Your kids gaming vs bedtime -- any exceptions to the rule?

Can't really comment on the first 7 as its a sliding scale. eg it would depend on the factors of the day etc. If they were getting on well with school and socially then I don't see the problem. Obviously within reason and depending on their age.

I would hope that I would be in their life enough that they would not be playing games by themselves til bedtime. I grew up with loving parents but who did not care for games and it definitely shaped the way I grew up.

The gambling one would be taken very seriously, as they need to realise the dangers of online gambling, not to mention the trust issue in regards the credit card. Would probably let them finish the game so they can sweat it out.

Would then be a lecture and a half to leave a message.
 
My oldest is nearly 8 and has taken to PC gaming in the last 12 months. Check out The Sims 3 on my X-fire profile - THAT WASN'T ME!

I'm a gaming Dad and my better half is completely anti - but we've agreed to set some guidelines for our kids around this. These include no games before school and time managed sessions (no more than an hour at a time and no more than 3 hrs a day). And absolutely no computers in the bedroom (except for the linux box for homework)

We're also flexible and avoid being little Hitlers when it comes to enforcing rules. If our kids encountered one of the scenarios below then I'd likely make an exception - BUT - reduced time online the next day. This keeps it fair for all.

The only exception to this would be if I was waiting for MYturn :D

Can see I'm going to be building a second game PC some time in the near future.
 
my parents tried the whole "bedtime is at 9" thing and it didn't work at all.

then again, i have DSPS, so i find it extremely difficult to sleep before about 2 in the morning.

eventually i persuaded them to let me manage my sleep cycles myself; for almost all of high-school and 6th form i'd regularly go to sleep at about 3 or 4 on a schoolnight and get up at 7AM.

i managed just fine :D
 
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snowdog said:
Don't worry, I'm probably a bit immature still, I don't have kids, and not planning to for a good 15 years at least. It was only a couple of years ago for me being that young and I just can't imagine bringing it through that differently...

I understand your point, but imo a kid should be able to decide for himself, if he decides wrong, it's his own fault, lesson learned for later...

Looking back my last post does sound a little bit stupid/immature, as if I'm still a 12 year old kid myself. But oh well...
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Oh ! ok then. Dont worry then, I will wager that most of your views and thoughts will change when you have kids. My outlook on what I would allow my children to do and not to do changed vastly once I actually had kids of my own. When I was younger I thought I would be a hip, flexible easy going sort of parent...strangely though once I actually had kids I found that I was almost the exact opposite, I discovered through some quite tough lessons that it was better to be a parent first and a friend second :)
 
1) Your kid is on a 25 man raid in WOW.
Bed now, and cancel sub, would have given permission to buy an MMO sub so would have used credit card without knowledge, reduce pocket money for length of time played.

2) Your kid is 35 minutes away from getting some amazing 'endurance challenge' achievement in a game.
Let him finish, endurance races are a pain, besides, it's only 9pm

3) He is involved in a 4 player RTS game.
Off to bed. If you don't know them, who cares.

4) Someone has hacked his facebook account and written insults to his friends.
Let him finish with the best of his friends, the rest can be told later.

5) 'Time Taken: 8 hours. File Downloaded: 98%. Time remaining: 23 minutes.'
Let it finish, but don't install/run till the next day.

6) Racing game .. he's halfway round the track on a 12 minute race.
Finish the race, 6 minutes is nothing

7) Your kid has just spawned with an ultra-rare weapon, which gets lost when he dies or quits.
Ultra-rare and get's lost when you die/quit? Must be an MMO, see #1

8) Your kid is, illegally, on an online gambling site.
PC off, no question. Have a very stern talk the next day.

I can't imagine the day where I went to bed at 9, as we never left for school till 8, so that was getting up at 7. 10 hours is far too much I think, though like Tombstone says, i'm sure this will change when I become a dad.
 
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right with 3 kids aged 15, 14 and 11 I can answer this from 2 perspectives as I seem to get this every other night lol

I will not pay for sub based games so WoW wont happen until they can fund it themselves

the rest dont matter as at 10-10.30pm (9pm for my 11 y/o) if they dont finish in 10 mins the wireless is switched off to start with, followed by the mains switch for upstairs sockets... whingeing etc ensues but they soon stfu and goto sleep :)

on weekends I relax it a bit as I dont mind them having a sleep in on saturday cos it means I get one aswell :)

Saturday we all go early ish as my eldest has football on Sundays and it usually means an early start

they all have 360/ps3, sky and pc/laptop in their rooms something I actually regret and have made a rod for my own back but they do still go out, play sports, skate and so forthe so all in all they have a decent balance
 
1) My kids won't be playing any subscription games until they can pay for it themselves.

2) 'Achievements' are stupid. Go to bed.

3) Go to bed.

4) Make him update his status and send a single mass mail. Go to bed.

5) A) why is he downloading such a large file? B) He wouldn't be likely to have a pc in his bedroom at the age of 10. C) If he did, I would have built it, so it would be silent.

6) For the sake of 6 minutes, sure.

7) Tough luck indeed, BED!

8) Send him to bed, and finish the hand myself.
 
