With Hasbro’s new ION Educational Gaming System, children ages three to seven play video games watching “real-time” images of themselves on a television screen. While these high-tech games provide genuine entertainment and some education value, the exponential growth of the games and the message of advertisements tempt parents to hand over too much of the responsibility of their children’s development to technology.

A February 2005 press release said the purpose of the game was to allow children to “control action with their bodies rather than through traditional game controllers,” combining physical exercise and education, as though to absolve parents of any lingering guilt that they might have over letting children sit for long periods of time in front of the TV or computer screen.

But can watching the screen image of yourself block a soccer ball as the real you reaches to the air on the right, as in one of the ION games, ever replace stopping a real soccer ball with Mom or a friend? While this is a good substitute on a rainy day when Mom is busy, even the most advanced technology cannot replace real human interaction and nurturing.

Some games do not seem designed in children’s best interest, but rather as a gift to parents to keep their children quiet and out of the way. Children play ION’s version of Simon Says not by listening carefully, following instructions and moving around, but by not moving at all. This is supposed to “challenge” young children who have difficulty keeping still.

No one can expect five-year-olds to realize what they are missing with ION, but their parents should, and advertisements and PR for these games should not send the message to parents that their games can replace, in large part, parent-child interaction and act as babysitters for the kids.

Besides the temptation that games offer parents to let the game do too much of the parenting, advertisements and PR make the video and other electronic games seem so entertaining and educational that the latest games seem superior to not only earlier video games, but also to parents and games that do not require electricity.

“All of us—not just children—learn best when we can engage multiple senses and our entire bodies,” said developmental psychologist and ION game designer Dr. Erik Strommen in the same February 2005 press release. “Kids playing the ION exercise their minds and their bodies as they duck, dodge, tag, tickle and really move, while mastering letter and number skills and more. This system engages the whole child in a way most learning technologies do not.”

Such an “amazing,” almost magical, system really sets the bar higher for parents who try to entertain their children without the aid of technology.

A moving image of yourself five feet away on a television screen with your favorite cartoon characters cannot but mesmerize a child aged three to seven, but parents should not share their children’s enthrallment. No matter how many high-tech bells and education whistles video games may offer, the result is still a child in front of a TV—a TV that can never begin to replace other experiences and, most importantly, the child’s parents.