Have you/Would you pull the plug on your kids "games"?

No I did not pull the plug. My boys had most game systems and it was not unusual at our house to have a bunch of boys over gaming. Now my older son plays role playing games with friends and live action role play. He doesn't often play video games. Younger son, also an adult, works alot and goes to college. He still enjoys video games with others like xbox live. Neither one is unsocial and they both actually prefer gaming with friends over solo gaming. I think it can depend on the kid and what else they have going on in their lives as well.

My younger DS who has autism is a big gamer. It's something he is very good at and has helped him build confidence in himself. He also interacts with friends through his gaming so it's good in that aspect too. He still goes outside and whatever so he's not a zombie. It's just his thing, and we're fine with that. Older DS never had even the slightest interest in video games. I figure to each their own.

ETA: We did monitor which games he was allowed to play until he was about 16. At that age we felt he was mature enough to understand the difference between pretend games and reality.

I haven't plugged it in! My kids are still young (6 and 8) so it could still happen. They rarely get to play on our phones or the tablet or the computer, maybe 2-3x a month. I use it to my advantage and let them play when they have to be with me for a meeting or something. I always get compliments on their behavior because they are so engrossed. We have good neighborhood friends that don't have games either. I love that they will just play, pretend, create something, or hang in the back yard. I'm avoiding gaming as long as possible, if it ever happens it will be very limited. I used to be a WOW widow and have no desire to go back to that or have my kids get drawn in. While there are some benefits I'm good with what we have now.

We set time limits. They are only allowed to play for two hours four times a week. Most of their friends can play as much as they want so they don't think our rules are fair.

No I have not pulled the plug. I have put the parental controls in place on WOW so on school days it comes on at 4PM and goes off at 8PM. She gets up on time and has her things ready the night before. As long as DD continues to make good grades and keeps a good attitude, I will let her keep playing. If she gets up and night and tries to play other online games, that is on her because she is the one who has to sit in class all day.

If the grades tank, she is very aware the computer power cord will be pulled from the room until improvement is made.

What is really amazing though is watching how she has built her guild, how she leads raids, how she has built her online community, etc. She is learning skills at her age through WOW that I never learned at her age so we are focusing on the good parts and letting her run with them.

We did refuse Call of Duty so she sticks with WOW, Minecraft and Ark Survival Evolved.

I wish more parents would pay attention to all-consuming addictions that some kids have. And then do something about it.

I couldn't tell you how many parent conferences I've had where mothers have sadly shaken their heads and said the kids just won't study or do homework. They comes home and plays video games until 2 or 3 in the morning. They complain that their children are cranky, are getting poor grades, won't talk to them, yet continue to feed the kids' obsessions!

Had one kid that fell asleep in class A LOT. Probably 3/4 times a week. Mondays were the worst. His mother actually asked "what do you expect me to do? He's on his games all night long. Of course he's going to sleep in class!" Duh! I suggested she take the games away on school nights. She said he'd flip out. Okay then. Conversation is over.

I had to take books away from my oldest kid. Books. But anything that becomes an obsession and interferes with real life has to be tempered.

I think that most kids needs to unplug and go find a basketball game somewhere. 

We always had rules with video games. My daughter was always good about going by the rules though so we never had an issue. I do remember the summer after 2nd grade when we were in the middle of a big move. moved out of one house and had to wait 2 months for the new house to be move in able. so We put everything in storage and went camping for the summer. We had electric where we were camping and there wasn't much else for us to do so we would lay in the tent trailer on her bed and play video games on her tiny 13 inch tv. we didn't do it all the time but there were days where we would just veg. There wasn't any tv and we only brought a few movies with us and saved them for the evenings. I really enjoyed that time with her. 

She has so many video games and machines it is too much for me. But she will go months and months with out playing any of them and then she says I want to play a video game and spends the weekend or evening playing.  It is good for them sometime to veg out but not all the time. 

We always had the rule of one hour after homework and chores are done. and that one hour was either a movie, tv show or video game. 

DS(16) had a problem in MS ignoring homework to play. Normally an easy going kid, he would also get an attitude if he played too long. We shut down all gaming on school days and any attitude shut it down for the weekend. Fortunately this worked for us. We don't officially have any restrictions now, but he doesn't touch his system during the week.

