Could my kid be addicted to video games?

I am a 17 year old boy. My parents get mad at me for playing fortnite battle royal in my spare time. However, what they don't understand is I am not being anti-socail i am playing with my homies.

To be honest, parents don't understand kids our age. Just because someone likes to do something doesn't make it an addiction. You could be as easily addicted to playing outside as playing video games. My parents have banned me from all video games for the last three years. For some reason playing video games will turn me into a 'school shooter' whatever the heck that means. We still have the same PS3 in our livingroom. When my parents go somewhere and leave me home, I sometimes play video games. I only do it because it takes my mind off of school, and reduces my stress. I don't see why but every time something out of the ordinary happens with me it is immediately blamed on video games. I am in gifted classes in school and my worst GPA this year and last year was a 3.14. So if you are a parent, please do me a favor and not ruin someones hobbies unless they are directly negative like drugs.

I feel like when everyone here talks about “video games”. The first things that come to your mind are games like “GTA V” or “CSGO” or any game that clearly has the 17+ rating. But if you take a closer look, there are some true masterpieces of games out there. Games with great music, great story, or some other gimmick that gets the player to truly love the game. Now I’m not blaming the parents, but I believe that simply talking it through with your child/teen and coming up with a reasonable deal for how long he/she can play. It can make a huge difference. In addition, parents should stop assuming that every game is bad. There are some games out there that are violent, not gonna lie. But if you try to take interest in your child’s hobbies, you will realize that there is so much more to video games than you think.

Hi i am a kid and i would like to talk one thing i would like to note is set time to 3 or 2 hours and try doing 1 hour or 1 and a half is good for most gamer's if you want to stop it don't think about. try putting jobs that have to do or let them play outside with friends also video games aren't bad some can help but don't get lame games like educate games because there boring games like portal 2 can be fun but have a good element that teach about puzzles and it does not rot your brain i liked it and played it often with friends those are the types of games you want check reviews and types of games they would like and try it yourself it would make your child more open to you and they would have lot of fun talk to them about it try it but if they want to play games like cs go please stop them because you can lose money too they can play but don't let them trade skins because that can happen. now I note that you read reviews for games and see what they want and see if it is good or not. DON'T GET THEM LAME OR ALL OUT EDUCATED GAMES because they can hate you for this. set time to 1 or 2 hours and try it too if you would find a new hobby and see why they like it and see the people in it.

Stop this insanity now. There is no such as a video game addiction. As a parent, what you see is your child being enthralled by some evil force that will corrupt and destroy. The truth, your child has a hobby that they enjoy, that hobby happens to be digital. Perhaps you do not understand the hobby, perhaps this is why you insist it is an addiction and therefore must be 'cured'. Maybe if parents like you endeavoured to understand the activity you would see that it is not a bad thing. There are of course some extreme cases, if playing video games legitimately interferes with vital aspects of your child's life then yes; it could be considered an addiction. This is the child's fault and not the game. Take me for example, I play video games compulsively because I enjoy that, I have the sense to stop when I have other things to do. Finally, it could be worse. Your child could be 'addicted' to TV. TV is nowhere near as beneficial as video games. Video games develop problem solving, coordination, creativity, reaction times, teamwork, imagination. Need I go on ?

I BLAME the game company for manipulating our kids brain. Giving them score, ranking, prizes if they win... for God sake we need to pull this problem from its root. This is nothing but destroying our kids and addicting them to some stupid games and habits. And please don’t tell me I have to control my kids... then I be blamed to be the nurse ratchet and a law-dog (I been called both). I am so sick and tired of arguments. SOMEONE please if you have power to stop all these game from coming out, please DO. Tomorrow be too late. I am going to write to our congressman and representatives to have a ban on certain games, and time-limit for using the Xbox. Yes I said it. The control is on their hand and not the partners ... this just so sad. I use to have control when xbox was not in our house. I lost all my power to that box.

