One of the questions I get a lot from parents is, “How do I get my gamer out from in front of the T.V. and doing something different?”

This is a really important question. As a parent, you want your gamer to be well rounded. You want them to experience the world to better understand their place in it.

The problem is, how do you do that in a healthy way? One way to get them away from the T.V. is to just turn it off and tell them to go do something outside. This may work initially but I feel like we can do more to help our gamers find something they want to do that will get them away from video games for a while.

It is with that in mind that I am starting a new series of posts covering topics I feel might interest your gamer. Not all of these are going to work for every gamer. They are just ideas you can try.

The first one I want to mention is remote controlled vehicles.

Now, to be clear, I am not talking about the $50 RC cars you get at Wal-Mart. I am talking about serious vehicles you build. The great thing about that is it gives your gamer something physical to tinker with, will get him outside, and will teach him about things like motors and aerodynamics.

Here are a few videos to give you an idea what these vehicles can do.

RC Truck

RC Plane

RC Boat

Here are some sites you might mention to your gamer to gage interest:

Magazines:
Radio Control Car Action – http://www.rccaraction.com/
RC Driver – http://rcdriver.com/

Online Store
Tower Hobbies – http://www.towerhobbies.com/
Electric cars at Tower Hobbies – http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0297p?C=CA
Airplanes at Tower Hobbies – http://www3.towerhobbies.com/listings/cat-a.html
Boats at Tower Hobbies – http://www3.towerhobbies.com/listings/cat-b.html

As you can see at Tower Hobbies, this is not a cheap hobby. You can get started for a couple hundred dollars but the prices then go up considerably.

However, if you can get over the sticker shock, this could potentially be something that would interest your more technically inclined gamer.