How do you manage electronic game time?

[newg]

whether it's connected to the tv like a X-box/playstaion...hand held devices like a leap pad/leapster explorer....ipod/ipad.....

We gave DD1 a leapster explorer for her birthday. So between that and the ipod touch she is allowed to play games on...she has a few ways to "not watch tv", while still watching :)
I'd like to find a fare and simple way to manage how much time she spends on these things.

any BTDT advice?
I was thinking of using a token system. We give her so many "tokens" a day, that she can turn in when she wants to play. Each token is worth 30min of game time. Then I would also be able to take a token away for bad behavior or breaking a family rule.
Has anyone tried something like this successfully?

thanks!

[BillK]

We basically set a limit of - for example "now until dinner" - as long as homework is done etc. and follow up with 10 min and 5 min warnings etc. So far it's worked well and it's amazing how quickly homework gets done now with minimal whining.

[Moneypenny]

Like Bill, rather than a specific time limit of, say 30 or 60 minutes per day, we have said that she can do it in the time period between when she's ready for school in the morning and when she and DH leave to go to school. It encourages her to not dawdle while getting dressed and never works out to more than half an hour or so. For some reason I am loathe to put a number on it for her, but I can't really explain why. I guess I don't want her constantly asking to increase it from 30 to 45 or whatever.

On weekends we'll say she can play while I'm prepping dinner or DH will have her do it while he cleans the bathroom or something. Again, it works out to about 30-45 minutes at a time. We will also sometimes do family Wii time on a weekend afternoon, but I call that "family togetherness" rather than "screen time", lol!

[dogmom]

During 1&2 grade we used a block system of time(15 minutes) and you could earn time by doing different things, but mostly by reading. No that DS is in 3rd grade and has more "to do" things. (more independent homework, more game practices, more chores) is more of a "have you done everything? OK, then you can play until x time" I'm trying to get him to self regulate more. During school vacations we let things slide a lot. I will admit it can get pretty arbitrary at times now. If I look at the clock after a while I've been working at stuff and he's STILL on the computer, off he goes. I see no reason I should treat him any different than his Father. ;)

Oh, and the video game threat is very real. Now that he is too big to have me "make" him do things, I will resort to video game time revocation. Never had to actually do it for more than one day so far, he caves very quickly.

[DebbieJ]

NO electronics until after dinner. Includes tv, netflix, computer, wii, and ipod for games. He can only listen to music.

After school/before dinner he does homework, reads, does chores, plays with legos, etc.

[quinnsmom]

DD is in K and DS is in 1st. They can only play Wii on the weekends or on a non-school night. And usually for no longer than 45 minutes at a time. We handle it differently in the summer but I try to stick to the weekend plan with the Wii. DD is not really interested but DS would play all day every day if he could.

They also have LeapPads and they can play those for 5-10 minutes before bedtime. They usually do this after we read them a story and tuck them in - its their "down time."

ETA - I forgot about TV. They can watch tv after school but they usually choose to go out and play. They'll watch for 15 mins or so before dinner. But then its no tv after dinner. I think they watch it the most on the weekend mornings (so Mommy can sleep in!)

If they seem to be acting particularly snarky or disobedient - I will take tv time away for a week. Same for the Wii although DD doesnt care about that but that does work for DS.

We've tried a similar system as tokens - but I did it with a blackboard chart. X's for certain things (whining, not being kind, not cleaning up) or stars for good things (being a good sister/brother/using manners/cleaning up.) The kids actually were really into it and put the x's and stars up on the board themselves. But I was just not on the ball enough to keep up with it.

[hellokitty]

We only allow that kind of stuff on the wknds, IF they have been good, and usually it's for about an hr increment, more if we are on the road. I noticed that when I let my kids self-regulate, that it never happened. They seemed to get more addicted to it and it would affect their mood negatively. So, that is why we are pretty strict about it. My friend who has boys a few yrs older than mine is even stricter. Her boys are only allowed to play their DS or wii on school breaks or during summer break.

[wellyes]

It's a screen, so uses the same 'bank' of time. Playing with the ipad means no tv, and vice versa.

I'd love to say that it's 20 minutes a day max. It used to be. But now that I am a SAHM it has been creeping up.

[kboyle]

we honestly don't monitor/manage game/screen time. my boys have never abused their privileges, and if they don't behave/cleanup/do homework when asked they get their privileges taken away. it's rare that that happens though. i let my kids have that responsibility and they know it's something that most kids don't get and they don't want it taken away.