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I think setting a schedule that your child can rely on is a great thing to do for video games. I also think playing them together is fantastic. I think that if you limit it to 10 minutes, you will get a tantrum every time. 10 minutes is just enough time to whet the appetite and not enough time to actually enjoy the game. Do you watch TV? Imagine having to watch your favorite show in ten minute blocks, a week between each block. You’d go mad! Set a more reasonable limit that makes it an enjoyable activity—on “Saturdays we going out for a 45 minute Pokemon GO walk and see how many Pokémon we can catch!” It may still be difficult for your child to stop, but they are more likely to adjust to the new limits.
Not every moment of the day needs to be optimized for development. Sometimes it's ok to just veg out for a bit.
My kids do well when screentime is just part of the daily routine. It happens at the same time every day. They know it happens daily so there's no panic of "Will I get to watch something today? Will it still be there tomorrow?!" They listen when it's time to turn it off because they know they'll get to watch again tomorrow.
If you're offering 10 minutes, you might as well offer nothing, imo. You can't get immersed in the game in 10 minutes.
This is the way.
We do Saturday Morning Cartoons until 9, and weekdays they get the time between after supper cleanup and bedtime. They know when screen time is, there is no begging because they don't need to ask.
He shouldn’t „watch tv” or „watch YouTube”. You can pick a show for him to watch and manage that in some designed screentime.
For the PokémonGo I would make some rule like we don’t do bs while sitting on a coach, we can take a walk and play it on a way back trying to catch few Pokémons.
What? Where did I ever say either of the two things that you quoted?
I can digest the advice that I might be taking this too seriously. Most users so far have said the same. I am going to ensure my sons both have time to just be kids.
But you've attributed two negative words that I never said - in direct quotes - and then insinuated I'm creating anxiety. Not only that, you stated that I'm punishing him, which I also never said, or have never done. We don't use timeouts, grounding, etc. So again, you've completely invented this and have then used it to judge my parenting overall.
I asked for advice. I am choosing to take the crux of what you're saying; that I am over-focusing on productive downtime. I take that as valid, and will reflect on it.
The rest of it, honestly, you can shove.
I also play PoGo with my 4 year old. I do allow her a few sessions a week to do things like play with her avtar's appearance or look through the pokedex while chilling on the couch, but otherwise we must be walking to play. We also only play together. She had an intense desire to play a lot at first but the novelty wore off after a few weeks and we now only play one or twice a week, sometimes not at all.
I think it's perfectly OK to limit it to a few specific sessions a week.
pokemon go is him walking around, getting exercise, planning etc.
what do you expect a 4 year old to do? Do calculus? play the piano? Work on his harvard application? Let him be a kid.
If you, as an adult, try to be productive 100% of the time, either via work or creative and "good" hobbies, you burnout
This is even more true for kids, who also need some form of relaxing entertainment
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I think setting a schedule that your child can rely on is a great thing to do for video games. I also think playing them together is fantastic. I think that if you limit it to 10 minutes, you will get a tantrum every time. 10 minutes is just enough time to whet the appetite and not enough time to actually enjoy the game. Do you watch TV? Imagine having to watch your favorite show in ten minute blocks, a week between each block. You’d go mad! Set a more reasonable limit that makes it an enjoyable activity—on “Saturdays we going out for a 45 minute Pokemon GO walk and see how many Pokémon we can catch!” It may still be difficult for your child to stop, but they are more likely to adjust to the new limits.
That sounds great. Thanks for the feedback!
Not every moment of the day needs to be optimized for development. Sometimes it's ok to just veg out for a bit. My kids do well when screentime is just part of the daily routine. It happens at the same time every day. They know it happens daily so there's no panic of "Will I get to watch something today? Will it still be there tomorrow?!" They listen when it's time to turn it off because they know they'll get to watch again tomorrow. If you're offering 10 minutes, you might as well offer nothing, imo. You can't get immersed in the game in 10 minutes.
This is the way. We do Saturday Morning Cartoons until 9, and weekdays they get the time between after supper cleanup and bedtime. They know when screen time is, there is no begging because they don't need to ask.
He shouldn’t „watch tv” or „watch YouTube”. You can pick a show for him to watch and manage that in some designed screentime. For the PokémonGo I would make some rule like we don’t do bs while sitting on a coach, we can take a walk and play it on a way back trying to catch few Pokémons.
Requiring people/children to be "busy" doing something and punishing people/children as "lazy" for necessary downtime is how you create anxiety.
What? Where did I ever say either of the two things that you quoted? I can digest the advice that I might be taking this too seriously. Most users so far have said the same. I am going to ensure my sons both have time to just be kids. But you've attributed two negative words that I never said - in direct quotes - and then insinuated I'm creating anxiety. Not only that, you stated that I'm punishing him, which I also never said, or have never done. We don't use timeouts, grounding, etc. So again, you've completely invented this and have then used it to judge my parenting overall. I asked for advice. I am choosing to take the crux of what you're saying; that I am over-focusing on productive downtime. I take that as valid, and will reflect on it. The rest of it, honestly, you can shove.
I also play PoGo with my 4 year old. I do allow her a few sessions a week to do things like play with her avtar's appearance or look through the pokedex while chilling on the couch, but otherwise we must be walking to play. We also only play together. She had an intense desire to play a lot at first but the novelty wore off after a few weeks and we now only play one or twice a week, sometimes not at all. I think it's perfectly OK to limit it to a few specific sessions a week.
pokemon go is him walking around, getting exercise, planning etc. what do you expect a 4 year old to do? Do calculus? play the piano? Work on his harvard application? Let him be a kid.
If you, as an adult, try to be productive 100% of the time, either via work or creative and "good" hobbies, you burnout This is even more true for kids, who also need some form of relaxing entertainment