Sorry your DS doesn't have more interesting roommates.

My kids are just in middle school so I don't know the long-term impact of playing non-stop video games. I do know that I have no problem taking away their system when it's been overused. I also have no problem scooting them outside to play with friends--whether they want to or not. I can't stand to see them zoned out in front of devices all day long. 

I let them have fairly unrestricted access over the summer. I didn't notice that they were on it an extraordinary amount of time. They went out fairly often to play with the neighborhood kids and were at the pool a lot.

I've taken it back from them now that school's started. They may get it over long weekends or breaks, but it won't be something they use daily. Regardless, they really wouldn't have much time--they have several activities/sports they're involved in that make it hard to play at will. 

I am a definitely not a kid. I posted over on the console gaming thread I am a gamer. I was a big gamer growing up. I was in competitions, tourneys & guilds. I was also a huge reader. My Father was very supportive. As an adult today I am grateful for that. I had rules- study first, get yourself outdoors & then gaming. My parents also made me play a lot of board games. I am also grateful for that because it made me a better gamer. In my twenties I was entering card tournaments. I was a shy child. Gaming taught me to be more outgoing. Taught me to stand up for myself. I am a fast thinker. Gaming was very positive for me. It has helped me as a crafter too. A lot of crafts are strategy and puzzles. I am also dyslexic. Gaming has helped with my dyslexia tremendously.

It does depend on the individual child. I have a friend whose son games and he's showing a lot of issues. He is getting violent. I told my friend he needs to pull the plug. This is a childhood friend so I can say these things. He's like "Gaming has been great for you. It's just a phase!" It's not a phase. Pull the dang plug!!!! Ugh! This kid has scared his friends away. I am very concerned.

Another friend her son games constantly and he's flunking school. This kid is a teenager. Mom is putting him in a satellite program school because he has her convinced that if he could study "gaming" he will be ok & make good money. I told her to tell that to the people at Rovio who just got laid off. She's pulling the plug. I explained to her that gaming companies go bankrupt all the time or get bought over. I told her to look at all the Kickstarter campaigns for gaming. It's not a lucrative business unless you get into a good company like Bethseda. Even they have had problems in the past. Bethseda just laid off last year some of their division that worked on Skyrim.

I am really big supporter of kids gaming. I want to see them game. I want to see them succeed. Like all things it's all on the individual kids and sometimes you have to pull the plug or cut them back.

If you have a child that wants to game and your concerned about gaming your public libraries have gaming systems now. They also have tournaments that the kids can get into. You won't have to worry about them being isolated or in danger of playing something you don't want them to play. They can have the educational value of gaming in a safe environment. I hope that helps.

Our teen girls do like the games, but they actually like their phones more. If they were ignoring their homework, no social life, etc., we would take their games and phones away. Hasn't been a problem yet.

I never really had to unplug. While both of my kids play video games, neither was obsessed with them. They would play for a while and then stop. Every once in a blue moon I would wander by and suggest that they needed to wrap things up and I don't recall ever having an argument about it. If there ever was a debate, it was usually one of their friends and the head phones would handed over and a "miss anxious, pleasssssse let the boy play for a little while longer' and pushover that I am would agree. 

My older son and his phone though? Holy smokes. That thing was surgically implanted in his hands. I had to make a rule that all phones (and by extension tablets) were in the kitchen being charged by 10 pm. Otherwise he would have never slept. I get that at some point he, in theory, would have learned the consequences of those actions, but he still hasn't and at almost 20 I am not even involved anymore on this one. For him, that phone is like heroin. 

I think it depends on the kid. And I have and will take away gaming as a consequence. But my kid has also worn out his BMX bike and loves to play at the park with his buddies. So he's pretty balanced. If he wasn't I would not hesitate.

I will say that saying stuff like that about his room mates gets my hackles up. I think that because his room mates have different interests than him doesn't make them weird. Lots of gamers enjoy blowing off steam by gaming. That doesn't make your kid special or you a better parent.

I have a gamer and a kid who could not care about gaming if you paid her. That's not for a lack of availability, it's a lack of interest on her part.