Limiting screen time for an 11 year old boy - any tips

[Vulture]

My son who is 11.5 seems to have lost the art of entertaining himself through play or anything that doesn't involve a screen. If we ask him to stop playing his X-box he reverts to the computer, we ask him to stop on the computer he moves on to his I-Touch. If everything is removed he mooches about miserably. He used to be great at drawing and model making but has lost interest. I think he needs some new challenges combined with some rules about 'plugged in play'. I don't want to be overly strict but I do want to motivate him to do something different and get some variety in his life. He is also moaning that he is the only one of his friends not allowed to play 16 or 18 games which I find hard to believe. Can anyone offer any words of wisdom?

I don't have any words of wisdom, but am watching with interest!

DS (nearly 9) is currently finding it hard to entertain himself when in the house and when we say no to screen time, he gets very upset and says it's boring, etc.

We do play games / do lego, etc with him, but he seems to have lost the art of entertaining himself unless he is able to be outside doing some sort of sport or active activity!

You're not alone.

Hold fast on the age guidelines. DS10yo got teased by an 8yo classmate "What your mommy won't let you have Grand Theft Auto 4?"
SIGH.

Thanks for that link, it made me feel a bit better

I have two DSs 11 and 14 and this has been an issue for years.
I am the screen time policeman.
At first it was easy, they has Gameboys when they were around 8/9. I bought little timers and they were allowed 1 hour a day. The timer had to be on when they played and when the time was used up that was it. They were perfectly happy with this and it worked well for years.
Then came the PS2 and now the x box.
We have a rota on the fridge to limit their time and reduce sibling arguments.The x box is not allowed on school day mornings. Never between 10am and 4pm and it's switched off one full day a week.
This makes me sound such a tyrant but I have always found that if there is an agreed "house rule" it saves nagging and constant negotiation.

It is good to know that I am not alone on this issue. We are trying two systems over the next two weeks to see which one works the best. The first is X-box is only allowed every other day, the second is that X-box is allowed for a maximum of 2 hours every day (there are lots of days when he is not around for 2 hours or has homework etc so the reality is whilst this sounds alot I doubt he will use all the time). DS must self regulate and take responsbility for timings etc and if he bends the rules he is penalised. I have tried to get him to come up with his own system but he wasn't having any of it. I have also asked him to think about some new thins he would like to have a crack at and I will try and help him - his reply was 'snowboarding' so I had to explain what 'realistic and affordable' meant. I am sticking fast to the age rule but who knows what he is playing at other people's houses.