now. There's so much more freedom with that game! Any mature gamer would choose Zelda over Street Fighter.

Next question: Is playing video games, for a 3-year-old, less or more healthy than tv?

I'm inclined to say yes, but I don't have scientific or pediatric data on the subject. So if anyone out there, parents or teachers especially, has had experience with this issue, tell me your story and how you handled it.

Seems like the same rule our pediatrician gives us for tv, which is to limit consumption to 2 hours per day, would apply to video games.

Here's another thought: tv is non-responsive. It essentially teaches kids not to interact, but to take everything in. At least with games, you have interaction, challenge and reward.

And with Zelda, you need to be albe to read too. When she's watching me play, I try, as much as she can stomach without leaving the room, to read her what the characters are saying to me, and the little messages the game gives when you pick up a big shiny rupee or cool bug.

You know what? I think I've answered my own question. Good talk, see ya.

Just kidding. I still want advice. Got any, humble reader?