The problem with buying games for children (or adults for that matter) is that they are often played for hours daily when they are initially purchased, but essentially discarded soon after that. This is especially true of video games, as the novelty of the games wears off quickly and they are added to an increasingly high stack of unplayed games. Fortunately, you don't need to throw away $50 each time your children want to play a new video game.

You can rent video games just like DVDs--and with memory cards or built-in hard drives on many console systems, you can even save your progress. If it becomes obvious that your kids enjoy playing a particular game and will still do so in the future, you could consider purchasing the game for them. If they decide that they actually do not like the game as much as they initially thought that they would, you've saved a significant portion of the cost of the game.

There are many types of games for children available. If they enjoy sports, there are several sports games available with differing degrees of realism and difficulty. Some of these games allow you to put together your all-star team and manage the players through an entire season. Other sports games allow you to play individual matches so that you do not need to invest a significant amount of time in order to enjoy the game.

Ratings Help Select Video Games for Kids
There are also action and adventure games available, though you should note the amount of violence that is present in the games. To help you identify which games are suitable for children, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rates each game, much like the MPAA rates movies. These ratings range from "early childhood" to "adults only" and contain a description of the content in the game that led to the rating. You can use these ratings as a guide in selecting the games that your children can play, but ultimately you and your children should decide on what type of games your children can handle.