5 Tips on Distracting Your Child From Gaming
There’s no stopping children from gaming these days, and there’s no harm in it. The problem is, children can become easily absorbed by gaming. It may take priority over homework, eating with the family or even spending time with friends. It can be exciting when a child gets a new game to play but it shouldn’t take precedent over real life. Here are a few ways to distract your child from gaming if he’s becoming obsessed.
Talk to Your Child
Just making your child aware of the amount of time he spends gaming could be all you need to do. It’s easy to waste time gaming without knowing how much time you’ve wasted. Just popping your head into your child’s room and making in aware of how much time he’s spent playing could be enough to stop him playing in his tracks. He may be more mindful of the amount of time he spends gaming from then on, especially if he knows you’re keeping an eye on it.
Educational Games
Gaming doesn’t have to be all bad. There can be a lot of positives about gaming, including increased concentration levels, discipline and quick reaction times. If your child has taken to gaming, why not take advantage of it? There are many different educational games or brain tools that can be found online, including ways to unscramble words or anagrams and practice for exams. Make a deal with your child that he can play his own games half of the time if he plays the educational games the other half.
Set a Time Limit Tool
If your child spends a lot of time online playing games, you may want to limit that time. If you’re sick of shouting up the stairs for your child to stop playing and getting ignored, it could be time to set up a time limit tool. This is especially useful if your child uses a computer to play games. You can set up the tool so a warning sign is highlighted on the screen, asking your child to stop playing. Some tools will even sound an alarm too. In some cases, you can set it up so the game automatically finishes when the time is up.
Make Time for Your Child
If you want to successfully distract your child, you need to replace one activity with another. Set aside some time to spend with your child so you know you have quality time together. It could be playing a game of one-on-one basketball, going swimming or a trip out for ice-cream. If you have things to do at home but you still want your child to have some time away from gaming, consider having his friends over to watch a movie or hang out.
Take Away the Console
In the most extreme situations, where your child has clearly become addicted to gaming, you may be forced to take away the console until you’re sure he’s ready to have it back. It could be that your child just needs a reminder that there’s more to life than gaming.
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