When I grew up, video games came in two varieties. The ones that were for pure entertainment such as Mario Brothers were on gaming consoles and the the educational ones were for the computer. We played Oregon Trail and other games to help learn about math and history, but as games progressed so did their educational value.

There are video games worlds that revolve around education and fun. Your child can pay a monthly fee and get an endless supply of fun education. They can get a jetpack and fly around the world learning about math and reading. They can search for pirate treasure while learning about history and writing.

The learning is only limited by the amount of time they have to spend on the computer. Parents should limit the amount of time a child spends on the computer in favor of social interaction, but you'd be surprised at the amount of friends your child can make online. While we may consider face-to-face friendships more traditional, we live in a digital age.

Avatars and profiles are taking the place of pictures and conversations. Is this good or bad? Who knows, it's new and different. The best we can do is give our children the best opportunities to learn and make sure they do it in a safe manner. Online worlds dedicated to education have a number of safeguards in place, but it's still up to the parent to make sure their activity is safe and monitored.