1, 2 and 3 - tough. Its bad planning if bed time is 9pm why start a 4 hour raid at 6pm or anything that he knows will take him past his bedtime.

4, 5 and 6 - I would be a bit lenient and give the extra time as long as it was occasionaly, not every time he is asked to turn the computer off

7 - you kidding? Kid illegally using gambling sites with either mine or a stolen credit card...bedtime is not the issue here.
 
A 10 year old with a pc and internet in his bedroom?? I didn't even have a TV in my bedroom until I was 19. As a result I find it weird when people sit there and watch any old tripe.
With me and my Brothers and Sisters we shared a couple of TV's, an Amiga 500 and a few consoles. There were four of us so we couldn't all play at the same time, except two player games...and we used to sit around in pairs animating on the amiga now I come to think about it. So the solution to your childs quite scarly adult sounding free-time behaviour...have more kids, er what was the question?

Oh yeah #8 is just nuts, I would go apes***.

The rest I would give him leeway unless he does it every single sodding night. If so, then I would be all like 'Listen blud...' (down with kids) 'This is how you be rollin' on a nightly basis, so just get yourself to bed, before I throw acid in your face.' Then flick him a hastily made-up gang sign.
 
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My kid will be told to get off the computer long before bedtime comes around anyway so this problem won't arise in the first place.

I don't think you can just go "Computer off!" then "Get to bed!" anyway. The kid needs some time to wind down first. I know it sometimes take me a while to get to sleep depending on what I've been playing before bed and I'm 30 never mind 10.
 
Meths said:
My kid will be told to get off the computer long before bedtime comes around anyway so this problem won't arise in the first place.

I don't think you can just go "Computer off!" then "Get to bed!" anyway. The kid needs some time to wind down first. I know it sometimes take me a while to get to sleep depending on what I've been playing before bed and I'm 30 never mind 10.
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Quoted as its the truth!

Dont have children yet, but know i was like this when a child, and im now 32 and im still the same. If i turn the pc off and go straight to bed i can g'tee i cant get to sleep for atleast another hour. Then the wife moans as i would have the light on reading or watching tv lol.
 
At 10 years old there'd be no exceptions, when he's older I'd probably let him off no. 1, so long as he's not DPS, in which case, tough, they'll replace you in a nanosecond.
 
1) I would take the computer off him for playing WoW, nothing against people who play it but I don't want my 10 year old addicted to a game! Or for that matter to be subject to any number of possible adult subjects via guild, spacial etc chat!

2) Depends if he has to be up for school the next day.

3) I will take over for him!

4) Call him simple and to simply put his status to "Sorry I was hacked, ignore the insults everyone!"

5) I would not let my 10 year old have a computer in his room, however if it for some reason were in his room I would send him to bed and turn his pc off when the download was done.

6) Yes, 6 mins is ok.

7) He can have 10 mins.

8) Tough one but I would probably kick him off the PC and ban him from the internet, and if he has stolen he is going to get a visit to the police station in the morning!

Jcb33.
 
For most of those points I'd say that he shouldn't have started those things in the first place if he knew it would take so long.

As for the RTS game - I think I would have trained him well enough to beat his opponents within 30 minutes ;)

The facebook thing can wait. Everyone will know it wasn't him anyway.

He'd have to go to bed whilst the file finishes downloading.

I think I've failed if he's gambling at 10.
 
Meths said:
My kid will be told to get off the computer long before bedtime comes around anyway so this problem won't arise in the first place.

I don't think you can just go "Computer off!" then "Get to bed!" anyway. The kid needs some time to wind down first. I know it sometimes take me a while to get to sleep depending on what I've been playing before bed and I'm 30 never mind 10.
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we're not saying 'computer off', 'sleep now' though, i know when i was told to go to bed it didn't mean i was expected to instantly drop off (wouldn't have happened anyway as i required very little sleep as a child (5 hours!!!)) i was allowed to read or watch telly (when i eventually got one in my room at 12/13) or listen to an audio tape.

my kid wont be playing computer up until bedtime anyway (unless special circumstances exit), i just don't think it's healthy.
 
vincent1989 said:
we're not saying 'computer off', 'sleep now' though, i know when i was told to go to bed it didn't mean i was expected to instantly drop off (wouldn't have happened anyway as i required very little sleep as a child (5 hours!!!)) i was allowed to read or watch telly (when i eventually got one in my room at 12/13) or listen to an audio tape.

my kid wont be playing computer up until bedtime anyway (unless special circumstances exit), i just don't think it's healthy.
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I didn't say that either, I said "Computer off!", "Get to bed!". I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to fall asleep on command let alone a 10 year old child.:)

The only point I was trying to get across is that my daughter will be told to shut down the computer long before bedtime.
 
Meths said:
I didn't say that either, I said "Computer off!", "Get to bed!". I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to fall asleep on command let alone a 10 year old child.:)
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i know, but you missed my point, i'm saying "get to bed" (your words) does not necessarily mean 'go to sleep' (my words). saying "Computer off!", "Get to bed!" =/= "Computer off!", "Get to sleep!"
 
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