What can we do now? It seems every one of our kids are addicted to games and boxes. It has totally destroyed my relationship with my son. We have no life at home AT ALL. Sociaty is raising my kid... I am thinking just to let him do what he wants because every night we have argument rather than good family time. What can we do? Someone please help

I am a divorced father of 3, have been in a wonderful relationship with a woman and her two children for past 10 years. Her children are 11 1/2 and 13 1/2 yes old. We have lived as blended family for 8 years. We felt same about video games in beginning, we both dislike and thought they were a waste of life. About 5 years ago we bought an Xbox and agreed that since our kids were active physically and were outdoors everyday with sports etc that it was ok for us to allow. Now, 5 years later her 11 1/2 year old has spent last year in his room everyday. Refuses to go outside, plays one sport (one weekday practice one weekend game and spends rest of his entire life playing. Currently violent games with headsets talking to strangers online while he plays. Ism injured and at home and mom is working. She is now supporting it and gets defensive if I say it’s not right. He has already had issues with acting his age (he acts and talks like he’s 7 or 8). Her other boy will spend hours staring at his phone. When she gets home he acts as if he hasn’t been on phone and asks her for some me home time and goes rt back on it. I love these children with all my heart and it’s very difficult to sit here day in day out and watch these kids spend life’s on screens. Everything I’m opposed to and she used to be opposed to. She refuses to look at studies and even denies they are using screens that much. It’s currently making me separate from them and our relationships. They have a hard time behaving, telling truth or handling any life situation. Every day is Groundhog Day. What or how can I show them the dangers or the effects of screen time and staying inside rooms to game everyday. How can she see the effects and relate them to the screen time? Please, I love these people but am just about to accept they are different now and it’s time to go our deprecate ways.

Before we start let me just say that i feel that i am not addicted however others are and if that is you please find some form of help. Anyway as a 15 year old i often find that my playstation is a great way to learn and make friends from all walks of life. I have personally met one of my best friends to this day (from hong kong) over 'The Division' which i play on my playstation 4. Although i will admit i get angry over such games from time to time i feel that parents often mistake this for blind rage caused by an 'addiction' rather than just the game's immersive affect that it commonly possess over the user (gamers are competitive and anger can mean we are enjoying ourselves). This almost always leads to my parents assuming the worst, then taking the easy option of just banning me all out. All i and many other teenage gamers ask is that parents try to understand oir hobby and think twice before yelling and punishing us due to some bullshit article you heard on CNN about mental health and gamings bad side, written by some overly cynical journalist that hasnt even looked at a video game. Just dont forget that there is a good side to gaming that benefits the people playing it.

Since my 18 year old got his ps4 ive grown to dislike him, and i hate that! He's my best friend but when he gets on his ps4 and goes online im terrified of him! He throws things,he cusses, he's kicked 3 doors off their hinges,he kicked my radiator and cracked the pipe and hes put his hands through my tall mirror and my pets are terrified of him too! I don't know what to do as threats dont do anything or even taking proactive action it makes things worse hes also got Cystic Fibrosis which doesn't help as its depressing to know your likely to die before 20 years. Does anybody have any advice??? Much appreciated.

