Too Much Video Game Time? May 23, 2008
Posted by artinshamrocks in Parenting Teens, education, technology.Tags: summer, technology, teenagers, video games
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If your child is spending more than two hours a day with video games, videos/DVD’s, computer games or television it is probably too much. With summer coming, you’ll want to put a plan in place to set a few limits. Here are some suggestions:
*Bring hand held video games to social events only on special occasions. If the gameboy or DS Lite is accompanying every trip to a friend’s house or on each errand you run, your child might be racking up quite a few hours of play and missing opportunities to mingle socially.
*Allow your child to play for a predetermined amount of time and designate certain days as “game” free. Consider doing the same thing with the computer and television. This does not have to be painful or drastic…every family is different and any limit you set will help.
*When friends come to visit limit the group’s game time and suggest they do something more active after a period of time.
*Most important is communicating to your child why you are setting limits and why you are reducing their screen time. Be flexible and go slowly, especially if you’ve never had limits before. You need to do what feels right for your home and your child.
*There are many good things about all this technology and this is the world your child will live in so give all of this careful thought. Don’t use video games or television as a babysitter all the time but don’t let this become a huge issue or tug of war in your family. A happy medium can be reached with some thoughtful parenting.
