Video Games, One Way to Compromise with Your Child

My boys are 6, 8 and 10 years-old. During the summer months, all they kept asking was, "Can we play video games?" My response, "Don't you want to play outside in the pool? What about playing with your "regular toys" ?" Same response, "No, we want to play video games." Well, in this house there is a rule that during the school year the kids were not allowed to play video games until Sunday. This was only if they did their chores during the week. So what was I to do with the summer? Well, I came up with a solution.

I decided that if my children wanted to play video games they would have to earn it. Not by taking the garbage out, or cleaning their room, but by reading. I told the boys that if they wanted to play video games they would have to read. For every half hour they read, they got a half hour of video games. If it was nice outside, they would have to play outside first. They agreed to do this, mainly because they wanted to play video games. Now my son who was 6 had a hard time reading on his own for a half hour, so the boys got additional credit if they helped him read or write new words. The boys had a good time helping their brother and also being able to get extra time. I also allowed extra time if they wrote a report on the book that they read.

In their school they are in an accelerated program where they can take a test on the books that they read, and gain points for the tests. At the end of each semester they can save or spend their points. At the end of the year they are rewarded with an AR party along with what ever prizes they get with the points that they have. By writing a book report, they could remember the book they read and take the tests at school to gain points. A win,win situation!

I still limited the time they had with video games. They could save some time for friends that came over, or trips that we took in the car, oh and the dreaded rainy day! They also had to agree on what games they were to play. I also allowed them to play on the computer. They have an animal that they can take care of on the computer. This way they could play some of the one on one video games, or if one of them didn't want to play the game, then they could play on the computer.

In the end, it was a good compromise for all of us. The boys got to play video games, while I got them to broaden their vocabulary, learn about new characters, and hopefully become better writers in their future. The boys are back to school now and have to read 90 minutes a week. Since they are in activities now, they don't get to play video games as much. We now went back to Sunday's, but only if it rains. They are okay with this and were happy to have a fun summer where they enjoyed themselves. They think they won,and with a smile on my face,happy that they read, I agree with them!