Gaming with friends? Your thoughts

[lookcobwebs]

Tween ds has spent quite a lot of time gaming online with friends over the holidays. He’s had days out too and also been out with friends but much of his time at home is spent playing FIFA in his room. I get worked up about screen time but when I can hear him laughing and chatting with his friends it doesn’t seem quite so bad. It’s more of a social thing rather than mindlessly staring at a screen and also means he keeps in touch with friends who live far away and he may not otherwise see during the holidays.

Do you put limits on screen time like this over the holidays?

No, my 13 year old has spent most of the holidays gaming.

and you would limit his time because....?

It's the summer holidays and your son is happy

I don't know what to tell you... my DD isn't a gamer but a lot of her social time with friends involves being in phones. I hate it and discourage it but I think you have to accept that to some extent this is woven into the fabric of how they communicate with each other. It's not realistic to expect them to stop it completely.

I enforce screen rules when my DD is at home on her own during the day in the holidays and if she is with friends at my home I'll encourage them to go out to do something during the day (which they usually will do).

But I think if they are doing something social together involving a screen you have to relax about it a bit.

No, as long as he's getting out and about as well which DS has been at various clubs and sports I'm leaving him to get on with it. It's his holidays and if I have a day off and have jobs done I would probably watch TV or too. My only rule is he helps out around the house still. It's lovely hearing them online with their mates laughing and joking.

As long as they are doing something else it’s fine. My DH is currently away. I went out with a friend for lunch yesterday, had a walk and went shopping. I then spent the evening gaming online with friends for about 4 hours plus watched some TV.