How much time?

[Lorenzo]

How much time do you allow your kids to play with their gadgets - PSP, Xbox, Ipad - in a day? Do you think four hours straight is more than enough? What if they throw tantrums if you ask them to stop?

 

[Dan]

Since I'm not home during the day I have no idea what my wife lets them do. I know that in the evenings and on weekends they really don't have the time to play but I do restrict it.

 

[tommymac]

I'd say that doing ANYTHING for four hours straight without a break is a bad thing.

But, that being said, you shouldn't limit yourself by setting schedules or setting strict limits. Life doesn't obey schedules or timetables.

 

[BigPapa]

Playing video games for 4 hours is definitely too much, especially since it is summer. I remember being booted from the house as soon as we had breakfast during the summertime when I was a kid. We were expected to play with our friends and get fresh air. Why would you want to sit in front of a mind numbing video game all day?

 

[Don]

I play a few of the games with my son and sometimes I play some of the "older kid" games by myself. I don't think either of us have ever played for four hours though. My son really isn't old enough to play a lot of them yet, so we will have to see how it goes when he gets older.

 

[Lorenzo]

Playing video games for 4 hours is definitely too much, especially since it is summer. I remember being booted from the house as soon as we had breakfast during the summertime when I was a kid. We were expected to play with our friends and get fresh air. Why would you want to sit in front of a mind numbing video game all day?

I've been asking my kids the exact same thing! Although they do play outside of the house, they always prefer to be in front of their Ipad or whatever gadget they have at the moment. The reason they always give us is because in school, they're not allowed to bring their "toys." Anyways, school is starting soon and these gadgets will also be locked up where they belong, in the cabinet.

 

[Mr. Rogers]

I have a ten year old with ADHD and he gets extremely angry when we tell him it's time to turn things off. We had to set schedules on how long and when he gets to play, and by putting a timer in there with him it tells him when time is up and at that point he feels that he is in charge of putting it away when time is up and it does help.

 

[Foster]

Firstly it depends how old they are as to how long is too long, if they want to spend four hours on something it is an issue though. I don't let my 5 year old on any gadgets when he comes to see me as I think he is way too young to be addicted to his PSP and Xbox, when I used to let him go on them before he would misbehave when he was told to turn them off. He now understands that he can't go on them due to his behavior.

 

[Hedonologist]

At the current age the time is zero, simply because they couldn't use it. TV use will be severely restricted, and seeing as I rarely watch it at all I think it won't even be in our house by that time. I will probably allow them to watch pre selected DVD's.

I will probably get them into the computer as soon as possible but will be cautious with that as well. I know how addictive the games can be myself

 

[joeldgreat]

Maximum time allowed for my kids is between 1.5 hours during weekdays and as much as 4 hours during weekends. But they should be responsible enough to finish first all their home works as well as household chores before they can even touch the computer and PSP. But for weekend, I let them play to give them a time-out and reward for the weeks hardwork/studies.

 

[flfsurveyor]

Four hours straight is way way more than enough! I know that some games do take a lot of time to finish or level-up, but you may have tell the kids to take a break after a couple of hours. If they have throw tantrums, then suspend gaming for rest of the day. They will quickly learn to follow your rules as they wont risk loosing the chance to play their video games.

 

[Miller]

We have restrictions. After 20 minutes, they need to take a break, if only to run outside a few minutes or get up and rest their eyes. Our children are still young, so their attention spans aren't all that long yet.

 

[JRDeep]

Two hours max. I know how time flys when you're engrossed in a good video game. I've lost many hours in my life due to the greatness of the first 3 Sonic The Hedgehog games. I could have avoided D's in school if i had logged less hours trying to do speed runs on Green Hill Zone.