I have an 8 year old son who has a Wii, Kindle Fire, and an XBox. He gets upset because I limit the amount of time he gets to play on these games each day. I just feel that he needs to be outside getting fresh air and not being a hermit inside with the electronics. How much time do you let your kids play on the game consoles?
The young boy in our family is also sort of addicted to being in front of a screen but fortunately he knows how to listen to us when we feel like he is getting a bit too obsessed. We also set up some outdoor activities for the family to enjoy from time to time that is not related to digital entertainment such as biking and playing with toy helicopters. I think introducing some equally fun outdoor substitutes usually does the trick.
My brother is the little boy in the family that gets upset when I take away his ipod and computer. But I do it to help him, I "ground" him when he acts out because he needs to learn that there is a life outside of the virtual world. He does enjoy basketball, so when I can I try to take him outside to play.
Growing up in the 90's I played a lot of video games. I had a single mother and she was helpless to monitor the amount of time I played since she worked two jobs so that we could live in a good neighborhood and I could go to a good school. I have mixed feeling about this. Looking back yes I wish I got out more, I didn't get in shape and active until College. I spent many long nights playing games alone in the basement. I didn't do well in middle school and high school. This was for many many reasons, one of which was spending a lot of time playing games. However video games actually taught me a lot of great skills. I played a lot of complicated games and I learned how to plan and manage things. I also learned a lot of computer skills. I also gained some problem solving skills. I also made some good friends playing games. Also one point, when I was inside playing games I wasn't outside causing trouble.
My son is very computer savvy even at his young age, and computers are the way of the future. He could be an engineer or programmer someday if we allow him to explore the electronic world. It is hard to tell him no when it comes to that, but I know that too many games is not good either.
Parents set the rules and kids are expected to keep them rules or forfeit their rights to playing the video games. No one wants to see the child addicted to drugs. Video game addiction can be just as bad and to prevent that the time kids spend playing should be limited to under 2 hours a day. There's no denying the fact that kids can learn a lot from the video games they play but there are other important skills they need to learn. Essential skills they won't learn if all their free time is spent staring at a screen.
I think everyone underestimates video games. Huge! If they were reading books all day you'd likely think they were deep and intelligent for it lol. If they were playing board games? Doing their homework? Personally, I think you learn far more from video games than from all of the above combined (obviously there are some seriously time wasting, mind numbing games as well, but I can say the same for half the crap they teach in school) and as someone else said, technology is the future and most parents are limiting it as much as possible, thinking their kids should live as they did back in the day when technology barely existed. I don't limit video games. Since I don't control them in that way, it's not as a big deal to them and they don't feel the need to hoard every possible second they can get on it.
I think it's important to plan family time that involves outdoor activities. If you are home on a saturday afternoon and force your child to play outside, they are going to resent the idea of going outside because it is becoming a form of punishments. Make family plans give the kids real activities to do instead of making the outdoors a punishment type of experience.
I don't have a kid yet but based on experience as baby sitter to so many younger cousins, playing for about an hour or two a day would be good for the kid (especially those below 10 years old). Exceed two hours of play everyday and your kid will turn into a full-scale video game addict by the time he reaches puberty. When we were around the same age, my parents mandated at least three hours of sleep everyday after lunch. During meal times, all games were banned. I'd like to implement the same rules in my household someday. I want my kids to appreciate the value of discipline.
They really don't teach enough important things in school. It's all about meaningless things like what happened in the past or vocabulary that you may never even use. Books certainly have their place even fiction (I used to be an avid reader) but like you said so do video games. I think I said a little of this in another thread (can't remember) but I really advocate that you learn much more by doing and video games though virtual are interaction. Although in a whole different realm to the point I don't even consider it a video game more like an experience, The Sims is technically a video game and it can teach you a lot about life. It all depends on how you look at it. For me currently the Sims extends my already creative soul as virtual me has a job as an architectural designer.
