Gambling, video gaming grabs youth attention

Gambling, video gaming grabs youth attention
Could your child have an addiction?

Are video games keeping your kids up at night?

Do your children have an obsession to scratch a lottery ticket?

If you answered yes to either one of these questions, then a teen wellness workshop hosted by the parent council of Smiths Falls and District Collegiate Institute may have some answers for you.

Parents can learn more about the signs and symptoms of a gaming problems as well as youth gambling problems during a child wellness seminar on Oct. 19.

This is one of six workshops that will be available during the evening.

“We hope to answer some questions about gaming and gambling problems,” said Brenda Cullen, a youth counselor at Tri County Addiction Services, with offices in Smiths Falls and Brockville and Lanark Leeds and Grenville. She and Sherry Sheffield, a youth outreach worker will also be in attendance. Sheffield is from the Youth Gambling Program at Kingston Family YMCA.

“Sherry and I often work in collaboration,” noted Cullen, who says she hopes this workshop will help parents who seek answers, help or direction.

“Gambling has become accessible and glamourized,” Cullen said, as to one of the reasons why it’s becoming an addiction. “Casinos are a new right of passage when they turn 19.”

Cullen says that teens who are addicted to gambling don’t realize they have a problem as their money often comes from their parents or from their own jobs – many don’t have responsibilities like mortgage payments.

“They aren’t seeing the ramifications that an adult would have who has an addiction to gambling,” she said.

According to an Ontario Youth Gambling Report, issued in 2009 by the Problem Gambling Institute of Ontario, 42 per cent of the students from grades 7 to 12 surveyed reported that they had taken part in some sort of gambling activity. The top three ways in which to gamble are listed in order: cards, lotteries and casinos. It’s more common for males to have a gambling problem. The study also reports that there are almost 29,000 youth who have been recognized as problem gamblers.

“There are many underlying issues that could result in a gambling addiction,” said Cullen. “There could be bullying at school, or a problem at home. We talk about the risks of their behaviour; what it means for the family and how they can get help with it.”

VIDEO GAMES

For those little gamers who may be resistant to bed time; or combative with parents who suggest they’ve had enough of the video games, Cullen said there is help for parents in this situation as well.

“If your child is addicted to video games, there are signs,” she said. “They don’t want to go to school, they sleep late, defy parents,” she said.

Or it’s a social escape for them as they chat with their friends while online gaming, Cullen added.

“Parents and children may both become upset… it may become a battle. They may end up not eating properly or not exercising or participating in other healthy activities. It isolates them.”

But again, there may be some underlying issues, like bullying at school. Sometimes even aspergers (a form of autism) is present, she said, “and video games are part of their social connection.”

For more information on these topics, visit this workshop – which is slated for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 19 at SFDCI, Smiths Falls.

Other presentations include: a sexting, texting and internet luring presentation by Smiths Falls Police Const. Cameron Mack; a suicide prevention/mental awareness presentation by James Thomas; a presentation by Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training ASIST trainers Lynn Attley and Joy Stratford and Navigating an IEP (individualized education program) by Upper Canada District School Board autism and applied behaviour analysis coordinator Dianne Stroud.