A few years ago kids used to play outside with their friends. Nowadays they spend hours behind their Playstation, Xbox, or other gaming computers. As parents, you ask yourselves how much time is fine for kids to play online. How much time do other kids spend playing games behind their screens? In this blog, we discuss how much time kids can daily spend on their gaming consoles.
The allowed games
First of all, it is necessary to check the games of your kid as a parent. Some games have an age restriction. This permissible age is determined by professionals. So it is very important to follow that specific rule. You have to protect them as long as you can. One of the things to protect them is to only let them play games that cannot harm them. Think of shooting games, for example. There is a reason why these can only be played from the age of 16.
Especially if you also have older children, it is important to pay attention to that age restriction. Small children look up to their big brother or sister anyway. Playing the same games then feels like a connection. As a parent, you need to be strict about that. Do not let them get into shooting games when they are too young for that. After all, it can influence them negatively.
Screen time per day
A gaming addiction can be easily developed. That is why you have to set rules about the time they are allowed to play games every day. One rule could be that the older they get, the longer they are allowed to play. Another rule could be that if they play outside every day, on weekends they will be allowed an extra hour of gaming with a good gaming headset. So you can enjoy an extra hour of quietness for yourself.
In addition, you can also agree to let them play longer games as long as it is a family game. As a result, you are connecting and bonding as a family. Moreover, they can also learn a lot from gaming together. Think about skills such as working together, being able to stand your losses, cheering together, supporting each other to win, and so on.
Today’s generation is growing up with screens. We are talking about television, computers, and phones. It is becoming more and more difficult to make them grow up with as little screen time as possible. Still, it is a good idea to agree on a maximum number of screen hours per day. 3 hours of screen time per day is considered normal for children over 12 years old. For smaller children, it should be considerably less. Think of an hour or two, but spread out over the day. Fifteen minutes at a time is much healthier than screens in front of you for two hours straight.
Screentime to learn
We should try to not reward children with screen time. Before you know it, they are spending a whole day behind a screen. In schools, they are also increasingly using their laptops, which means a child is constantly in touch with screens.
If this is the case with your children, agree that they are allowed to play games at weekends. This way, you also make a distinction between screen time for leisure and screen time for learning.
Of course, as a parent, you can also direct children to only play games they can learn from. After all, you are the parent and you buy the games you support. You can find plenty of games designed to teach. Think about learning to count for example.