Questions tagged [video-games]

Questions regarding a child's use of video games may cover determining suitability, setting and enforcing limits, or other questions relating to what role video games play in a child's life.

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Limiting screentime, does it increase craving and addiction risk?

Edit: This question is specifically about screentime limits and cravings, there is no duplicate. We have been limiting screentime for our son for several years now. I am questioning if this is the ...
Ivana's user avatar
  • 1,421
55 votes
8 answers
12k views

How can I handle kids telling me extremely boring stuff?

I have a 9 and a 12 year old. They'll (either one) get into a video game and then want to talk about it. Have you ever heard someone talk about, say, minecraft? first i got some oak sticks, but then ...
scuba_organic's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
62 views

Are there any video games that are recommended for 6 year olds which might help development of cognitive skills and/or coordination? [duplicate]

I played some video games back when I was a teenager but never played anything since... I remember this as something addictive that took time away from what I now see as more important things. I now ...
BigEasy's user avatar
  • 67
1 vote
2 answers
316 views

Could a three-year-old really have the cognitive abilities to make playable "Mario Maker" levels? [closed]

There is this famous YouTube content creator named James Rolfe. He does the "Angry Video Game Nerd" and other creations as "Cinemassacre". He is about 40. In the last half year or ...
Deanthony Trung's user avatar
6 votes
4 answers
969 views

How can I curb my (and my older brother's) game addiction?

Backstory I live in a family of 7. We are a very tight-knit family, all living under the same roof, and we love each other dearly; but we have very strict rules about a lot of things, the one in this ...
Vildred's user avatar
  • 163
3 votes
2 answers
327 views

Explaining to a child the issues of inappropriate content and helping them pick cleaner games? Comforting a child after having to take away an Item?

My child got a video game from a friend's parent as a "gift". I didn't know what was in the game until we turned it on. For the first few minutes the game looked ok but later got dirty ...
Marnie's user avatar
  • 31
3 votes
4 answers
651 views

What age to introduce video games?

Our son of 5 has either only heard of video games from his mates or watched video game videos (of paw patrol and the like). Personally, I haven't played video games for about 20+ years now. The last I ...
happybuddha's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
653 views

How to get my teenage son's enthusiasm back?

My son turned 13 today but, since he started secondary school (uk), 18 months ago, I have noticed a steady decline in his enthusiasm for...anything really, apart from playing computer games. I am ...
Sped's user avatar
  • 11
2 votes
2 answers
166 views

Mental effect of playing games and watching videos on mobile phones [duplicate]

My 3 years old kid plays games and visits YouTube for kids app on the mobile phone frequently. After some time some effort must be made to remove it from her. It seems like she is addicted to the ...
lakshman's user avatar
  • 121
1 vote
3 answers
733 views

In 2019, is Roblox safe for a 7 year old?

I have a 7 year old with ASD (I'll explain relevance in a bit), he has become obsessed with Roblox, I believe because one or two of his friends play it. I know there have been some rumours about ...
ggdx's user avatar
  • 113
2 votes
4 answers
364 views

How can you make sure a game is suitable for children

While I'm not a parent myself, I have 3 nieces and nephews, and they're starting to show interest in video games. Their parents do not know much about games, especially about the way they are ...
user3399's user avatar
  • 121
4 votes
4 answers
616 views

Indulging mobile game obsession Pokémon Go in 6-year old

My 6-year-old son really enjoys his Pokémon Go, a game on the mobile phone. Mainly because: it is something he does with his dad (we are together but our son spends more time with me, and so he seems ...
Ivana's user avatar
  • 1,421
4 votes
4 answers
729 views

Help dealing with son addicted to video games. Would this app work?

My son is 15 years old and plays video games all the time. His grades are quite low now. I already tried a couple of things like rewarding him when he is studying, but with no effect. I heard of an ...
DigitalEvolution's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
495 views

Up to how many hours of screen time is OK for a teenager for educational purposes?

My 14-year-old son loves programming and he’s been doing it since he was 10, although over the last couple of years, he’s been really serious about it. Hence, he spends around 2 hours and 15 minutes ...
user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
636 views

How can I get involved in the parenting of my girlfriend's sister's 5-year-old who spends too much time on screens etc.?

I am a 30ish years old man, living at my girlfriend's parents place for 4 months. It's been 2 months already, 2 more to go. I don't have kids (yet, but want to). With us is my girlfriend's sister and ...
Vincent V.'s user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
197 views

Possible and adequate parental attitudes to a 10 yrs old playing a horror video game on smartphone possibly under group pressure

My 10 yrs old son has recently a copy of horror game (haunting scenes with ghosts/monsters having appearance of toys like teddies etc) app allowed from 16 years and his arguments are: his friends in ...
Akron's user avatar
  • 421
5 votes
3 answers
598 views

Reasonable amount of video game time for an 8 year old kid?

