electronics and such

[emote1975]

What all electronic devices do you allow your child to use? And how often a day? My boys are 10 and nearly 8 and we haven't given in to letting them have phones or tablets yet. However, we are getting the 10 year old the iPad for christmas this year. He currently has an iPod touch and all we hear about is how the other kids have tablets. The 8

Comments

[mummoth]

We are pretty strict about screen time here. My big kids are 11 and 9. The kids each earn (or don't) an hour on the computer each day... a half hour for timeliness getting up, ready, and out the door for school, and a half hour for doing their homework. The PS3 can be used on the weekends and they earn time on it by doing chores around the house. We keep track on the Chore Wars website and most tasks earn them about the same amount of time gaming as they take to complete. We don't have cable set up and watch 1 or 2 prerecorded episodes of TV together in the evening. They each have an MP3 player too, but not one they can play games on, we don't care if they listen to music to go to sleep at night. Bedtime is 8:30.

[mummoth]

"we" is my husband and I. My ex sees the kids once a month and it sounds like anything goes at his place, unlimited access to the computer and TV.

I forgot to mention that often on the weekend there is a movie thrown into the mix, usually at home but sometimes the drive-in.

[emote1975]

Yea, right now we don't have a problem but I'm worried once he gets the iPad that we might. Luckily they have soccer or cross country after school and then they also have guitar / music lessons too so by the time we get home it's too late for gaming

[mummoth]

There was a girl here about a year ago who committed suicide after being severely bullied and harassed for a few years because she had taken a topless picture of herself with her phone