Yeah I agree with the dude who said let them limit themselves. I just had a small argument with my father a few minutes ago. Basically my mom broke her wrist and isn't able to do much because she is still recovering so my brother, sister, and I do our best to help her our around the house when she needs it. However a new DLC was released just today for my video game and I had a long day at school and at practice and just wanted to eat study for some tests and enjoy the new DLC on my game. However my sister shouted at me to come help her and my brother do dishes and some other things because my dad said to. However the thing was I got really mad because it took me 20 minutes to load into the lobby I was in and I shouted a few things like "are you giddying me this is bull krap I did this stuff last night" and that set my dad off and he said "ok that's enough you can't play the rest of the night" I got even more mad after completing chores but just went back downstairs because I wasn't in a mood to talk. Then my dad came back a little bit later and said I told you to shut down and few other things and asked if what I said was appropriate behavior? I answered yes because I was still in a bad mood from the long day at school I had. He said "you best just shut off the Xbox now" so I closed the door and went back to playing because I was really mad and just wasn't caring. My father then caught me and yelled at me "you best just do what I ask" I responded to him by saying calmly "why I haven't done anything wrong and he said their are statics out their that say this kind of behavior came from playing to much Xbox." I was just really mad at this point and didn't want to hear anymore from my father so I shut off my game and went to my room and studied a little bit and found this site when I went to see this "statistics" for my self. I haven't found any yet but anyways I don't thing my dad understands me really at all. So now I'm sitting on my bed typing out this message to all you parents out their who have teenagers who play video games a lot just to let it be and let them limit themselves but limit them a little bit during week days to like 10:00 PM EST. Then on weekend when they don't have school or something like that let them stay up as late as they want as long as they don't have anything important going on. Anyways so I've been sitting here thinking my dad really made me mad and he doesn't understand I'm one of the good kids. I go to school and get half decent grades and I study for my tests and stuff and I go to and from work and do everything else my parents ask of me to do. Now I understand I have to help around the house I'm not upset about that I'm mad because my father fails to realize he does the same thing in a different manner. When I'm playing my game I'm in a relaxed stage where I just want to relax. Only difference is he comes home from work and does some chores like I do then sits on the couch drinks a beer and watches the news and helps my mom when she needs help. Now what I don't understand is if I do the same thing why in the world are you taking away the thing I pay for and makes me relax away from me. He doesn't think this way, plus on the first night my mom broke her wrist it was a Thursday night a school night I stayed up until 12:15 PM EST to help her and make sure she was comfortable. What did my dad, brother, and sister do? They went to bed. Sure my dad stayed with my mom at the hospital for awhile I mean I was their also. However I stayed up later then usual to make sure she was comfortable and her own husband son, and daughter went to bed like any other normal night, while I stayed up and made sure she was comfortable. And all I did was help her most of the first night. And yet I'm not allowed to relax in the manner I enjoy so this way I can relive some of my stress from the past few days. Any parents out their reading this just let them be eventually your child will learn when to set limits and what they have to do to be successful sure it will make them mad sometimes but in the end they will learn. Please take this advise with a kind heart coming from a 16 year old who just wants to relax but can't no matter how helpful he's been. And father if you ever read this take it with a light heart you really made me mad for doing nothing more then talking back a little bit and I could act way worse. I've only ever had one detention in school for saying the word "gay". And other than that I'm a good grade I get all A's and B's, I got a job and I give my brother's and sister rides to places when they need them, so ask yourself, Why did you take away my process to relax?

With all due respect, I question the validity of this advice. I mean, "talk to your pediatrician"? Are those people even aware of the effects of media? They are there to medicate illnesses of the mind. I doubt they would even the most remote of knowledge about that (with all due respect to pediatricians, of course.)

I myself have been told I was a video game addict... This started when I was 6 years old and has gotten worse. Trust me you can't stop this kind of behavior. If you stop it it gets worse... I suggest if you want them to stop to tell them they need to earn a monthly gold membership by doing chores and hanging out with family. Don't buy them year gold unless they really earned it. (this is only helpful for children who are addicted to Xbox)

I have had to deal with this problem with my son. If they really are addicted then all you can do is stop enabling them by taking away the games and getting them to find healthy things to do. My house my rules. It is a battle. But truely addicted people have a brain rewire, change personality and do not believe they are addicted. As a parent, you have to intervene because they are out of control and cannot stop. Eventually they do not have a life apart from the game or computer screen. The games need to go so that they cannot game in your home, or they will eventually end up socially isolated and a failure in life. You have to stay strong and not expect them to understand. Eventually they recover some sense or, if a yound adult, they move out and make their own choices. Real life without the comfort of the family home is a good teacher once they are an adult. SOmetimes they have to hit bottom like a drug addict. Here are some web resources that helped me; websites such as empoweringparents.com and familiesmanagingmedia.com If there is true addiction then go to olganon.org. Parents, spouses and loved ones who have gone through this have shared their experience there. it will help you to make sense of it. conductdisorders.com is also a very good place to get support if your child is being difficult.

Im a frequent gamer myself and I believe the best thing you can do with your son is to try to play games with him figure out what hes doing online and connect with him all in all. Also if your son is addicted to video games you shouldn't try to break that habit, He enjoys what he does and there is nothing wrong with that. Did you know that playing video games can give you better memory, vision sensory and faster reflexes so honestly If he was my son I wouldn't do anything about it as video games can prepare them :-).

