Getting my son not to glue himself to the computer?

[UncleLim]

No Facebooking for anyone in our family and we are still having a good time !

[HopeandSorrows]

U meant this is a family rule in your house and something that is agreed upon within your family that No Facebook is allowed? :rahrah:

[cherrygal]

At my household, computer games (kids games, no facebook) only allowed for 1hr on Sat during school holidays. Term time no games allowed. We deliberately do not buy iphone, ipad, wii, xbox etc. He is only allowed to use our laptops which are kept at a common area. He is not allowed to use the computer in his own room, door shut etc.


Games we play are kid-friendly ones such as Fishdom, Sudoku, Word games etc. Occasionally we go to the free online kids games websites and he plays shooting or racing games.

He knows his friends will call him uncool but he also knows I control this for a reason. I tell him games can be entertaining but playing too much also makes us stupid. I show him news articles about pple who die while playing games.

You mentioned that you had no reason not to let him play after he finishes his work etc. I don’t agree to use it as a daily reward for good behaviour. The gaming time should not be a daily expectation from your son. It should be a privilege during the school holidays, not a must-have.

[UncleLim]

HopeandSorrows:

U meant this is a family rule in your house and something that is agreed upon within your family that No Facebook is allowed? :rahrah:

We all have our Facebook pages to pretend we are \"normal\" like other people. But we do not log on or check for friends or play games. We live our lives in the real world and play real games like badminton, and farm real plants, and send friends real cakes that we bake!! :rotflmao:

[cherrygal]

That’s a good post Uncle Lim! We have real lives to lead, not virtual lives…

[antebellum]

…

[Lance G.0723 King]

I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with facebook but just like so many things in children’s lives (Xbox, texting, TV) it uses up amazing amounts of time with no real productivity. Not that there is anything wrong with that, we all need time out but children need to learn how to utilise the power of delayed gratification. "Of course you can spend time on Facebook…when your homework, your study and your chores are done"


I think there is a bit much panic about Facebook - I find it to be an amazingly open system where really it is almost impossible to hide malicious intent. The user has full control over who has access to them and it is a great mechanism for parents to use to keep an eye on what their children are doing.

Ultimately though if you are concerned about the amount of time your child is spending on the computer… turn it off! Who pays for the electricity in your home? Who is in charge? Take it away, lock it in a cupboard. But if your child is achieving well, is completing everything you expect of him and still spending a lot of time on the computer, where is the problem?

[HopeandSorrows]

UncleLim:

HopeandSorrows:

U meant this is a family rule in your house and something that is agreed upon within your family that No Facebook is allowed? :rahrah:

We all have our Facebook pages to pretend we are \"normal\" like other people. But we do not log on or check for friends or play games. We live our lives in the real world and play real games like badminton, and farm real plants, and send friends real cakes that we bake!! :rotflmao:

Should encourage such culture in homes! :lovesite: But UncleLim, how did your kids react when you enforce the house rules initially?

[cnimed]

I think it’s different when you set the ground rules from the start, as opposed to backtracking. I limit screen time (computer/tv/ipad) for my children from the very first time they use the media. Any screen time they get is a bonus. It’s not surprising to spend a weekday without them looking at any screen at all. There are no strong reactions, it is simply mum’s rules, and they do notice that I don’t spend much time on TV or electronics either. They have many other hobbies and activites to occupy themselves with.


I am not against computer or TV. They are indispensable to me and my husband. But I am very selective with the usage, and the time spent on them. I do also think that one needs enough of real life to be able to produce something fruitful in cyber life, be it content or design. Even internet research needs to be complemented with real research work in a library at some point if it is to be substantial.

[dadsandmoms]

hello mommies and daddies,


I think this issue is very important and should be dealt with as early as possible and as early as possible. some of my friends felt that ipads and computers are good sources of distraction for the kids that gives the parents some space to breathe but over time its a bad bad mistake. Now they are ONLY GLUED TO IPAD AND IPHONE AND ANDROID PHONE.

from some understanding of this kind of computer stuff is not allowing the children to grow a dependency on them and as parents we should physically distance the children from the computers by limiting play time or physically bringing them away from the devices by bringing them out.

of course, by bringing them out the activities have to be fun enough to keep their minds off the computer games.cos i stay near kallang there so i bring them to the indoor playground to play and make it fun for them. http://goo.gl/0OgLt i love to bring them there because i can also take a small breather by the side of the cafe while my kids interact with other boyboys

while we , as grownups, know whats good for them , better use our authority to separate them first because this is something we can impose on them. When they are older and more rebellious i think it will be hard to change them already so i try to keep them apart from computers and only limit their time with the devices hope it helps !