My 10-year-old and 8-year-old have been playing Minecraft, both alone and with me, since they were 5 and 7. I don’t see a problem with it. As long as they’re not on public servers, there’s really no harm that can come of it.
I played some games at 5 years old; mainly Pac-In-Time and Mario Teaches Typing on MacOS, and Super Mario Bros on the NES with my grandpa helping me on the hard parts. My own kids when they were 5 played curated video games like Minecraft, Lego Worlds, and the other various Lego titles. Screen time limits are important until kids learn time management, at one point I had some software I found to give warnings and lock them out once their account time was up.
Once kids are old enough to understand the need to prioritize other aspects of life it’s beneficial to have had some base level of computer experience. One example, my now older kid asked me the other day about how to set up an autoclicker and we walked through choosing a keyboard shortcut to trigger an Autohotkey script to spam clicks, and how to add other hotstrings and functions. I truly don’t know shit about programming, but functional versus object oriented programming seems both more approachable and more of a practical tool for kids of the next gen who will likely need some understanding of how programs work to sort out good advice from hallucinations in whatever AI tool their employer uses.
It’s not Minecraft especially, it’s the computer. I never played Minecraft so it may be suitable for a 7 yo (depending on the child), but at 5 no child should in my opinion play video games alone, only for small periods of time and always accompanied by an adult as their brain is not mature enough to grasp the concept of virtuality.
You’re getting a lot of downvotes, which I think is related to the audience you’re talking to (computer and game affine) and the fact that Minecraft is generally considered a kid friendly game, so what’s the harm?
That being said, it has zombies, creepers etc. and a 5yo can definitely get scared by it. I’ve seen it happen.
However, I believe any unattended screen time at age 5 to be a much bigger issue in general. The AAP / AACAP recommends a maximum of 60 minutes a day of screen time at that age, and that includes the combined total including TV etc. Many European institutions advocate for a limit of 30 minutes (the AAP recently increased the limit in their recommendations).
Minecraft is a game suitable for kids, but unsupervised media consumption is definitely not a thing at age 5.
I’m not convinced that a 5 year old can’t grasp the concept of virtuality. Minecraft on peaceful mode is just giant blocks being picked up and placed. Even if it were true they don’t get that it’s virtual (that I don’t really understand how that could be true), I can’t imagine what long term damage could possibly be done by believing the blocks are real.
Okay, I am the only one thinking that a 5 and a 7 yo shouldn’t play Minecraft alone?
I haven’t played Minecraft really since the alpha, but I can’t imagine why they shouldn’t. What am I missing?
My 10-year-old and 8-year-old have been playing Minecraft, both alone and with me, since they were 5 and 7. I don’t see a problem with it. As long as they’re not on public servers, there’s really no harm that can come of it.
I played some games at 5 years old; mainly Pac-In-Time and Mario Teaches Typing on MacOS, and Super Mario Bros on the NES with my grandpa helping me on the hard parts. My own kids when they were 5 played curated video games like Minecraft, Lego Worlds, and the other various Lego titles. Screen time limits are important until kids learn time management, at one point I had some software I found to give warnings and lock them out once their account time was up.
Once kids are old enough to understand the need to prioritize other aspects of life it’s beneficial to have had some base level of computer experience. One example, my now older kid asked me the other day about how to set up an autoclicker and we walked through choosing a keyboard shortcut to trigger an Autohotkey script to spam clicks, and how to add other hotstrings and functions. I truly don’t know shit about programming, but functional versus object oriented programming seems both more approachable and more of a practical tool for kids of the next gen who will likely need some understanding of how programs work to sort out good advice from hallucinations in whatever AI tool their employer uses.
What could possibly threaten children by playing Minecraft?
It’s not Minecraft especially, it’s the computer. I never played Minecraft so it may be suitable for a 7 yo (depending on the child), but at 5 no child should in my opinion play video games alone, only for small periods of time and always accompanied by an adult as their brain is not mature enough to grasp the concept of virtuality.
I know it’s only anecdotal but I was gaming at age 5, and I definitely knew the difference between games and real life.
You’re getting a lot of downvotes, which I think is related to the audience you’re talking to (computer and game affine) and the fact that Minecraft is generally considered a kid friendly game, so what’s the harm?
That being said, it has zombies, creepers etc. and a 5yo can definitely get scared by it. I’ve seen it happen.
However, I believe any unattended screen time at age 5 to be a much bigger issue in general. The AAP / AACAP recommends a maximum of 60 minutes a day of screen time at that age, and that includes the combined total including TV etc. Many European institutions advocate for a limit of 30 minutes (the AAP recently increased the limit in their recommendations).
Minecraft is a game suitable for kids, but unsupervised media consumption is definitely not a thing at age 5.
I’m not convinced that a 5 year old can’t grasp the concept of virtuality. Minecraft on peaceful mode is just giant blocks being picked up and placed. Even if it were true they don’t get that it’s virtual (that I don’t really understand how that could be true), I can’t imagine what long term damage could possibly be done by believing the blocks are real.