Those of you with childrens.
Have you introduced them to gaming? Are they hooked and do you worry?
I thought Id show my 4 year old Ultimate Spiderman on the gamecube because he loves Spidey.
Damn, I was not ready for how it would grip him.
As I lately realised I have been a (rather well managed) game addict most of my life I am very wary of his game time. So I limit it properly but cant help thinking Ive showed him this too soon.
Ok as a person with no kids, who knows people with gaming kids, it really doesnt matter when you introduce them to gaming. But it does depend on the games and the time you let them play. Most friends let them play for 30mins - hour per day - after homework and so forth (primary age kids) But it counts as screen time - so if they want to play games, then they cannot watch tv the same day.
They also have proper play time where they play outside in good weather and inside in bad. They are more lax over weekends and honestly that bugs me a bit because the 6 year old will not lift her head from youtube for the whole day if given the chance.
Despite being an avid gamer myself, I haven’t been in a hurry to get my kids into gaming. My son is about to turn 8 and only just recently he’s gotten into playing some Forza 3 on the old Xbox 360. He’s also played some games on the Wii occasionally which he’s enjoyed but it hasn’t become an obsession. Definitely not like me in that regard, I was infatuated with “TV Games” and “Computer Games” the moment I saw them.
We’re not too strict or rather specific about set screen time, we’ll nudge the kids away from the TV if they’ve been watching Netflix for too long but it’s also good for them to decide that they’ve watched enough and go do something else. They probably do watch a bit too much TV, but then they still colour in and draw, build Lego, jump on the trampoline, mess up the house and call it a “shop”.
If anything I think the tablet is the one thing that can be a problem in that they fight over using it. I remember sticking a bunch of educational games on there when our son was quite young and was surprised at how strongly he reacted when we said it was enough. So we’re a bit more careful with that.
I have a 6 year old, turning 7 in July. We love playing the Lego game together. That means its time we spend together which in my book is a win!
She recently started playing Minecraft at a cousin’s and I decided to get that for us too. She is totally addicted and asks for it all the time. It gets on my nerves but out of principal I restrict gaming to weekend evenings. No gaming in the week and no gaming when the sun is shining. She also caught on quickly that I can delete Minecraft and she wont be able to play, if she is naughty. It is the biggest threat we can give other than shaving her head 
I am waiting a year or so before I introduce her to my extensive point and click adventure games. I hope it will help her read better and develop a love for good stories, and not just mindless action.
Luckily my boy is still too young to even understand what gaming is. He’s 8 months old now. He does, however, have an infatuation for Dave & Ava on YouTube, but we limit that to 10-15 minutes at a time and only put it on when he’s REALLY difficult. Some days would go by when he didn’t watch it at all, while other days we’ll have it on, trying to calm him, every hour or 2.
I’ve noticed he also loves staring at my RGB keyboard, with the wave of lights continually moving. He then loves smashing some keys when I lock the PC to prevent him from accidentally deleting stuff or running commands like “format C:”.
That’s actually a good idea. I really think sierra games are what helped me read and spell a lot better too (open door works, but opin dor doesnt), making me into the efficient grammar nazi that I am today!
meh this always bugs me. We wouldn’t restrict their reading or playing outside time. So why do we have such an itch to restrict tv & gaming time.
As long as my homework was done my parents let met do what I please whether it was gaming,tv,reading or playing outside…
It is also still some of the best games out there! I grew up with them as well and they shaped my gaming and logic and puzzle solving.
I only believe it needs to be regulated in the families who only do screen time. Some kids have an affinity to it. But others are good at playing outside and game time. My mates have to restrict the game play because their son will not do anything else besides fortnite and arc.
On a more serious note and to stay on topic, I have been using Microsoft Family settings in order to set up screen times and allowances. Now that school holidays are upon us, it is time to review this. As parents to a 9-year-old who enjoys playing games, seemingly as much as I do, he tends to spend more time than we would like.
So how are you budding parents providing time and leniences for your kid’s screen times?
It’s an ongoing battle. Microsoft family settings are really helpful, and the weekly review is a good way to see how much time they’ve spent in total.
At the moment the kids are really into Minecraft which I’m quite okay with as I can see it engages their creativity and problem solving. What I’m less fond of is the amount of time they spend watching YouTuber’s play Minecraft 
I give them their time - to watch “TV” and play and then there comes a point where it’s time for the TV to go off. Often they’ll complain that they are bored or just stand around lost for a bit afterwards but they soon find something else to do. Kid’s need a bit of boredom to get their creative side going.
Yeah, being consistent as a parent is a real struggle. The screen helps him to understand that once that time is up, gaming stops. Yet there are times that I add more, which granted I need to stop doing, brings me back to consistency.
My son really loves playing Minecraft, so much so that I bought it and we can all play together across all our devices. And I agree with you, he had been spending too much time watching others play Minecraft. Frankly, over time, I noticed that this watching pattern created bad and destructive habits. I have since put a stop to him watching YouTube content, unless it is for learning purposes. Otherwise he must spend time on my profile watching “TV” (Netflix).
This is very true, his lego building and imaginative skills have grown considerably. He’s practically a master builder.
I can wholly relate to all you’re saying. Clearly this is the stuff we parents have to navigate these days. It sounds like you’re doing a good job 
I manage my inner childs gaming time by letting him do what he wants and then he stops crying. But he can’t game too late (not past 23h30) on a school work night or else he’s grumpy the next morning.
Ah, I must look into MS Family settings!
As it turns out my kid is not all that into games at the moment. He enjoys them for about 15 minutes then gets over it.
I think it’s because he doesn’t understand the goals aspect of gaming yet.
