I’m a father of two children aged five and eight. Both love playing video and computer games, and had they been allowed to decide over their own schedules, they’d probably have spent most of their time awake in front of a screen.

My wife and I have made a rule that says that the children always have to ask before they can turn the games console on. This way it’s easier for us to regulate the amount of games playing and when it happens.

We’ve placed a timer by the TV. Sometimes we tell the children how long they’re allowed to watch TV or play games, start the timer and when the alarm goes off they have to finish. The kids respect this, and we think it works well. If they don’t respect the timer, there will be no more games playing that day. By giving them a regulated time frame, my experience is that they are more careful about what they choose to do.

I prefer the children to play on the games console rather than free games online. I think it’s much easier to keep an eye on what they spend their time on when they play games I’ve bought for them, rather than letting them loose online where they might stumble upon games I wouldn’t want them to play.

We’ve also introduced the concept of “screen breaks” at home. Screen break at our house means that the children (and sometimes us adults too) have to take a break from all screen activities, be it games, TV or computers. This is because the children aren’t supposed to switch to TV when they have a screen break. As parents we are more interested in how much time they spend on media all together, than which media they use.

Sometimes we sit down and play as a family. We all have great fun with that, and there are many suitable games that are enjoyable no matter what age or interests you have. To me, quality time is about doing something that creates fellowship and mutual experiences.

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