Why you should let your child play Pokemon

After giving a smidgen of parental advice and thanks to the very invigorating comments from my readers, I decided to continue with the parental advice *O*

Today I'll recommend you the best game to introduce to your children ^o^

Pokemon~ Aside from being one of my favorite game franchises in like, ever, it is also a great game to introduce to children because it is incredibly newbie-friendly. The basic mechanics of the game can be picked up in less than 5 minutes and the game has a self-guiding system of hints and pointers to guide you through the game ^_^ It also has many, many, many different good points that makes it a great choice! 

First of all, Pokemon are obscenely cute. This cultivates both little boys and little girls to like cute cute stuff and brings out the caring and loving nature in them ^_^

 
It is important to assure your child that liking cutesy stuff does not put their sexuality in question. In fact, when your little boy is being made fun of by his peers for being extremely happy (gay), you can give him the good ol' 'shit in the pants' advice;

"Son, people only deny wildly when they have shit in their pants. If they didn't they'll know that they're clean and don't have the incessant need to deny vehemently and have no problem taking off their pants.."

Cool guy + cute Pokemon = not gay ...right? :S

...er let me try that again

*ahem*

"Son, the boys who like pink and flowers and cute stuff are the straightest boys out there. They don't have to act macho and be all tough and violent because they know that they're not homosexual.. so they don't have the crazy need to prove themselves to the world.. 

"Those guys who act all manly and cool and get all worked up when they're called gay? They are the ones who are most likely to turn gay.. and subconsciously, they know it, thats why, they're afraid ;D"

...

..oh, you're gay? That's cool :3 introduce me to your boyfriend if you ever get one okay? ^o^ *patpat*

((its always important to be a supportive parent, you know))


It is a good thing girls dont seem to have this problem :3 after all, girls are bi to begin with, so that's cool ^o^v

Being a game about combat, though, pokemon might be a little too violent for most parent's tastes. That's all right, though, because nobody dies in pokemon! ^O^ they only get knocked out and run away while they're fainted.... ...its a game, it isn't supposed to make sense. If you wanted to teach that your kids you should've sent them to school -w-

Speaking of combat, pokemon's combat system is a great tool for teaching causal relationships :D Many children in this day and age don't know that water is super effective against fire (because the fire extinguisher has been invented, duh) It also teaches the important lesson of 'there is always something better than you' and 'everything has a weakness', which are superbly important lessons in life because it'll cultivate an inquisitive mind that questions everything, which is integral to making a child want to learn stuff *o*

It also subtly teaches simple maths :3 like 100 damage is better than 50 damage, but that 100 damage has a 70% accuracy, which in time, is less reliable and thus worst than the 50 damage at 100% accuracy.. thats probability, and also another important lesson in life; consistency wins out as it always delivers when it matters the most ^_^

Another simple yet effective feature of the battle mechanics in Pokemon is the fact that a Pokemon can only have a maximum of 4 moves. While this actually sucks (and is a fact that has bugged many a Pokemon trainer as the fellas in the shows can use as many moves as they want! no fair!) The thing is, this limit is actually one of the wonderful balancing aspects of Pokemon ^o^ The fact that each Pokemon is limited to a number of moves forces the trainer to think creatively in order to solve the problems in a confined set of rules.

This kind of situation ehances the problem solving skills of an individual and just like the previous points, it also teaches yet another important life lesson - Nothing is perfect. As it stands, there is no way to create a Pokemon with four moves that are super effective against any and all types of combinations, and there is only one combination (Dark/Ghost) that has absolutely no weakness (and which the only two Pokemon that has such attributes aren't even the best).

Understanding that nothing is perfect helps the child realize that there is no such thing as the perfect solution to all problems. This will free them up from being confined by the reliance towards one single, 'correct' answer and instead opens up their mind towards the possibility of experimenting with multiple different answers to solve a single problem - a think-out-of-the-box skill that is very hard to obtain through courses or a school syllabus which stresses on defined right and wrongs.

The fact that no one thing is perfect also plays deliciously well into the other aspect that is greatly played in all Pokemon franchises - teamwork is absolutely crucial for success. You can have a maximum of 6 Pokemon in your team, all of which have to work somewhat synergetically with each other to cover each other's weaknesses in order to defeat any and all kinds of opponents ^o^

Teamwork also plays a big role in the storyline. The main characters of all Pokemon stories succeed solely because of their great bond with their Pokemon. They are able to know what each other is thinking, enabling split-second decisions and intuitive strategies spawning in the heat of battle (all of which are very very cool).

This helps your child to value friendship and companionship highly, turning them into a generously chivalrous person as well as turning them away from the gamer stereotype of becoming a recluse (though being a gamer isn't a bad thing as it sure beats becoming a drug addict or getting influenced by bad company). They'll also be more willing to work in a team because they understand the importance of strength in numbers and putting their heads together ^o^ This knowledge makes them more tolerant towards other people as well :)

Another value that can be gained from playing pokemon is from the game's role playing game (RPG) nature. Being thrust into the role of the main character, faced with decisions from the start (like choosing one starter out of three pokemon) and throughout the game (like where to go, and what moves and types of pokemon to have in their teams and down to even what moves to use in a battle) helps the child gain confidence in making decisions. This introduces them to the concept of trial and error and the fact that its okay to be in control and make the call instead of waiting for someone to tell them what to do (which is a rare thing for a child, especially, as nobody really trusts them with anything .o.).

There are many, many more advantages and important life lessons a child can learn from playing pokemon and I've only covered a few ^_^ I know I'm not a perfectly great individual or anything, but I grew up playing pokemon and other fun games like it and am lucky enough to be exposed to a myriad of different positive influences from gaming and watching animes and I can happily say that it helped me a lot to shape me as a person as well as my ideology ^o^

So yeah, give pokemon a try~ Let your kid have some fun :3 who knows, it might actually help her/him to become a great leader in the future *_*

Like all other presidents, I think Doraemon helped Brock out in his youth, too XD

[*] All images are owned by artists scattered throughout the internet which I have no idea nor the discipline to go search and properly attribute each of them .o. sorry guys. I got them off zerochan ^o^; if anyone who owns any of the artwork wants them taken down please let me know :3 sorry and thanks!