I think P.G. who emailed may 2017 was writing about my son. I have a 12 yr old, who is acting the same way. I would like some suggestions on how to break this addiction. Should he have a certain amount of time allowed on gaming systems or none at all for a while. What is the best way to make the break for them?

I'm a 40 something year old male gamer who is happily married with 3 beautiful kids. My wife doesn't game, my two girls game a bit but my13yr old son, like his father enjoys playing video games a little too much. We have, during the week, a household policy for the kids. Homework and study, chores and when done, your time is your own until 9PM. With the policy, I found that my boy was rushing homework or not doing it at all, neglecting his chores or going to bed well after his assigned bed time. He was tired, moody, grumpy, resentful, steadily getting worse since he was about 11 years old. For those adults who aren't gamers and can't relate to the addictive qualities of many games, it is in many cases, very similar to reading a very good book or watching a tv series with a very good story line. It can be difficult to keep our selves in suspense by forcing our own selves to do a more important task such as sleep instead of continuing on to the next exciting chapter. As adults we are hopefully better at disciplining ourselves to prioritise but it can be difficult - "I know it's midnight but just one more chapter". Kids don't have that discipline. Gaming achievement and progression is more interactive than a book and the game never ends until it becomes boring. There's also an element of sport and competition in many games which brings with it bragging rights. More time means more progression and a more competitive edge which in turn allows progressing even further and being able to do more stuff within the game as well as peer recognition. Then there's the element of team based gameplay which is present in many MMOs and tactical shooters. If a team member doesn't achieve at similar rates, then they start to fall behind and become a liability - effectively holding the team back from being able to take on the next in game boss for that fancy equipment or be competitive in the league. Back to my boy, My screentime policy was great and all but my boy didn't have the mental discipline to maintain it and I was struggling to enforce it. He'd also do everything he could to work around it. I've turned that around a bit. On the XBOX one and PC platforms, Microsoft provide a way to enforce screen time with child accounts. My boys logon account cannot game after 9:00PM at night during the week and he can't game prior to 5PM during the week except on Fridays. The restriction gives him plenty of warning before it drops him and while it was difficult for him at first and he was moody and whiny about it, he's getting more sleep and doing what he's supposed to do when he comes home from school now. He feels better about that as do I. He interacts with his mother and siblings in more positive ways after school and while he gets his homework and chores done, he also is forced to find other activities to do which he also enjoys. I've also noted that while he is allowed to start gaming from 5PM, he's not desperate to start gaming right on 5PM. With the knowledge that the gaming will stop at 9PM, he now stops gaming at around 8:45PM and says goodnight to his mates until forced shutdown or comes and chats to my wife and I. Weekend is often a bit different but that's ok in my book. He plays a lot of different games MMO RPG - Elder Scrolls Online, SWTOR,Neverwinter. FPS shooters TitanFall/Battlefield/destiny and racing games such as Forza Horizon 3 and ahemGTA5 and a plethora of others including minecraft like games. The restrictions encourage balance, he's no longer tempted to rush or cheat or take shortcuts with his responsibilities just to get more game time in since he can't start gaming any earlier anyway. He's no longer tempted to sacrifice his sleep time and stay up beyond his bedtime talking and gaming with his mates since the system won't let him. My son is now getting sleep, he's getting his homework and chores done, He's better able to absorb what's being taught at school, He reads more and is far more balanced and healthy in his family interaction. His relationship with his Mum and Dad have grown. I don't have to growl at him and nag/lecture him constantly when I come home from work about the things he was supposed to do and didn't or ask him why he's still playing at 10PM when he knows his bedtime is 9PM . My favourite part is he prefers spending his gaming time online gaming with his Dad whether it's cooporative or competitive and sometimes waits for me to come home before he logs online. .

