Do you limit the kids' electronics time? And if so, how?
Posted August 24, 2015 - 5:27pm
I kinda regret giving my 11-year old daughter an iPad because I thought she would mostly read books on it (ha!) but all she does is play games. She even went to a friend's birthday party and the mom told me she spend the entire time on the thing. After that I banned the iPad to 30 minutes at a time on weekends only, IF she completes all her chores. But then when she has a friend come over sometimes, they want to play on their iPads and I cave in. How do you guys set limitations on electronics, if any? Do you stick to your own rules?
sunnykathleen
Hi! I used to limit my son's electronic use when he first got his video game system. I also put parameters on his time as well - he had to have all his homework done and it had to be after we had dinner as a family. Now that he is an older teen it is part of his social life. He gets online after dinner and talks with his friends as they play games against each other. While I still monitor it, I don't have as many restrictions as I used to when he was younger.
jonbonjovious
Ugh! I feel your pain. I just gave my Kindle Fire to my son so he could read. I thought it would be fun. I thought it would be a new opportunity to establish good reading habits. Then I asked him about the characters and he knew nothing. I suggested he read....a few days later, same routine. So now, he has a deadline to read the book by the end of the week or he's grounded from ALL games, electronics and technology until the book is read. It can be so frustrating!
tishamelanie
That's actually a great idea, giving reading assignments! I'm going to try that and see if I can get her to start looking at the iPad as something other than a game system.
CandyOvercaffed
Yes and no. This summer I was pretty lenient. My 4th grader has a regular kindle (all she can do on it is read) so I don't count that, but we got her a chrome book for Christmas. The idea was it would make homework and school projects easier but she is now addicted to Animal Jam and the Harry Potter Wiki so... yeah. Now that school is in session it will depend on homework and chores.
tishamelanie
Yes, Animal Jam is a big distraction because she can play with her friends online. She also likes Minecraft and spends a lot of time watching some guy give instructions on how HE plays the game...I just don't get it. I'm very close to disconnecting the Internet.
CandyOvercaffed
Yes - my daughter discovered videos of Animal Jam "tips" and I'm like - WHAT? If I didn't need to be online for work I might get tougher with what internet services we have, too!
justamom
Always to just a few hours a day & only if everything else is done. With my son, video games brought out the worst in him. They made him angry, violent & argumentative especially when I told him it was time to shut it down.
Frugal Minded M...
I have the same issue with video games and my oldest @justamom. There are times when I take that away for months. Taking the controllers is a great limiting factor.As far as the remainder of the electronics I am finding it really challenging since the schools are not handing out ipads or Laptops to kids in k-8. They encourage use of them at home so if I take them away the kids will say they aren't getting their homework done. However, I know they are on Pinterest, Instagram or games because I see them switching back and forth.
MommyUnwired
When school started, I gave my son game time on xbox and the iPad only on the weekends. I have sort of caved in and allowed him only 30 minutes a day on the iPad (no games) supervised.
tishamelanie
Yeah, I think weekends only seems to be what I'm most comfortable with...I'm hoping that eventually it'll turn to "out of sight, out of mind," during the week and she'll stop asking for it at all.
beachcitymom
My son does have less time and more time limits during the school year but he also has an iPad and he uses it for homeschool, and games. I do have some restrictions but it is tough. His iPad is definitely one of his favorite things. We have taken away the computer and iPad but this doesn't happen too often. The longest was a week but that was last year.