So, my kid brother, who’s 17, has been visiting me, my wife and kids. My son, Blake, loves Uncle Zach and loves spending time with him, which is great. Zach has brought some video games for him and ...
Bryan Rivers's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
846 views

How to deal with children going to friend's houses to bypass rules

In our house, as with most households I assume, there are lots of rules that we decided on, which might not be agreed upon by other families. Our son is 9 at the moment. For example, to prevent video ...
Kaito Kid's user avatar
  • 1,053
181 votes
18 answers
42k views

How to deal with excluding my son from the favourite activity of his peers?

This is about forbidding my son from participating in an activity all his friends partake in, not about the activity itself. How does one go about this when these are his only friends? (Please see ...
Sonja Rumer's user avatar
  • 1,391
2 votes
1 answer
263 views

What's the best way to teach a 5yr old to play chess?

My son figured out checkers a few months ago..but got bored playing when he realized chess existed and that there are a lot more variety of players and movements. He also loves video games. Is there ...
Arturino's user avatar
  • 873
8 votes
4 answers
1k views

How to convince my wife that some digital gaming is beneficial

My wife was never a gamer. She has a deep hate towards the idea of our five-year-old son playing a video game yet she is totally OK with him watching up to 3 hours a day of Netflix Kids. How do I ...
Arturino's user avatar
  • 873
3 votes
4 answers
595 views

While playing car racing games should i wait for my child to catch up or keep racing with other cars?

My soon to be 4-year old son plays car racing games with me on XBOX. Apart from the two of us there are 8 computer racers too. He can drive well, he knows what to do and he knows we have to win and ...
Hanky Panky's user avatar
-2 votes
3 answers
289 views

Is there a way to remove inappropriate ads and content for children using a shared phone?

Parents! I share my mobile device with kids and let them play games. At that time I do my chores and have some time for myself. But I noticed that sometimes they watch inappropriate ads or even ...
Parenting Resource's user avatar
39 votes
12 answers
23k views

How to handle my little brother's addiction to videogames?

Here is a bit of context to start with: I live 150 km away from my little brother. My father got remarried to another woman, with whom he had my little brother (let's call him 'Marc'). Since we grew ...
Jaeger's user avatar
  • 501
3 votes
6 answers
1k views

Making reading books the only option on long car commutes a bad idea?

I have a 7 year old son in 1st grade. His school is rather far away, and it takes about 40 minutes for me to drive him there. We are a very busy family, and so I want this time in the car to be "time ...
wrieedx's user avatar
  • 133
17 votes
6 answers
2k views

Separated parents. As a dad, how do I exercise tough love without being the bad guy?

I am a father to a nine year old boy, I am separated from his mother and have been since before his birth. We don't really get on but we are civil for his sake and communicate maturely as and when it ...
user avatar
23 votes
2 answers
2k views

5yr old Addicted to Mobile Devices - Need Advice!

So it started when he was 2yrs old, we gave him his first bad habit.. eating while watching youtube videos. It worked, he ate well..like a zombie. (Parent Fail #1). Now at 5, he LOVES playing a ...
Arturino's user avatar
  • 873
51 votes
13 answers
50k views

My child wants GTA V for his birthday

My 10 year old son wants to play Grand Theft Auto V, which is PEGI 18. My son has ADHD and I'm really worried that he will start acting like his favourite characters in the games and I don't want ...
MummyLizzie1974's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
850 views

Should I play Minecraft with my kids?

All three of my sons, who are elementary-aged, enjoy playing Minecraft. We have two computers and two accounts, so we can play in multi-player worlds. They really seem to like it when I play with them ...
adam.baker's user avatar
70 votes
5 answers
15k views

Is it bad being a "bad influence" for my younger cousin?

First some background information: I am a young woman in my early 20s, I lived alone since I was 18 relatively far away from home. I graduated top of my class and I am studying and working in IT. (...
Pudora's user avatar
  • 1,388
17 votes
6 answers
863 views

Is it ok to play a computer game with a 3yo

My 3yo daughter has recently noticed me playing Craft the World, a game which is (mostly) about dwarves working and building their home, with hardly any violence. She wanted to know what it's about, I ...
Dariusz's user avatar
  • 9,991
3 votes
1 answer
5k views

How do I change my Brother negative thinking, and bad attitude and addiction towards computer games

I'm his older Sister, 15 years old and my Brother is only 13 years old. He has been very addicted to the computer, online games and apps on tablets. Although this may seem like a common problem for ...
Chloe's user avatar
  • 41
10 votes
3 answers
2k views

Can having a computer game temporarily go blank when kids are too loud have adverse emotional effects?

