What are your videogame "rules" if any, or do you not have VGs?

[meowee]

Please state what your house videogame rules are (even if you have no rules, please state that), or if you even have videogames.

Ours right now are:

VGs only between 3-8pm, taking turns (1-3 siblings using the computer).

They don't always follow the rues, though; esp on weekends, sometimes they play till 10 or later.

I want to give my kids more power to choose what they do and when they do it (more of an unschooling philosophy) but as I have stated elsewhere, 1 is a hardcore gaming addict. I'm afraid VGs will just take over his whole life...

I am looking for ideas... help!

[Hera]

We have had computers and computer games, dd has been allowed to use them in the morning (she wakes up before we do) and at everyone's discretion during the day. For example, if she has a new game that she really likes, we usually let her have at it. She liked this chess game, and a math game demo, those seemed harmless. Once she finished them and there wasn't another game to play, she was on to other things. If all she wants to do is futz around and play stupid flash games online, we are more restrictive.

Her dad got her going on Warcraft, all she wanted to do was build little towns and send her guys around. The fighting just bugged her. I discourage that, because I don't feel like it is really appropriate. Dh says, strategy games are challenging and take some smarts. The jury is still out, I usually say no.

Dh just got a Wii, there was a week or so where that's all anyone wanted to do, and he had some time off over the holidays so he was sitting there playing Mario and Elebits (we saved Zelda for after hours). She's only 7 though, and can't really play many of the games. For that, we're mostly using our movie preferences. In our house, movies (and TV, although all we have is OPB) only happen in the evening after dinner, unless people are sick, and only once or twice a week.

[Pinky Tuscadero]

No video games allowed. Very limited movies. No regular TV.
Happy family!

[aishy]

I've been very lax about it since Christmas, but we're about to get some rules in place again. No gamecube mon-thur. Period. That has been our rule since my son was in preschool. They just got DS systems, that is what has been played endlessly, the new rule is after lunch for an hour - hour and a half (some days we plan on doing a project during that time too). This is when the baby naps and it will give me some time to myself. And in the evening after they have taken baths, are ready for bed (teeth brushed, rooms picked up) and chores done they can play until 8:30. So depending on how cooperative they are they can get more time in the evenings!

Weekends are pretty much a free for all, sometimes if we see them getting a little too whiny/crazy about the games we shut them off for a bit and pull out playdough, legos, or a board game.

My husband is a gamer himself, so we wouldn't outright ban them here. And we arne't too limiting on TV either, but don't watch much anyway.

aisling

[philomom]

No video games. Some limited tv and computer time. Lots of reading and board games instead. Happy family!

[RiceMomma]

I let my kids play these video games sometimes: http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

We're very limited on video games and TV (well, we don't have a TV, but sometimes we watch movies onthe computer.)

[Mallory]

Computer and tv aren't really a problem, occasionally they might be on all week (like if there are new tasks at ToonTown ), but usually less then 5 hours a week. We don't have cable only about 5 fuzzy channels and our dial up is slow.

The game boy is another issue.

My oldest would play it 14 hours a day for weeks. Yes when we first got it I thought it would get out of his system, nope.

On non school days (clearly marked on our calendar) they (okay I really mean he) can do two, two hour sessions. On all days he can have extra time equal to how long he reads. So if he reads for 20 min he can play for 20 min. And he often gets car time for free. If I have to run lots of errands or if we are driving somewhere, anything to stop the fights in the back seat AAAGGGHHHHH! (We have got to get a mini van, three kids in the backseat is too many.)

[cottonwood]

No rules, but the kids regulate themselves to what I think is a healthy level. They didn't always, and we had lots of talks about health issues and paying attention to how they felt while playing and not, and I would encourage them (sometimes insistently) to do other things if I thought they'd been looking at a screen too long. They took what I had to say seriously, but it was a while before they started making choices of moderation themselves, based on what they were feeling. We definitely went through the "doesn't want to do anything but play video games" phase, and it's a relief to have gotten past it, because I always felt conflicted about getting involved, but felt it was too unhealthy not to. I really didn't want to make the thing taboo, though, and thereby create an obsession with it, which happened with both my and my husband's upbringings. Things that I wasn't regulated in, I grew to have a much healthier relationship to.

[Serendipity]

My son has a leapster which is exclusively educational, he is allowed to play that whenever he asks but he only asks a few times a week. If he asked all the time it wouldn't be allowed. He rarely plays on the computer, maybe once or twice a month and again, only educational games. No TV, or movies unless it's Friday because i work overnight Thrusday night.

