Need some help....do you have "computer time" standards?

[LaraK]

So my wonderful, loving, creative seven year old girl has turned into a raving maniac lately. She's evil to her brother, disrespectful to her parents and a general pain in the patootie at times. I've been thinking about it and trying to figure out a cause for the behavior changes over the last couple of months. One thing I've noticed is that these changes seem to be corresponding to her recent addiction to the computer games. Between the Wii and the DS she's spending WAY too much time with her electronics.

Do you limit electronic time? How do you do it? Has it made a difference?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions....I want my daughter back. I WILL be making some changes around here.

 

[laurie31]

At that age, I tried to limit to one hour of "screen time" (computer, TV, DS, etc.) per day. (notice I said "tried" - it can be very hard to do).

I actually gave the girls "TV coupons" good for 30 minutes of screen time. They got two per day to start with, and they could lose them as punishment, gain more as reward, or save them up for Saturdays. Since I have two girls, they could also work together to "spend" them. In other words, if they played their coupons right, they could actually end up with 2 hours of TV, if they could agree on what shows to watch.

However, TV/computer time could not interfere with homework. They could have 30 minutes to watch TV and have a snack when they got home, then then needed to do homework. Then if they had more coupons, they could watch again after dinner.

Now, as for the attitude change you describe, part of it is just being 7, but that doesn't mean you have to allow it. Disrespectful behavior should result in consequenses she will want to avoid, whether it's extra chores, losing Wii priviledges, or whatever other thing that she would find unpleasant.

Good luck.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We limit computer/Wii/DS time to 30 minutes per day. DS9 is the only one that uses the computer, but DS6 has the other two as well. They usually don't get to use any of the 3 on school nights, although if one DS has ball practice or something and the other just has to sit there, I'll usually allow them to take the Nintendo DS.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Yes- I limit the "screen time." At our house screen time includes TV, video games, and computer.

My kids can't have any screen time on school days. They leave for school at 8:00 am, and they get home just after 4:00 pm. That only leaves 4 hours before bed. In that 4 hours they must do homework, eat dinner, shower, and get ready for bed. If they have extra time they can find something to do. When the weather is nice they play outside a lot.

On no school days they are allowed 1 hour of screen time. I will relax the rule if they are watching a movie that is longer than 1 hour.

The one exception is if they are doing something educational. My oldest DS uses the Rosetta Stone Spanish lessons. I encourage him to do those several times per week. Once in a while they do research for papers at school online.

My kids never complain about it. They are used to it. They usually don't watch TV at all. They use their time for video games or club penguin online.

 

[luvmy3]

Up until this year we did not allow computer, video games or TV on a school night (Sundays counted as a weekend day). Now my kids are allowed 30 minutes of any of those on school days. Weekends we don't put a limit but we don't let them sit around all day watching TV or playing video games.