NOTICE: THIS DOES NOT JUSTIFY ADDICTION I'd like to bring up that I'm an active gamer myself and that my dad (at one time) felt that I had been addicted to gaming simply because of how often he saw me spending my time sitting in front of the screen holding a controller with my Xbox on. I myself, had to evaluate my own mindset to see whether or not I was addicted at the time due to my dad's vague observations. Apparently he and I are not in the same vicinity whenever I'm either doing something productive or non-gaming related. During my research to determine whether or not I was an addict, many FPS (first person shooter) games such as CoD, Halo or Battlefield and open world games such as Minecraft and Skyrim came up, to name a few. These titles are easily some of the most known games today in which players of all ages invest a lot of time into. To begin, FPS games are some of the most played games featuring a leveling system determining how long you've played and how well of a player you are. Rank usually measures your seniority (how long you've played) and Kill/Death (K/D) ratios measure your overall difference between your kills and deaths. Now these two play a factor in the extensive playtime of you, your child, or whoever plays these games (besides for fun of course). Personally I see why FPS games are played for hours among hours, due to earning a certain number of kills to bring up K/D or ranking up. K/Ds are a personal goal among the player whether or not they'd care about their performance and ranking up usually helps them unlock in game items and earn achievements. These are pretty simple as they'd explain why many players spend so much time on FPS games. And trust me, leveling up is lengthy depending on how often you play and how well you do within each match. My preference steers towards K/D so I can see whether or not I'm improving, but I do know my limits. If I get a bunch of kills over my deaths for a single gaming session, I either get off or play a different game. This is common between my friends and I to satisfy ourselves and may be the cause for others playing for prolonged periods of time. Open world games such as Minecraft and Skyrim, on the other hand allow you to be creative, get into the story and venture off into an almost infinite spectrum provided by the developers. Leveling up, like FPS games are an essential component of RPGs (Role Playing Games) such as Minecraft, Witcher and Skyrim, which are based upon seniority by playing the game and how you generally play altogether they allow you to create and customize your story and whatnot.

OMG THERE IS A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM. Since your kid has no interests other than gaming, get on his good side. Try playing video games yourself and make sure your son knows, because common interests bring people closer. The whole family could pretend to be playing video games making your son think you like video games, but play enough to know about the game. The hard part is getting your son to answer your question, but once you start a conversation about video games, keep it going. Make it a dinner-time routine for the whole family to come to the dinner table and talk about video games, even play together. I know for a fact this will bring all of you together. Take it step by step until your son gets into a routine of playing video games for 3-4 hours (no less), going to his friends house some days, coming to the dinner table and discussing everything, and get enough physical activity and human interaction to keep your sanity. What I know for sure, video games aren't bad for you, not getting enough human interaction, fresh air and light, and physical activity is bad for you and can slowly lead to insanity.

I'm struggling with my son game addiction everyday his dad take away the game from him he go to school he borrow from his friends. Come home with new one , he has no phone, no computer, no game still he find a way to play with his sister tablet. He' s grade drop significant GPA. Is lower it can get I dont t know what to do. I need a professional help please.

Hello S.D., I am a high school teacher who used to be a competitive gamer as well. I want to point out that most people below have some very good points. However, none are fully correct in my opinion. Extended gaming may cause your son to have better reflexes, but this will not matter due to his lack of muscle from no physical activity. This reclusivness also tends to make personal, face-to-face interaction socially awkward because of the loss of a safety net AKA his headset. Do I love video games? yes very much so. I was a nationally ranked gamer on the game Battlefield Bad Company 2. The way my parents and many others have handled this is a weaning off of the game and having him earn game time. This gives a purpose to chores, exercise, and spending time away from the home. This tends to expose them to activities they were unwilling to try previously and also limits the gaming without confrontation. My parents would give me a chore list. I could earn up to 4 hours initially. Slowly my parents brought it down to 3.5, 3 and finally 1.5. What I realized was that I became a more rounded individual. I began focusing more on sports, took up acting, and became a State Parliamentary Procedure Champion in Business Professionals of America. My parents didn't evoke the rebel instinct in me by coming aggressively, but they did what was best. Just something to consider. Best of Luck, Coach J.

