Mr. White wrote: The hard part for us is that the kid is doing fantastic academically, is a wonderful big brother, and all around great guy. It feels like he should be able to spend a few minutes each day playing MineCraft or what not.
We're thankfully in that position as well. My son that has had behavioral problems in the past earned $42 from his report card this week, six As and two Bs. That is definitely part of the equation. The other boys did very well too.
The other part is that we make them purchase most of the games themselves. They use that report card money, but more importantly they help with tasks around the house (the one boy cleaned up pounding nails on our deck resurface this summer) to earn money, so there's a tick-tock aspect to their lives. Play game until finished with it, earn money to purchase next game. The drawback is that they have a legit beef if we limit their play time too much since they're the ones that own the game. We have the veto power, but we need to use it judiciously because "you're using my electricity" isn't the most compelling argument for turning off the Wii.
We put Minecraft into a different category because it's more of a lean-forward sort of environment (almost hate to call it a game). It gets more leeway, and doesn't produce the stressed-out moods that the real time racing and combat games do. It's also a very different pursuit. I joke when I come down the stairs -- I cover my eyes and say,
"let me guess, you're playing a game where you're staring at the back of somebody's head, he's running around, picking things up and hitting people with them." I'm always right. It's remarkable. Minecraft is much more deep-thinking. My boy built a coastal defense system, a repeating rock thrower that automatically hurled boulders if a ship came into the local harbor. Didn't need to be manned to function. I talked him into calling it the "Phalanx Gun."
S.
Games
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