Video games are frequently viewed as a negative influence for children, with many believing that they distract kids from academic responsibilities and real-world experiences.
While excessive gaming can lead to these outcomes, supervised gaming sessions can actually provide intellectual stimulation and mental stability for children.
Responsible gaming can help children feel confident and in control of their lives, while also helping them let go of any stress or anxiety they’re feeling.
However, it can be easy to get too much of a good thing!
Here are five tips to help your child develop healthy gaming habits to ensure they get the most out of their hobby:
Establish Clear Expectations
Rather than letting your child take the lead when it comes to gaming, start a conversation about the significance and purpose of gaming in their lives.
Mention that beyond being entertaining, gaming can play a role in developing emotional intelligence by acknowledging their emotions during gameplay and identifying when the gaming experience turns negative.
Teach them to be alert for signs that their gaming has become excessive or less pleasurable, like heightened frustration, irritability, or neglect of other responsibilities.
Work together with your child to set up guidelines that will help build healthy gaming habits and emotional well-being.
Encourage them to pause for breaks as required, and take time to indulge in different activities if gaming no longer brings joy.
Develop Healthy Routines
Having a healthy daily routine is essential for both physical and mental health, and will help ensure that gaming doesn’t become excessive.
Set a schedule to ensure that your child gets an appropriate amount of physical activity, time spent outdoors, and nightly sleep.
Find ways to make exercise fun, whether that’s enrolling your little ones in a kids beginner soccer program or taking them out for a bike ride.
Ensuring that your child has a balance between healthy daily activity and time spent gaming will help kids understand the importance of balance.
Discuss Challenging Emotions
If gaming is causing your child to react with frustration, it’s a great time to step in for a conversation.
Rather than ignoring their negative emotions, or getting frustrated yourself, guide your child towards thinking about how they’re feeling, and the reason for it.
Consider using an emotion chart that lets your child show you the image that mirrors their feelings.
Then, talk about ways they can help deal with that emotion and feel better. From deep breathing to playing with playdough, there are all kinds of easy techniques to help kids let go of their stress.
The best part is that teaching your kids techniques to manage negative emotions is something that will benefit them in other areas of their life as well!
Explore Suitable Games for Stress Relief
Gaming can be a stress reliever, by providing rewards for challenges, giving players a feeling of control, and encouraging creativity.
However, these benefits diminish if players face repeated failures at a particular level.
To prevent your child from experiencing this stress, ensure that they’re not constantly playing challenging or competitive games.
Balancing the excitement of a challenge with more calm and casual game choices can help minimize anger or frustration and improve stress relief.
Regulate Gaming Sessions
While controlled gaming sessions can positively influence children’s brains, extended periods of gameplay might result in both mental and physical health issues.
For example, longer-than-usual gaming sessions can strain the eyes. Continuously straining their eyes may eventually lead to weakened eyesight.
Neck and back strain from leaning forward towards a screen without regularly changing their position can also occur.
Gaming for too long may additionally lead to mental issues including mood swings, insomnia, and poor concentration.
If your child struggles to self-regulate so they’re not spending too much time in front of the screen, it’s time to step in and set a regular gaming schedule to help prevent any potential physical or emotional issues.
Gaming can be a great way to relieve stress, connect with friends, and, most of all, have fun!
But, as with anything in life, balance is important.
By setting clear expectations about healthy gaming habits, you’ll be able to let them enjoy their hobby while still living a rich and fulfilling life away from the screen.