Parents worry about TV more than videogames, according to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. This raises interesting questions. Does this mean that parents have evaluated the content of both media and determined that television exposes their kids to more objectionable content than games do? Or is it that parents are more familiar with television than videogames, and they worry more about the influence they know than the influence they don't know? (I would have guessed it to be the other way around, with greater fear of the unfamiliar medium.) Or does this mean something else entirely? I still wonder about the different impacts the passive medium of television and the active medium of games have on our brains and psyches.

Some people find it strange that I am both a devoted parent and a hardcore gamer, although as gamers grow up this will be less of a freakish anomaly. My own baby is in college now, so I suppose I may soon be a hardcore gamer granny. (Ha!) Parenting and play are not mutually exclusive. Shared interests strengthen families, and knowledge of videogames helps a parent guide their kids' choices. I didn't find it difficult to monitor what my son was playing and impose age-appropriate restrictions, while at the same time enjoying more adult-themed games after he was tucked into bed and the living room (and controller) were mine. Just as I might watch a film that I would not want a young child to see, I can play a videogame I wouldn't let my child play (GTA3, for the record).