Video games push that desire for instant reward and gratification. It’s easy for any kid to get addicted to video games. It would be so hard for them to stop using video games all of a sudden. Your children are precious and they must receive the right help at the right moment. Get Help for a loved one from us to get rid of this addiction. If you notice that your kid is showing signs that they’re addicted to video games, then you should follow these tips on how to help a kid with their video game addiction.
Set Restrictions
If you’ve found that your kid is showing signs of video game addiction, it’s time to start setting time restrictions on their gaming time. Kids thrive on routine so sit down with them to discuss what time they will be allowed to play their video games. Knowing that they have an allotted amount of time each day to play might be helpful. The recommended time is 1-2 hours. You may even want to restrict video game play during the school season or school days so that your kid is only allowed video game playing during weekends or holidays.
Use a Timer
Kids can get very enthralled in their video game time and lose track of time. While you may have timed the 1-2 hours and informed your kid that time is up, they may have only felt like it was half an hour. This could create quite a scene for a kid who’s addicted to video games. Use a timer so that your kid will hear an alert when they’re game time is up. This avoids any questions about how long they’ve been on and allows them to show some responsibility of getting off the video game when time’s up. Depending on what gaming system or device they use, you may be able to set time limits automatically, so when time is up, time is up.
Be Prepared
Your kid will try to beg and plead with you, at first. During the time you’re helping your kid set healthy video game playing limits and to work through their video game addiction you will find that they plead and beg for more time or that they’re in the middle of a game when it’s time to log off. Do not allow your kid to play longer, no matter what, it’s important to stand firm with the time you’ve allotted for game play.
Remove Game Console
This is a last ditch effort to help your kid detox from their video game addiction. If you have found that your kid is simply not ready to follow the rules of video game playing limitations and it’s getting extremely out of hand, then remove game consoles until they’ve proven that they can live life without video games. You can then slowly bring back video games with the limits you set forth above. Sometimes a kid needs a couple of weeks to detox from video game playing to cure this addiction.
There you have it, some ways you can help a kid with their video game addiction. Video game addiction is something that many parents are trying to handle. It happens to the best of us, as video games are created to keep our kids mindlessly playing for hours on end. However, rest assured that every addiction has a path to recovery, such as the programs offered by Pacific Ridge online. Be sure you stand firm in helping your kid overcome video game addiction as soon as possible so that they can develop healthy video game playing habits.
Great post!