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How much time do you allow your child to play video games?

3 replies

Janey4321 · 18/06/2021 02:23

My DS wants to spend all day every day on video games. He starts playing as soon as he gets in from school until he goes to bed, and it's a struggle to get him to do anything else on the weekends. I'm extremely worried as I feel these games are addictive and bad for development

I want to limit it to an hour a day to encourage him to partake in other activities, but his dad thinks that's unreasonable/unrealistic and I know my son will throw a tantrum at this.

What is normal? How much time do you allow your children to play video games?

OP posts:
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Fundays12 · 18/06/2021 02:35

1 hour a day maximum and only if he behaves well. If he throws any strops about coming of it he doesn’t get it the next day. He is 9. I wouldn’t allow more than that kids need to develop real world skills which they don’t looking at the virtual world.

Janey4321 · 18/06/2021 19:54

@Fundays12

1 hour a day maximum and only if he behaves well. If he throws any strops about coming of it he doesn’t get it the next day. He is 9. I wouldn’t allow more than that kids need to develop real world skills which they don’t looking at the virtual world.
Ok that makes me feel like I should stick to my guns with 1 hour maximum
OP posts:
FATEdestiny · 18/06/2021 20:24

Three questions:

Q1 - How old is your son?

I would expect the gaming time of a 5 year old to be significantly less than a 15 year old. With a sliding scale between.

Q2 - Which video games is he playing?

Vilifying "video games" is like vilifying "playing out". Many types of video game have content harmful to younger children and generally not nice - violence, misogyny, gun use, monsters or scary creatures. Just like some children's activities when playing out are anti social. But there are tons of healthy and great things to do when playing out too.

Similarly, there are loads of valuable games. Some are directly educational but I'm mire thinking about strategy games. M FIFA is a good example of a game that you have to think more deeply about, rather than just play. Minecraft another example of a game that has lots to give. There are tons and tons more great video games.

Q3 - What will he (realistically) do in the time you want to stop him gaming?

While it's reasonable to say you might get him to the park, or on his bike. Realistically how much of the time spent not gaming will instead be spent watching TV or scrolling YouTube videos. Do you really consider that an improvement?

***

I have DS15. He's an outdoorsy boy. You'll mostly find him jumping in the local river with his mates, going on massive off-road bike rides, scootering, or just generally out. He also plays tons of extra curricular organised sport. I never limit his Xbox use. If he's home at the weekend he may spend 8-10h on the Xbox each day. But he rarely is home all day. On average he maybe spends 2-3h a week gaming.

I have DS11 too. He's a gamer. He also plays loads of extra curricular organised sports But in his spare time he'd rather be gaming than being outdoorsy. He plays a lot if high level FIFA 21. This isn't just playing football on Xbox- there's a lot of planning and challenges to do to organise your team.

He has encyclopedic (nerdy level, if you will) of over 1000 international football players. Considering how they link together - languages spoken, home country, teams, skills. This ability to link is a high level thinking skill, in an academic sence.

He also plays football manager - significantly more adult level strategy and business thinking. Occasionally he plays minecraft - which is absolutely amazing for creativity.

DS11 games pretty much all his free time. From getting home from school, after homework, until his sports club. Or until bedtime more or less. If he wasn't gaming, he'd be watching TV or YouTube - certainly no added value in that. I'd guess he averages 5h a day easily.

I have DD6 - even she occasionally plays minecraft. The skill development and creativity is brilliant. It would average less than 1h a day. Her choice though, I don't limit.

And for completion I have DD16. She has never gamed. She does spend hours on social media though.

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