Saskatchewan Federation of Police Officers 115 Control the amount of time your child spends playing video games: • Don’t ban game playing outright--it is an important part of kids’ social lives, particularly for boys. • Establish rules for how much time per day your kids can play games, and stick to them. Many homes have “not until homework is completed” or “only on weekend” rules. • If you put limits on how long a gaming session can last, keep in mind that many games take a certain amount of time to finish. • Remember that while a new game will sometimes completely consume your kids, the novelty will pass and other pursuits will eventually hold more appeal. Encourage other activities: • Do whatever is necessary to encourage and support your child’s participation in other activities. If your child doesn’t seem to be interested in anything other than video games, try a tie-in to one of his or her favourite games. If your son prefers fantasy role-playing games, for example, you might encourage him to read books with fantasy themes. Control video game spending: • Video games, consoles and online video game subscriptions are expensive. To keep costs down, you can rent or borrow games and consoles. Managing Video Game Playing in the Home ...continued from page 113
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==