Xbox Live: Multiplayer, Mic's, and Kids

You've got your mic on. You're kicking it playing Call of Duty, Halo, or some other equally awesome, violent, competitive multiplayer game. You hear a tiny, quiet voice attempt to insult your gameplay.


Yes. You're hearing right.


Everyone's heard that video games may or may not effect kids in a negative way. My opinion is that they can but most of the time they don't.
I mean look at me for example. Generally I'm not an agressive person. I played my share of "violent" video games back in the day and I turned out just fine. And when I say violent I'm talking violent for their time (Doom, Duke Nukem, Wolfenstein).
Clearly today's games are a lot more realistic. The characters actually look like people and weapons; well they look like real guns. If a kid has descent enough parents they'll know the difference between reality and fantasy (I hope).
I'm not trying to write a research essay but there are many articles and websites stating the positive and negative effects of video games on children. PAMF.org sites a study by Walsh (2000), stating that aggressive behavior in children is linked to the amount of time a child plays video games. In other words the more time played the more aggressive a kid may be. So parents: watch what your kids are playing and put a limit on the amount they play.
The purpose of this post is not to go on about video games, aggression, and children. Moreover, I wanted to get across the effect that adult gamers may have on children. AKA: what you say through your mic everybody hears; including the little ones.
A lot of the multiplayer games I am speaking of (Halo, COD, Gears) have mature ratings to begin with. Us gamers know that online interactions are not rated. If you're a non-gamer parent you may not. In short, it makes me upset (to say the least), when a child is on XBL absorbing negative language, racism, and sexism. All the while their parent(s) are clueless.
I want to feel free to speak freely and talk "smack" when needed. I do not want to have to worry about the 8 year old that may have just heard me cuss someone out.
 In short parents need to monitor their child's Xbox Live use and/or not allow their child to use a mic while playing a multiplayer game.
Game On!