Do you have limits on video game/tablet use?

[Pyjamaramadrama]

Ds is 7, currently if left to his own devices, he would spend an entire day on the tablet playing minecraft, if not on the tablet then on the PS3 (which is dhs), or on his Nintendo ds.

Only the Nintendo ds is his, the PS3 belongs to dh but dh never plays it, ds has discovered it now. The tablet is just the family one.

I'm finding it hard to keep on top of his usage. I'd like to just be laid back about it all but ds just wouldn't come off these things ever. Atm he kind of gets unlimited use at the weekends as we tend to go out anyway. But he gets where he doesn't want to go out with us, he wakes up at 6.00am to go on it, it causes tantrums.

We end up putting all the things away during the week because even if I say no games during the week the minute my back is turned ds is on the tablet and will just say he forgot. He will also hide the tablet under the sofa so that he can go on it in the morning.

I realise that banning things makes them more attractive but I just want a bit of balance.

I need some idea of what is a reasonable amount of time to spend on tablets/ consoles and some tactics to help ds realise when enough is enough.

Just for context I have a baby who doesn't sleep well and is quite demanding and it was in those early weeks that ds1 discovered minecraft , he goes to clubs 3 nights a week after school and we are very often out at weekends doing family stuff.

[Mamamoose1]

My two children each have an hours game time Monday-Friday and two hours at the weekend, an hour mid-morning and an hour late noon. If they don't come off when we tell them to, they won't have their game time the following day, it hasn't happened yet, as they are generally good at coming off when we ask, sometimes we allow a few extra minutes to save gameplay etc, but if they were to ignore us, or got angry over coming of their games, they would not be allowed on it the following day. Hope that helps.