Definitely, on all counts. School, if a child absolutely has to go, should focus more on who the children are individually and allow them to follow their own paths. Why should little Suzy spend her time on french and geography when she is destined for a lab and she'd learn geography through life anyway? We all know our interests and those interests lead to who we become.. why distract us with fillers? l And video games and the internet in general; people see it as a distraction as well. From real life, from interaction, from fresh air etc. I agree, we should be moving more.. but I would argue about the fresh air thing. I don't know about anyone else, but the air isn't rotten in my house lol. Also, we are all speaking to real live people in here. All we lack is body language, which can get in the way sometimes, and contact, which isn't necessary unless things get emotional lol. It's still socializing! We're still learning from each other and bonding and having fun or creating drama... often times more so than would be going down in real life. On days that I don't leave my house at all, I still feel like I had a full day of friends and family... why do I need to sit next to them to be considered social? lol.. I've even felt drained as I do in person when I'm not in the mood for being around a bunch of people. It's an old school mind set to think technology is ruining us.
I have a 10 year old at home and he is exactly the same. Video games are the world and life is over if he can't play them. We had big issues with this last year, as well as some problems in school. We decided to limit the amount of time he spends on it during the week, and he is allowed more time on weekends and holidays. As long as he is doing other things as well such as playing with his legos, reading his books, going outside (and doing whatever it is young boys do running around in the yard!) then we don't worry too much about it. We try to choose games for him that involve strategic thinking and problem solving so he is learning while playing. We limit his tv time even more but that is because we feel video games are better than tv because he is learning and interacting versus sitting and zoning out. We also require he maintain good grades and a good attitude or he loses the time he does receive. He has by no means ever been happy about it, but as parents we think it is for the best and he seems to do fine so we choose not to worry!
Some people might argue that video games are mindless trash that erode kids' brains and make them violent, but that's obviously not true. Still, it's better for younger children to limit their playing time because they're in their developmental years and could use some better stimuli. Your son needs to learn that video games are a privilege with set restrictions and boundaries with regards to amount of playtime each day and whatnot.
My friends' 9 year old spends at least 4-5 hours every day playing games on his tablet. In fact, every time his parents are busy around the house or socially engaged, they tell him to play with his tablet. The result is a spindly, pale looking kid, who spends more time indoors than outside, living in an unhealthy virtual reality.
I don't have any children, but I have three younger siblings and three young nieces and nephews who I often have to take care of. The children i my family love to play games all day but they are restless in the way that they will often ask if they can go outside for some fresh air, and it usually depends upon whether or not the adult who is supervising allows them to. So it is not too hard to get them to give the gaming a break.
I feel like since the new generation are into the technology age, it will be harder for them to experience the outdoors. I remember as a kid I was always playing outdoors even if is playing a card game on the sidewalk with a neighbor and had to put rocks on cards so they do not have to fly away. Technology is the reason that child obesity and even adult obesity is going up. Parents need to try to give their child when they are a baby, different sport items and see which once they are more attracted to so they can teach the child the sport .
Technology and lack of forced sport is not the cause of obesity. My kids aren't into sports, I'm not about to push them into it for any reason, let alone a false one. Kids need technology.. blaming it for obesity, or pretty much anything, is doing kids a disservice.. they need to keep up with what is to come and even games are a head start in many cases. Food is the cause of obesity. If a child never sees the light of day, that's on the parents.
I agree. I find it funny that people call video games a waste of time and then they watch movies. Video games are basically interactive movies where your choices affect the outcome. So they're actually more educational than movies. I'm a gamer and I don't limit my daughter's video game or computer time. She does a pretty good job of managing her time.
I think that the problem is, once you introduce screens into the house, the children see it as normal, and crave them all the more. I never had anything like that when I was younger, and I coped with it fine. They are very expensive, not only for the consoles etc but then for the games, and then add-ons for the games once you've paid the upfront cost for them. I see so many pre-school children with things like this and there is no need for it - because at this point there isn't even the excuse of peer pressure. Try to keep your children active and screen-free for as long as you can. It's better for their health, and certainly better for your finances!
Wow he's only 8 and has all those? I will never buy my kid anything like that. They need to be a real kid for as long as possible. I don't approve of video games of any kind. Kids are growing up way too fast these days. They need to be using their imagination. Staring at a screen for long periods of time isn't good for them either. They turn into zombies and that's proven. It's not good for their brains. I'll take the time to actually teach my kids and be engaged in finding things to do for games together as a family. They should be reading a book or playing if they want to be in the house. Other than they, they should be outside getting exercise. Video games can also be really addicting. A hard habit to break. I just won't do it.
