So there I was, proudly telling you all how we have managed to integrate the internet and internet games into our merry lives, being perfect parents with perfect children and so on.
HAH! It turned out that one of our children had been playing internet games, instead of doing homework. As in, “Have you done all of your homework? Well then you sweet child, you may play your games.” And he had been leading a brother in his evil ways.
Rotten little fibbers.
So guess who has been banned from internet games? Ooooohhhhh, the weeping and wailing! The arguments! The appealing to a softer (they thought) authority for mediation! The pointing of fingers! The blame! As the arguing continued, their ban was lengthened, until finally Tribal Wars accounts were deleted altogether, “For speaking to your mother like that”.
The boys announced that it wasn’t fair, there was nothing else to do, (“What else ARE we supposed to do?” “Be bored. It builds character”) and the world was ending. They went to sulk and plot revenge.
Half an hour later, they had dug out their Hot Wheels Track and built it into a destructo-ramp thing. Points awarded for cars which stayed on the track in a head-to-head collision. All of the cars got names according to their toughness, from ‘Poppycake’ to ‘Tantor’. The rules of this game are still evolving a week later.
Then, (with a brief aside to let their parents know they were NOT having fun) they went outside and played Trampoline Skateboarding and Soccer. They spent the rest of the weekend riding their bikes, building a Star Wars Lego mega-complex, reading, painting army men with oil paints and using up all of my nail-polish remover and a roll of paper towels in cleanups, playing chess, and drawing.
They have been so good and happy, that I may even shorten their ban. They need to learn to use the internet wisely, to get the work done first. To self-regulate. It’s hard when you’ve got the screen in front of you, and harder for some than others… In internet searches, I haven’t found any useful information. We hear about “Internet Addiction” and “Addictive Personalities” and it’s just scary, not helpful.
One day, the boys will be out of here and the temptations will still be there. They need to learn how to moderate their gaming now, while they are still young and impressionable. How DOES a person learn this? What can a parent do or say to help their child learn moderation?
What do you think?
by Nan Sheppard
Photo graciously provided by Kevin Steele, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
