Your experience of childrens computer addiction plse - struggling

[moid]

Hi everyone

My 9 year old is in a real pickle - he is a very sensitive soul and computer games have taken over his life. His self esteem is pretty low, finds school difficult and does not have any other major hobbies. I would go as far as to say that is bordering on the addictive for him.

I am struggling and am trying to find a middle way which does not involve banning them, not really feasible as DH works in computers.

Interested in your experiences and any solutions that actually help. Thanks

Just limit the time. Tell him that he can have a certain amount of time and he can choose when to take it, but then it goes off. If he is bored that is his problem.

I'm not sure what your DH's business has to do with it? He's an adult your Son is not.

Just limit his computer time.

Agree with Lamorna and Tee, you just have to wade in an limit the time. We have this, especially with my older son, who would spend his entire life on there if we let him.

It will be a fight at first, but they have to get the concept of moderation and the importance of doing other things with their life ie fresh air, exercise etc.

He needs to do other things in order to gain self-esteem. You will need to support him in that. I know it is difficult when they are not sporty etc. and sometimes you are racking your brain as to what to do with them, but the next few years are really crucial and you don't want to end up with a teenager who sits in their room and does nothing but play computer games.

time limit the screen time. try and find some new hobbies.

computer games can be a slippery slope for some. i have worked with lots of teenagers who have found themselves addicted and unable to move forward with friendships/training/jobs/girlfriends/family.Great that you are thinking about his needs.

I have never actually limited screen time to a certain amount of hours, but limit it by being busy doing other things.

You could get him to join more after school clubs or other activities, where he could meet other DCs with similar interests.

Agree with the others - you need to take control of his gaming time by finding him other things to do.

Can you enrol him in cubs - lots of teamwork stuff there, or find him a sport that he likes to build his self esteem and get him away from the screen?

My 9 year old also likes to play on anything with a screen as much as he can. It can be a real battle.

I think he got so used to spending ages on game-playing and he thought this was 'normal'. So we had a chat about what was healthy and that most people only play on these things for a short time and the do something else.

For us, it has been much easier taking him out of the house as much as possibe to break the habit rather than banning him all the time, as such. Also, agreeing that when he has friends over, they have to play with something other than their consoles.

Other approaches are to encourage games that all the family can join in with. So they get to play on a console but have to interact as well.

I also spend lots of time hiding consoles and then forgetting where I have put them. The computers also all have passwords, so he cannot go on there without me knowing about it.

Hope that is of some help. At the end of the day, it is mainly abou saying "no"