Xbox & Computer Games time limit??
Find a Conversation
Xbox & Computer Games time limit??
| Mon, 01-23-2006 - 7:03am |
My 15 year old son will play xbox with his buddy from across the street all day and night if I let him. I was just wondering if anyone imposes time limits on these things with their kids. How long do you allow them to play. I don't really know how long a game of Halo takes. I am not necessarily opposed to him playing, but I get really frustrated when it is a beautiful day outside and he would rather sit in the house and play xbox. The friend doesn't have much supervision, so of course he has no time limit. My son says I am just overreacting and "no one elses' mom gets upset when they play all day." I know there is not much else to do especially this time of year and his grades are very good. However, I would like him to be a little creative and find other things to do. Any advice?

Well, my boys (15, 13, and almost 10), have had limits on video and computer game time from the get-go. They each get one half-hour turn on school days, and two half-hour turns on non-school days (weekends and holidays). If there is a good reason ("mom, the only way to get to the next level will take more than 30 minutes), I may grant an extension on their time limit; or it extenuating circumstances cause a kid to miss a turn, he may be allowed to "double up" on his time the next day.
If they have a friend over, I tend to let the time limits slide a little bit, but they never get to play more than 1 hour at a session. These rules apply to GameCube, Nintendo, GameBoy Advance, and computer games.
Because it's always been this way (since we got our first system when they were 3, 6, and 8), they rarely question it or complain about it. Every once in a great while, I hear, "But Billy gets to play for four hours if he wants to!" To which I reply, "and is Billy a straight-A student?" Of course he's not!
Elizabeth