There is a very popular question where a father says: My kids (4 and 5) yell a lot when playing games on the computer. I found an effective cure for this. When I hear loud noises, I [remotely] ...
Fiksdal's user avatar
  • 245
1 vote
1 answer
155 views

Are there good educational apps for a 4-year-old where learning unlocks play time? [closed]

I am looking for an app to make my 4-year-old son learn, for example to count and the alphabet, before he can watch videos or play games. Is there such an app? Ideally 1 minute of learning would ...
gtwk's user avatar
  • 119
-1 votes
1 answer
7k views

Should I allow my 19 year old son to sleep during the day?

My son is 19 years old, he is a computer science student and has just finished college and is awaiting his grades. In September he will be going to University if he gets the needed grades which he is ...
Toby's user avatar
  • 147
4 votes
3 answers
708 views

What to do with a disinterested 12-year-old boy?

My 12-year-old grandson does not have any interests other than video games. He can be a good student, but he does not turn in work and always complains about not having friends and nobody liking him. ...
Grammy's user avatar
  • 41
10 votes
1 answer
820 views

How do I solve my brother's fear of a creepy video game character?

I was playing a creepy little indie video game the other day (Undertale) and my brother (who is 9 years old) happened to watch me play for a while, despite my warnings that it might be scary or ...
personjerry's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
18k views

At what age child can get a game console?

I'm thinking about to buy xbox for my daughter 7-year birthday. But I'm worry a little bit that it can be too early for this age and maybe it's better to wait? I think playing is good for brain ...
Alexan's user avatar
  • 141
11 votes
4 answers
930 views

How to end 9-year-old's video game time with less stress?

My 9-year-old has been off of all technology for many months, and finally earned it back. He gets to play a 1/2 hour a day on my old iPod Touch. Ending this time has always been stressful, and ...
aliteralmind's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
2k views

Is a (classic) GameBoy appropriate for my 1 year old son?

My son is very excited in using technical devices like our printer, our tablet or our wireless phone. I'm thinking of buying him a classic, black an white GameBoy (the grey one with big nobs), so that ...
slartidan's user avatar
  • 153
10 votes
9 answers
4k views

How to reduce Online Game Addiction?

What are some methods to help a teen who openly admits that they may be addicted to online gaming and wants help?
Java_NewBie's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
3k views

Teen secretly playing video games when should be doing homework [closed]

If a son of about 14 years old, using his laptop to do schoolwork, secretly plays video games instead, should it be the parent's responsibility to find this out and stop him? If the son finds it hard ...
ʇolɐǝz ǝɥʇ qoq's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
212 views

Gaming for Kids [duplicate]

My daughter is getting excited to be playing games with my wife and I. My issue lies in the fact that growing up (some time ago) I wasn't allowed to play games very often. Things change and I get that,...
AngelicProgrammer's user avatar
16 votes
5 answers
5k views

My teenager son is addicted to video games

I am a mother of a brilliant 18.5 year old young man who is obsessed with video gaming. This is a habit that has existed since he was 13 years old and was exacerbated when his severe chronic cystic ...
user7984's user avatar
  • 161
11 votes
5 answers
11k views

How should I teach my son to play video games?

My son will be 4 soon, and he already enjoys playing a few educational games on my tablet or his mother's phone (he plays maybe as much as an hour a week). I'm a gamer, and we've tried playing a few "...
user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
983 views

Do all video games really have to be moderated?

I notice a lot of 'money for good behaviour'-type development question for kids here, and the main argument is some permutation of 'giving money for good behaviour does not help develop intrinsic ...
user2738698's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
237 views

Parental Control for Internet? [duplicate]

For a parent, how do we best control the content of the ENTIRE household's Internet in a centralized manner? This settings of parent controls for individual network-based devices is maddening and ...
John Greene's user avatar
14 votes
4 answers
1k views

Strategies to reduce computer game interest

We have a moderately strict rule about electronics time at the house -- as long as their homework, chores, or other responsibilities are finished, each kid gets to play a computer or video game for an ...
Acire's user avatar
  • 22.6k
18 votes
1 answer
3k views

How to handle different rules about video games at friend's house?

My 8-year old son, like many boys his age, is obsessed with video games. We try to have a rule at our house where he's allowed to play certain games that are appropriate to his age, for only a ...
Nathalie Laroche's user avatar
5 votes
5 answers
14k views

Enocurage or discourage playing video games to 4+ year old son

What precautions should I take to make it so my son does not become a games addict as he grows. I know what I have lost playing games for so many years when I was young. My 4+ year old son (will be ...
I am Daddy's user avatar