We play a lot of Fortnite at our house. It's a great game for teaching kids cooperative discipline, and in a remarkably wholesome setting to boot (no blood, cartoon styling). I've had no qualms involving all three of our boys from an early age in the family squad, including our two youngest from around age four.

Since we started playing, I've just had two primary house rules:

Sounds simple, but it's ever-so tempting to stray from the squad to chase your own goal of getting better gear, and it comes easy to blame your brother when the other team gets you. Especially when you're still a preschooler!

But that's why Fortnite is such an effective tool for teaching discipline. Because if you want to win in a team-based context like that, you have to work together as a team, and you'll quickly realize that sticking to the rules makes that way more likely.

It's also teaches you how to lose gracefully. If you get all pissy and blamey when you're knocked out, the session ends, because nobody wants to listen to that (especially dad!). So if you want to play more, and get better, you better start tempering your frustrations. Wonderful life skill to develop early.

Equally, it's a delightful game to beat together. Unlike something like Mario Kart or Smash Brothers, which pits the family against itself (also fun, but less learning!), Fortnite puts us all on the same team, striving for the same objective, and in line to celebrate together when we're successful.

When you add it all up, it's one of my favorite activities with the kids. It's highly rewarding to see them internalize both the big life lessons mentioned above, as well as the nitty-gritty tactical insights, like always seeking higher ground, securing cover, and having proper backup before engaging.

All screen time is not created equal.