We Have a Gamer in the Family

So my oldest daughter must have been really good last year because under the tree was a Nintendo 3DS just for her. We knew she would love the gift. It was #1 on her list. We didn't know she would love it so much.

In our house we have an Xbox and a Playstation 2. Both have not been played with in probably 4 years. We are just not a video game kind of family. Growing up in my house we had an Atari. That was it until about 1993 when my sister and I had to save our own money to buy a used Nintendo game system. And even then I only played T&C Surf very rarely.

From the moment that Nintendo 3DS was charged my 6 year old would not put it down. This machine was glued to her hands and took all her attention. At first it was cute but when she started to ignore me it got annoying really fast. She was obsessed with it. Those few hours in the day when she had to charge it were pure torture for her. At night she used the headphones Santa also got her to play Mario Kart in bed. I knew we had a problem. I did not want a kid who kept her face buried in a video screen all day. (This coming from the Mom whose face is buried in her iPhone all day.) 

Since she was on Christmas break (she goes to private school so we can still call it that) I let it go. I figured that soon enough her days will be consumed with school, and homework and everyday stuff. But then what?

Here are a few tips I found:

• Set a time limit per day and use a timer
• When that time is over have alternative activities ready to do
• Don't leave the game in the child's room

There are different articles that say a kid should only have 2 hours of "screen time" a day. This includes video games, TV and computers. On a normal school day this is about right for our house. After school the first priority is homework. Between homework and dinner is usually about a 2 hours window. After dinner it's baths, reading and bedtime.

Weekends? Well that's another issue.

So tell me, do you limit your kids video game time?