I personally think that putting an actual time limit on an account can make everything worse. First off, I think that video games can improve a kids mental health, as some studies say that video games could improve a child's reaction time, ability to solve puzzles (puzzle games, strategy games, etc...) and teamwork. Putting a time limit on an account for pc gaming can really put stress on a kid and make him think that he needs to finish as fast as he can, making the game stressful and not fun, this will make him very stressful, especially when the account automatically logs him off when he is in the middle of gameplay, and can potentionally delete his progress he has rushed through those hours, and can make him mad. This will make him angry over his parents and this can lead to the more rude and violent behaviours you think your child has addapted from the games. This is where most parents think it is the games fault that their child is rude or violent, and might make a more strict of way of monitoring their kids screen time, and can potentionally make the scenario worse. Some solutions to this problem is to just let your child play, but don't tell him he has a time limit, like give him a time limit of 4 to 5 hours of game time, and he can play it stress free thinking that he has no limit, and after that say in a nice and polite way that he may have been playing for a while and that he should go outside and play. This will let your kid have time to save the game so he does not loose all his progress that day, or if he is playing a specific type of game that gives your child a temporary ban if he just disconnected from the game, then he could tell you that he needs to finish the game first, and the he will get off. Another solution is to just let your kid play, just like doing a particular activity just like biking, or swimming, a kid can't swim for the whole day or bike for the whole day, if your kid plays stress free for a bit, he could just get bored of the game that day and get off naturally, and will go do something else. Also for addictions, most people think the stress of pressure of a digital time limit on the account, or a time limit you set is a addiction, and all they want to do is keep playing, this is wrong, they are just trying to get the most out of the game, but can't because they are stressed, and most people play the game to relieve stress. If your child plays the game to relieve stress, then putting stress on the kid while he plays is a terrible way to monitor his screen time. And most people do something they like to relieve stress, just like if someone loves to read, they would read to relieve stress, or if someone loves to swim, they would swim to relieve stress, same thing goes for gaming, if they feel stressed, they would naturally want to play video games to relieve stress as that is what they enjoy.

Go on ahead, let your kid play. As long as it doesn't affect his health or well being, then I don't think it's a huge problem. The only thing the would cross the line, is if gaming controls most aspects of his life. If it affects his ability to do his school work, chores or behaviour (as in being rude or vulgar) then I suggest you should find something else for your kid to do, just to take him of the edge a tad. Maybe go to the waterpark?

I have a 9 yr old stepson who stays with us every second weekend, I'm not sure if i should be concerned or not about his interest in the playstaion games he plays? He seems to me to be obsessed with them. He has no outside interest, doesn't play a sport and only wants to play the playstation. Its all he ever talks about. He never has discussions about any other interest he has or things he would like to do. He complains if we are going out to a bbq or restaurant and sulks the whole time we are away from the house. The only time he seems happy and chatty is when he knows he has all weekend to sit and play games. He plays for hours and hours on end. for example he wakes up at 5 am every morning and plays until night time. He struggles to share the game with his brother and will become nasty or mean when its time to hand the game over. He will say things like i wish i didn't have a brother , he is so annoying, go away, shut up and snap at anything his brother says. As their father seems happy to let them play it as much as they wanted i knew i had to try and get them to enjoy some time outside doing fun things together and it hasn't been easy. I have made a rule that they must have 20 min turns so the brother gets a go and i have made plans for outdoor activities to get them away from the game and enjoying family time, exercise and fun. The problem is when i arrange an outing to the beach or the park the 9 yr old spends the whole day complaining he wants to go home, he sits alone and makes comments that he isn't enjoying himself and sulks around until i feel so miserable that i want to go home myself? What should I do to try and get him to enjoy family time without worry about when he can go home to his games? As a stepparent its difficult as I'm not the real parent but I am concerned about him socially and in the long term not having a good friendship with his brother. any ideas on how to get him to have fun away from technology?

