My Sons Spend Too Much Time In Front Of The Tv
All my kids talk about getting every year for Christmas is video games if they don’t go downstairs and find Gears of War 2 under our new flocked christmas tree I do not know how they will survive. It makes me a little nuts since I do all I can to get my kids outdoors. I would much rather give them a pair of new skates or golf clubs then some mind numbing thing that will enchant them in front of the television. Oh well I guess you just learn that kids are kids. Arguing with the boys over “appropriate” lengths of time is just too much work.
That being said I’ve tried to find some tricks for my family and video games. With a few techniques I try to get them outside more. First off I limit their time every day to one hour (they can earn more). I have discovered that limiting the time is key to everything else because then they know time above and beyond that is to be earned. To be more fair I’ve allowed them some methods of earning more television time. That leads me into my second trick. They can get more television time by either doing chores or spending time outside. The chores is nice for me and generally has a pretty good payoff for them. I intentionally made it with the purpose of them getting around one hour of television time for every one hour they spend on chores.
The number two way they get more television time is by spending some of their time outside. For every hour they spend outside they get fifteen minutes of video games. I know that it isn’t a huge payoff for the boys, but they like being outside and I do not think it’s a lot for me to ask of them. That option works the best of their long Saturdays where they spend the majority of the day outside anyway. They can play outdoors for the day on Saturday and then spend the night playing video games. Realistically a night of playing games and watching movies isn’t so bad after a full day outside.
That being said I’m ok with one or two ending up under white flocked christmas tree this year if it has the effect of getting my brats outside and getting some stuff done around the house for me. I hope they like their games, because I am going to like my “gift” of a little more control around the house.
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mary