Honestly, if my child was really interested in video games, I would use it as bribery : Or, pick one day a week that dc can have at it, more than an hour a day is A LOT. IMHO

[heidi_m]

No VGs for us. The kids have educational computer games, like Reader Rabbit and such, that they play upon request and within reason, and occasionally they spend some time on starfall.com (usually when I am busy with the baby or needing to get some housework done, etc). They are allowed two hours max of TV per day, and they have to pick ahead of time what they will watch (they can pick a video or shows from Noggin, which has no commercials). Usually we have at least two days per week that are TV-free.

[WalkingByFaith]

Video games on the weekend (but they can be lost for bad behavior during the week).

Limited TV and computer (mostly educational games like Study Dog and a chess game).

Limited use of the Leapster during the week.

Lots of reading, board games, drawing, puzzles etc.. here too.

Happy family.

[mama2cntrykids]

Originally Posted by granolapunk

My son has a leapster which is exclusively educational, he is allowed to play that whenever he asks but he only asks a few times a week. If he asked all the time it wouldn't be allowed. He rarely plays on the computer, maybe once or twice a month and again, only educational games. No TV, or movies unless it's Friday because i work overnight Thrusday night.

Honestly, if my child was really interested in video games, I would use it as bribery : Or, pick one day a week that dc can have at it, more than an hour a day is A LOT. IMHO

Hmmm, bribery, huh? I'll have to think about that one

[AnnR33]

Only thing we have is one of the Atari plug in things that has like 5 games on it. The rule is 20 minutes per day. It gets played maybe 3x per week total.

BUT, we also have a Leapster. However, I've only purchased the educational games like spelling, math, and reading. This is mainly for the car where i don't have any real time limits if we're on a trip. At home it gets put away after 30minutes a day.

[rumi]

we dont have video games but same rules woudl apply as for tv / computer which is that they are limited. right now dd is 3.5 and she and I share the responsibility of limiting ... part of my responsibility is involve her in enough other activities so that screen time is automatically limited, and also to help her understand why I feel the screen time needs to be limited. It has been easy to limit TV since I dont watch it either, but computer is a differetn story so asking her to be limited means i have to be limited too ...

sometimes if she wants to stay on screen longer than i feel is ok, i will gently remind her of delicate eyes, etc, and usually we do something else. i am still wary of out and out video games though, as they may be addictive, and she is too young to handle addictive things, i feel. later on, we'll see...

[ABand3]

we have no video games, except a leapster which has been at the back of the closet for nearly a year. We do educational games on the computer (Carmen Sandiego is a fav right now) as requested, usually 30 mins or less at a time, a few times a week, daily if the game is new or the weather is bad.

[Dar]

No rules. No game systems, except for a first-gen Nintendo that we haven't gotten to work for years, and a 4 or 5 year old gameboy... but we have some newer PC games, like lots of Sims. Rain and I both occasionally play online games, but just silly ones like on Neopets. Neither of us has ever been interested in a system. We've both gotten mightily into one PC game or another and played obsessively for a few weeks, but then it ebbs...

dar

[Stayseeliz]

We're getting an old XBOX from ebay because I wanted Dance Dance Revolution to use for workouts! I know the kids will like it too! I will be put away in our entertainment center and not used often. We do very restricted videos/games here. We don't have cable or regular tv access at all.

[3momkmb]

We aquired an old X-box, DS has a game boy and we have computer games.
There are no rules except those of common courtesy (you can't hog the TV all day playing X-box, you can't use the computer to play Age of Empires for 8hrs because your mother needs to check her boards ) and health and welfare (you can't skip meals and/or play until your eyes bleed). Same goes for the TV.

My kids tend to immerse themselves. They get a new game and have to play it for what seems forever but after a few days it gets put away and not touched for weeks (or they finish them-like Nancy Drew). Or they will simply HAVE to watch the food network for hours a day and then suddenly they don't care about it. We could just as easily never turn on the games as play them for 4-5hrs, it all just depends. Oh, and DD knows that she's expected to use the time after the littles go to bed to work on school stuff so all the screens go off at 7:30 (at least until I turn them back on to watch House re-runs ).

[arlecchina]

we've got an xbox and PC games. no specific rules. I am kinda mean. he doesnt get to play them often. once a week for a few hours. I cannott unschool in its purest sense because if I leave this child to himself (and I have to see) then he does absolutely nothing but play games and watch naruto, which is unacceptable to me so I do moderate.

[PeacefulSeams]

My DS has a VSmile. He can either watch 1 video before bedtime or play 1 hour of video game. I leave it up to him. He has the Vsmile Pocket that he can play in the car. There are some days that he can play video games longer or watch another movie, but those are usually days when I am not feeling well.