Honeywell - Parenting

 The Best Ways to Manage your Child’s Video Game Playing

Psychological studies show harmful effects on children when parents don’t play video games with their kids or have little knowledge of the themes, characters and ratings of the games their kids play. Kids, no matter what their age, are more likely to follow your advice if you show them you are interested in what they do in their free time.

Talk about what you find inappropriate and listen to what your children like. You can easily make video games a positive family experience. Here are a few ideas you should consider and think about when dealing with the issue of children and video games.

Get involved -

If you have young kids, make sure you are the ones choosing the video games and not them. Purchase games which don't contain any violence or sexual stereotyping with its female characters. Ask other parents for advice and suggestions of good games.

Be sure to check the rating of a game before you decide to rent or buy it.

As you children get older, talk to them about which games they like and want to play. Be involved when they buy them, too.

Take the time to sit down and play new games with your kids. This gives you a firsthand view of its content.

Set up the video game console in a high traffic area of your house so you can monitor what your kids are playing.

Talk about content you find offensive -

Sit your children down and talk to them from a young age about why you find certain video game content objectionable. There a lot of games out there that portray women as sex objects and violence as an everyday part of life. It’s perfectly ok for you to be concerned about your ten year old being exposed to these things.

Almost all teens play video games that are full of violent or sexist content, so it is pretty unrealistic for you to try and ban them from playing games like this at this age. Instead, to your teens about why you find these types of games offensive. Trust me, they will respect your feelings, and hopefully learn something from your values even when they play games at a friend’s house.

Monitor the amount of time spent playing video games –

Never ban them from playing video games completely. It’s ok to set limits but video games are increasingly becoming an important part of kids' social lives, especially boys.

Set rules for how much time per day they can play games, and make sure you stick to them. Many parents usually have rules such as "not until homework is completed" or "only on the weekend" setup.

Remember that there are a lot of games which are long and take a certain amount of time to finish if you are thinking about setting time limits on how long a gaming session can last.

While a new game can completely consume your kid’s attention, most of the time the novelty of it will pass and other activities become more appealing.