Any Ideas on Effective Ways to LImit Computer Time?
I have 2 kids at home, a 16 year old daughter and a 9 year old boy and I am having real trouble setting limits on computer use. For my daughter she wants to constantly be on the instant message boards chatting with her friends. For my son it's games, games, and more games.
They fight over who gets on (we only own one computer) and both refuse to get off for the other one. I personally think they spend way to much time on there and have attempted to establish time limits.
The first step was parental controls, these worked okay for the internet but not pc games. Then I tried assigning hours to be on, but my daughter's friends are always on at different times.
What would you recommend as a real solution? Also how would you recommend I establish the new rule and enforce it?
Thanks ahead of time for your responses.
Syndicate
AddThis
Though it is little bit difficult to maintain computer time limit but it should do thinking about your child.I think you can expand the time little.
playground equipment
I am having real trouble setting limits on computer use. For my daughter she wants to constantly be on the instant message boards chatting with her friends.
Tratamientos naturales
Hi Sheri,
It's a fact that most of the communication between kids is moved to internet, no matter you like it or not.
I believe the best solution for your situation is this:
2 computers, every with time limit for the day ( for example 2 hours/day for your son, 3-4/day for your daughter). That way they will have time limit of computer usage at time of the day they want (you can still disable night hours just in case), but there will be no fight for the PC. Probably a cheap netbook (you can connect external usb keyboard and mouse to make it more convenient) will do the trick - it is quite useful for chatting, etc. and as I said the price is low.
I recommend you to set limits (especially for your son). Don't forget that both good and bad habits are formed during childhood.
There are various time limit softwares that can be helpful for you, even if you keep them both on one PC. You can try http://www.naturehealth.eu/children-care-index.html or http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/downloads/computer_time_limit_software/
If you keep only one PC for them both, you can set for everyone different non-overlapping intervals for PC usage - this will set rules that comes from the computer and will avoid discussions. Definetely they won't be happy, but they will have to learn to live with some limitation and rules. After all our life is full with limitations and rules.
Hi Sheri,
I am not a mother of teenagers, but I have a lot of experience working with teens. I think the best thing you can do right now is give them an alternative task. Help them find something they enjoy doing other than being on the computer. Limiting computer time is so important for so many reasons: health, physical development, social development, and spiritual development - just to name a few. I applaud you for being concerned enough to do something about it. So many parents give up and give in, which is easy, but you love your children enough to set difficult rules for them.
Absolutely designate times for each child to be on the computer. They can "buy" themselves more time by doing extra chores or as a reward for something. But stick to your rules. Whenever they are not on the computer, be sure that they have something to do (other than whine about not being on the computer), such as a hobby, a chore, a sport, read a book, etc.
Hope that helps!
Debra