Should I Play Roblox With My Child?

The day your baby was born was full of mixed emotions, scared, excited, and joyful could have been some of the feelings that crossed your mind the day your child came into your life. From the day he was born until now, you continue to love and cherish your child. However, you know that baby is growing up, outgrowing his clothes and old toys, and soon becomes a cellphone owner. Cellphones are compacted with apps and internet access that can link him to the world. As a parent it be daunting to know that your baby is a person who at some point will have to venture into the virtual world, social media world, and just overall step outside of the 'nest' you have been building for him all these years. Sooner or later your child may ask to play one of the most famous gaming apps around the world, Roblox.

There is no specific age for children to play Roblox, however, as an adult, you know that Roblox is always an open window for the many dangers of the world. As a parent, you know that you do not need experts to tell you of the many dangers that your child could be exposed to when they open a Roblox account and enter a world where millions of users can talk to your child. The very thought of it can discourage many parents from allowing young children or tweens to play games. However, there could be an alternative for parents, you could actually play Roblox with your children.

It may sound silly to some, however, there could be many advantages to playing Roblox with your children. As a parent, you get to dive into your children's creative play. Much similar to playing with children with dolls and other toys, Roblox offers a variety of games that can be role-played (similar to playing with dolls, right?) and encourage imagination. Parents and children alike can bond over choosing a game that both enjoy and helps not just the child but also the parent learn to navigate through the Roblox experience. The American Academy of Pediatrics has stated, "Play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth" (2007). Through playing children learn so much from the world and parents are the very center of it all. A child's emotional and social well-being is attached to parenting, and as such even play that occurs online such as Roblox can be just as important as playing non-electronically.

As a parent, you want your children to grow healthy, and playing online with your children can provide an open opportunity to explore the dangers of the online world. Even though parents can engage in adventurous play with their children through Roblox, the platform is still full of predators, harassers, and cyberbullies. A parent or parents that are actively playing with their children online, you get to identify potential dangers or red flags from other players that your children may not be able to identify right away. This safety net can help your children learn to navigate on their own and assist them in identifying potential dangers, even when they aren't playing with you. This form of trust and bonding can be beneficial to not just playing online but also providing your children with emotional and social reliance when they encounter an issue to talk about it with you, the parent.

Allowing your children to take the reigns of playtime with you can be rewarding, of course, with your parental rules and conditions. You the parent are always in your right to set limits to screen time, friends they can or cannot friend, be able to access their chatbox, and which games may or not may not be appropriate. Let's face it, some of the games found in Roblox can be questionable to children's appropriateness. However, that's when you come in and ensure that there are some things that are acceptable and some that may not be acceptable. Overall, being an involved parent online and offline is just as equally important.

Source

The American Academy of Pediatrics. Ginsburg, K. R. (2007) The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds.