Every time I see my six-year-old niece, she amazes me with how big she’s grown and how smart she is. During my last visit, I was shocked to see her playing video games on a pink Nintendo DS. I thought for sure she was too young to understand the game play, and expected her to still be using Leapfrog games.

But she proved me wrong during her 10 minute explanation of how her Disney Princess game worked. She showed me that she could use the stylus to guide the characters through various levels, jumping over chasms and finding hidden treasures. She easily understood the plot, and thoroughly enjoyed playing as her favorite princesses and collecting treasure.

So for her birthday, I decided to get her another Nintendo DS video game and continue her training as a gamer. But I’d never bought a game for a child before, and I didn’t think my sister would appreciate me getting my niece something too violent, like Assassin's Creed or even Lego Indiana Jones (though I would have liked those games).

That’s when I remembered Julie's article on video game ratings. So I checked it out and updated my knowledge on what age group each rating was for. For example, I knew that there was "E" for everyone, but I didn't know that the there was also "EC" for early childhood and "E10+" for ages ten and older. I figured I'd have to stick with games with E ratings for my niece.

But as Julie pointed out in the article, the definitions are vague for each rating and there can be a wide variation among games within each category. For example, Disney's Cars game is rated E, but so is Brain Age 2. Though there wasn't violence or gore in either game, I knew that Disney's Cars would be closer to her skill level. That's why I had to do some digging by reading plot summaries and game reviews to make sure the games I was thinking about getting would be both age- and skill-appropriate for my niece.

In the end I chose one of the Disney games, like Wall-E. I knew I could trust it not to have anything inappropriate. Most Disney games are based on their movies, so it's a great way for her to get more hands-on with the plot. And she can increase her gaming skills playing a game based on something she already loves. Maybe one day she'll be old enough for us to play video games together.