At what age do you allow more gaming for children?

[user1497885219]

I’m wondering if anyone has any advice? We have 2 boys (8, almost 9 and 3, almost 4). The 8 year old really would love to be into gaming but my husband and I restrict it - we use screens of course but even on lazy days we break up the days with Lego, puzzles, board games etc. At what point do we not restrict it and let him game? Of course I’m not taking all night long, the boys have chosen to share a room so that’s not an option at all. He’s really into Pokemon, Mario etc, nothing too sinister. Just wondering what others takes are on the matter with a child of similar age. We have a small play room which we currently use as toy storage but could easily be turned into a gaming type room with toys if that makes sense. But I’m at logger heads with myself on the subject. Thank you.

I'd say the older one is probably the right age to start with games op! Things like mario, Pokémon, Lego have some really good ones. Maybe a switch or Xbox/PlayStation, obviously check all settings etc so they're not online - you could even pick up an older console for just simple games, there will still be big name/familiar games available, just older. Set a time to game together at first and see how it goes.

We've got an almost 7 year old and are planning on doing similar next Christmas, so when he'll be turning 8. He doesn't have a tablet or anything yet, just watches telly/films (not YouTube etc)

I still remember the good times me and my brother had with our mega drive and PlayStation 1 - we used to swap games with our neighbours and take it in turns to play, helping eachother out with "the big boss" at the end!

I've seen friends introduce gaming too early (pre school or 5ish) and being confused when they essentially can't handle it - they get hooked on it, but also get SO easily frustrated and it's just not fun. I think waiting until they're a bit older and able to understand more and regulate better makes all the difference.

Yes, I love this! He has a switch, occasionally plays Lego type games on our Xbox (we use it for Netflix etc). I banned him from YouTube a year ago and it’s been the best thing we ever did.

Same! Millennial and gamed a lot as a child - all the sega classics too! PlayStation etc. I wouldn’t allow him to game online but the games he loves don’t strike me as nasty games (no risk if that makes sense, no playing online against strangers etc). Thanks for replying, means a lot x

My 8 year old is allowed to play Minecraft in creative mode and he does a bit of Farmer Sims, that sort of thing, on a Switch. We don’t otherwise allow any gaming. I’m fine with the building stuff, sims sort of games, but not the killing stuff sort. My 13 year old has the same restrictions (she has no interest in gaming). We don’t allow any Roblox and we don’t allow anything that involves online interaction with others, no chatting, streaming, etc. It’s all completely offline, no devices connected to the internet. And obviously he doesn’t have unrestricted access to it, though during the summer it’s been less restricted than normal times.

We bought our 7 year old Minecraft and he hates it. It surprised us because he loves building. We've put it away for a bit longer. He likes playing joint short games. Mario party is good for that.

But we do find it is addictive and we have far easier days when we just don't allow any screens at all.