A Father’s Take On His Young Son Playing Grand Theft Auto

Earlier this month, Bitmob carried an interesting article about a four year old who plays Grand Theft Auto, the video game which gained some controversy due to the graphic nature of its content. The article was written by the child’s father, who shares his experiences on how his son reacts to various situations in the game, mostly without his help.

I egged him on to take the car in front of him which was waiting at the red light. He quickly looked up at me with disgust and refused, stating that the car was already owned by the person driving it. His response absolutely amazed me, so I decided to sit back and observe how he chose to interact with this highly controversial game without the aid of a rotten-minded adult. He was very mindful of the other cars and pedestrians. He didn’t know the rules of the road, so he ran red lights and turned down one-way streets in the wrong direction. However, he did stop at intersections if a group of cars gathered waiting for the light to turn green. At one such intersection he attempted to brake, but he was traveling too fast. Instead of plowing into the rear of the car ahead of him, he swerved to the right and popped up onto to sidewalk. In doing so, he accidentally ran over a woman walking towards his oncoming car. He was incredibly ashamed of himself and profusely apologized.

The author advises against using ESRB rating for games, and recommends parents to pay attention to their kids to understand their capability to handle things and to know what they are not ready for yet.

Bitmob: “My Four-Year-Old Son Plays Grand Theft Auto”

Image by Silvio Sousa Cabral