Is Your Kid Ready for a Gaming System?
Parents write us all the time with questions about managing media. Here\'s one we hear regularly: "We have a boy about to turn 10. He\'s lobbying hard for a GameCube or PS2. It\'s hard to see a plus side, beyond pleasing our little guy: We see so many parents struggling to control game time, and being pressured to buy T and M games. How do we decide -- and if we say yes, which system do we buy?"

Here’s the bottom line: The minute you bring a game machine into your house, you\'ve added yet another thing in your son’s world that plugs in. And let\'s face it, video games are fun. They\'re addictive and designed to suck up both time and money. Players can’t get very far in any game within an hour’s time (which is what we recommend as a limit per session), so they will have a hard time shutting off the game when you ask. Kids also quickly learn to want the next thrilling game, so before you know it, your 8- or 10-year-old is lobbying for a T (teen) rated game. That said, these game machines have become a fact of life in most kids’ lives. How you deal with it depends on your own parental philosophy. Some parents limit time spent by not having a machine at all. Others enforce time limits. Still others set media diets that allow kids to choose which of the many forms of media they wish to use on a given day with a limit as to overall usage.

The advantage of this last option is that it encourages kids to learn to trade off media (instead of having an hour of each kind, for instance) and teaches them to limit themselves. If you decide to take the plunge, here are a few suggested ground rules:

Know the content of what your son plays, both at home and at his friends’ houses. Our reviews can help you know what to watch for -- and give you ideas for discussions you can have with him.

Teach him limits. Be firm from the beginning, but prepare yourself to battle the “but I have to save the game so just hold on….” moments.

Think carefully about online gameplay. We don\'t recommend letting kids under 12 go online to play games.

Liz Perle is Editor-in-Chief at Common Sense Media.