Until you have a child, you could care less about what kids have to face in life. 

I remember being 27 and single.  My friends and I would joke in the mall about how a mom should hold the baby upside down to get it to stop crying.  We didn't mean it but we simply didn't have the patience or interest in what it meant to want to raise a child.

A child is someones mirror of their own soul.  When it is your child you want him or her to grow up and be better than you.  You want them to accomplish all the things you had not and wished you could have.

But before any of that can happen you want them to enjoy their innocence.

Now suddenly that 27 year old that thought holding a baby upside down was funny thinks of someone other himself.  Never had I considered anything other than finding a great woman to be my best friend my number one priority.  Now a child has changed everything.

Fast forward.  Your child has grown to have ideas and characteristics that are nothing less than independent of you.  No longer do you see your child as an extension of yourself.  Now you see that child as someone that needs to avoid trouble.

I've gone a long way to set the stage.  My child plays video games. He also plays sports and rides his bike and explores the woods.  He interacts with kids in the lunchroom and recess to learn words and jokes he would most likely not repeat to me.  I think of those times as tough because I have no impact on interacting with him to say, "That was rude." or "Don't be like him, be a better person than that." 

And there is a worse place yet that my child hangs out.  Live game-play on console game systems such as Xbox Live or PlayStation Online.

For me it is a good thing I enjoy video games too.  Because I didn't need to learn about Grand Theft Auto a year after the second release.  I knew that game and others were in no way something I wanted my son to experience.  Why?  Because I played video games and learned the community in which my son was becoming a part of. 

Now we play Halo 2 live.  Some folks would contest that this is inappropriate for children.  But here again because I play, I see what is good in the game.  Only because I monitor my son playing online do I allow him.  As for the game content it is typical shoot the bad guys during single player mode with objectives to accomplish.  Nothing bad here unless you don't approve of shoot em up games in general.  No one gets their head blown off etc... Not unlike cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians when you were a kid.  If you're parents wouldn't buy you a toy gun you used a stick.  You played it because it wasn't violent.  It was pretend. The same goes for many video games. 

I think when you are closer to the actual environment that can mean trouble.  For instance gangs in LA most likely love the glorification that Grand Theft Auto portrays them as and the line between fantasy and reality is very poor. And the game is very much the worst case of what a video game should be for a child.  A smart parent should never let any child under age play this game, flat out.  There is no excuse.  And parents should snoop in their children's room to find this game and chuck it.  But you can't be that good parent if you don't become involved. 

Back to Halo 2.  Because I play online with my son I've learned that I can impact the friends he plays with.  I've seen that he must learn to communicate with others only through words over a microphone connection and work as a team to accomplish a common goal.  Don't knock this, if your child is a leader it will come out in group online gaming. 

Bottom line.  Play some video games.  As a parent you'll struggle at first if you've never played but this is the point. You'll find games that will be suited to you.  There are:

A. Platform games - You jump from object to object, avoid objects etc.. Strategy plays a big part of objectives.

B. Sports Games - Just like the real thing in a virtual world.

C. Hack and Slash games - Slash your way through monsters or enemies.

D. First Person Shooter Games - You shoot from a first person perspective. Generally you see your arm holding a weapon.

E. Multi-Player Games - From one on one action to team against team these games vary from sports to first person shooters to RPG's.  These games are big on community and vastly niche oriented.

F. RPG games (role playing games)

G. Kids games.  Geared towards youngsters these games can be sports, RPG, mutliplayer or platform.  Generally they are platform style which means you as a parent can easily play along.

Video games have a rating system.  It is a great guideline however I would disagree with the outcome of some ratings simply because they can't catch everything nor accept exceptions. Halo 2 comes to mind.  It is deemed unsuitable for kids but if you can play House of the Dead at the movie theater then Halo 2 is tame by comparison.  Yes there is blood but it is only implied, not glorified. That is it.  If you frag and enemy they fall down.  Their body does not lose parts or anything else that glorifies death. 

My children play light sabres in the living room.  One is 8, the other is 2.  When they fall down from being killed they get back up.  They know they are playing.  You have to be able to allow kids room to play and understand limits.  There is a grey area but you the parent must be involved to help them see the whole picture and operate in the limits. 

Let your kids choose the games they want to play up to a point.  But if you don't play them, you can't really understand them. 

So in summary, play the games and be involved with your children to guide them.  Good luck.  But if you are an active part of your kid's life then you are most of the way there.