This just in, video games make kids smarter

I grow tired of hearing how video games are responsible for making our kids fat and lazy. I say nuts to those reports. I think video games make them smarter.

Want proof? Fair enough. Try these on for size:

Mario teaches kids to read
Kids love Mario games. But the problem with the older Mario games is that they give you instructions on what to do next by putting paragraphs upon paragraphs of sentences on the top of the screen. When younger kids play these games, they have to constantly call an adult into the room to read the words to them. Eventually, they get impatient waiting for help and just learn how to read the words themselves.

Adventure games bring out the natural explorer in kids
Want to see every imaginable screen or level in a video game? Put a 7-year-old in front of it. He or she will show you more secret passages and bonus levels than your local carnival fun house.

Madden sharpens kids’ memory
Does your child have problems memorizing facts in school? Buy him or her the latest Madden football game and your problems will be solved. I mean every kid knows that in order to properly run the bubble screen on third and nine you have to press circle, circle, triangle, right trigger, up, down, left, left, square, circle, left trigger, down, left, triangle.

Wii games make kids fitness smart
Video games make kids fat? Ha! Tell your kid to play a rotation of Wii baseball, tennis and boxing for an hour a day and see how fat he or she gets.

Halo encourages teamwork and strategy
Which do you think is more difficult? Getting a group of kids to work together to present a report on the effects of a government stimulus plan or planning the best strategy to take our their enemies in Halo?

I could go on and on but I think you get the point. So the next time you hear someone spout off about how bad video games are for kids, please kindly correct them. Thank you.