The important thing to consider about gaming "addiction" is that a lot of it is simply a compulsory act of de-stressing. Think of it in the way that a particularly bookish child reads, the effects, reasons, and even outcomes can be the exact same. This is because games, like books and other things within life often utilize feedback loops. To overly simplify; a feedback loop is when an action is always followed by a reaction, usually a stimuli that often compels a person to repeat an action. Just in the way some people have that "one more chapter" compulsion when reading a book, some people have that "one more game/round/match" compulsion when playing a game. These loops can be unintentional or planned and can prove a very formidable force for grown adults, much less children. If you find yourself asking if your child is addicted to games there are a few easy things you can do to deal with the problem. First: calm down, the likely hood of your child being clinically addicted to video games is quite slim and you may simply be catching them at an odd moment i.e. the game is a new toy and they are playing with it, soon it will no longer be new and they will play with something else. There is no need to jump straight to addiction when it is just a child exploring the world in a new way. Second: watch the child's actions, if the child goes out of their way to play their game such as going to a friends house to just play the game or sneaking down at night after bed then you may want to take some form of action. Often talking to the child should be a first step, beyond that you have various options, an easy one is to take the child out of the environment, signing them up for a new activity or sport is a good way to break the routine that often characterizes video game addiction. Finally: take active steps against the child engaging in the addictive behavior, computer, phones, and tablets all have some form of parental controls that limit any thing from access to the internet to access to certain apps, home consoles have similar features are often not as robust and can often be circumvented through a few tricks. The important thing to understand is to not simply resort to taking the game away at the first sign of a problem. While doing this does effectively break the cycle it doesn't do anything in the terms of a teachable moment.

I have found that if my mum was to restrict my playing time because of exams then I want to play it even more. This crave can often distract me from important work. I suggest that you let your child play on weekends but make them take a five minute break every hour. This will help your child and say for example they are stuck on a certain level and they are getting angry over it then act calm around them and ask them to come off for a bit. At lunch maybe a half hour break is best. Overtime your child will start to get bored of the game and will not want to play it as much. If your child is continuously getting frustrated and progressively violent due to video games then doing a form of marshal art helps. Don't panic here, I can personally recommend Judo. In this sport there is a large element of respect involved. This will help to discipline your child. It is not an extremely violent sport and is very much based around one defending themself - your child won't come away with dents in them after a session. I have found that with my brother and myself when we come away from Judo we are much calmer, it often lets out a bit of anger and energy which is ultimately key for our school and family life. This may help. If you restrict your child on video games then they will grow frustrated and try to play it when you are not around to monitor them. They will need to learn to have limits on their own play time because it will affect them. Just make sure that your child your child is eating healthily when gaming and that they have at least half an hour of exercise per day. Perhaps use a schedule for them and have certain hours of gaming in between meals and exercise. All these steps will ease them out of being obsessed with games and it has worked with myself, my brother and many of my friends. Do not panic about the games but be firm with everything you say to the point where they cannot question your decision at all. At first it will sound like you are being strict about your child's play time however eventually the child will think you are being generous about letting them on their device because it is being slowly withheld. If there is spare time in the day and all of their homework is done etc. then perhaps give them an extra half hour or hour as a kind of of reward, this will look like generosity to them. Eventually the child will grow away from the device but make sure they are not obsessed with it in their teenage years, this will affect their social life as well as school and home. Incorporate these steps around the age of 10-12. If your child is younger and obsessed then get them out of the routine of playing it immediately. Hope this helps a bit.

For those parents freakin out because your child wants to play a few minutes, don't worry. You see, '"addict" is when your child can't stop and don't bother about anything else. This means "the game is playing you child" this means the game is controlling you. Don't let that happen, if you are like this, just try to calm down, do some sport and try to forget about it. Hope this is useful.

'Addicted' is a very strong and dramatic word, commonly used by people who don't actually understand what their child is 'addicted' to. If the child is spending every waking moment on a game and it's affecting their sleep or school schedule, then yes, it's an addiction, but if they just play it in their free time, it is not an addiction it's simply playing a game, and for the most part is actually beneficial for the child.

My son spends almost 30 minutes everyday playing Minecraft and it is really starting to effect his chore schedule. I discovered that if I threated to break his netbook, he makes sure to do a especially good job cleaning the bathrooms, doing the dishes, doing the laundry, vacuuming the carpet, and walking the dog. I would recommend doing this for your kids as well.

I play video games almost every single day. I'm home-schooled and I'm the SMARTEST in my class. I got into a sorta like 'Honour' class. Video games don't affect their grades, It's them that affect their grades.