When weather is bad, anyone play video games with their kids?

[jaisonline]

My kids plays a ton of youth sports and does well in school, so the wife and I allow him to play some video games on the laptop during weekends.

He picked Fortnite. Lots of building strategies but does have cartoon violence. He also likes Roblox after taking a programming class for it and RBI Baseball on the xBox.

Personally, I only played baseball, football, soccer, and basketball games growing up as a kids in the 1980s (Atari and NES) and on PCs during the early 1990s. So games today are super fast for me and it's hard to keep up.

Anyone else play the occasional video game with their kids?

[pickettt]

My boy has a Nintendo switch, but we reserve its use as a reward. Though, he doesn't have Fortnite, he seems to have learned all of the dances from his friends at school . He and my wife play Mariocart head to head often. He also has a flight simulator (R/C toys is one of our hobbies), which he's allowed to play at will.

I do agree that today's games are complicated with too many damn buttons to navigate!

[Chewbacca]

Yup.

Mostly retro games like street fighter and galaga with me. They play the Rts and more story driven games alone.

[SearChart]

I don't have kids, one could argue that I still am a kid. & yes, I play videogames

[EEpro]

Absolutely! Luigis Haunted Mansion 3 has been entertaining.

[jaisonline]

I’m so so at the newer games. My son and I occasionally win at Fortnite Duos and I did somehow manage 2 solo wins.

Just trying to keep him from getting hooked at 10 years old. Plus, the wife isn't a fan of video games so we mix in family board game night 1-2x per month.

my favorite games growing up on the NES wer TECMO Bowl, Goonies, and Bases Loaded.
On the PC, it was OldTime Baseball (Tony La Russa series) for MS-DOS. I can still get DOS games to run on modern laptops using DosBox.

Luckily, my late grandmother saved most of my childhood Nintendo Game & Watch handheld devices from 1981 - 1986. They were the predecessor to the Game Boy and used 2 LR4x / SR4x button-cell batteries. My kids get bored of them quickly but i love 'em.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_%26_Watch_series

Here’s my Popeye game from 1981. Jeez, I was about 6 or 7 when it was gifted to me

[Chester01]

Originally Posted by jaisonline

My kids plays a ton of youth sports and does well in school, so the wife and I allow him to play some video games on the laptop during weekends.

He picked Fortnite. Lots of building strategies but does have cartoon violence. He also likes Roblox after taking a programming class for it and RBI Baseball on the xBox.

Personally, I only played baseball, football, soccer, and basketball games growing up as a kids in the 1980s (Atari and NES) and on PCs during the early 1990s. So games today are super fast for me and it's hard to keep up.

Anyone else play the occasional video game with their kids?

There is a place outside the home we go to, perhaps a couple of times each winter. I prefer not to have them in the house. Not to mention, the fights it leads to between parents and their older kids about excessive screen time as they get older. While I grew up with them, they are purposely engineered now to get kids to stay glued to them as much time as possible as there is big bucks involved. I have also had good luck with old fashion slot car sets, R/C cars, and indoor air hockey this winter.

[1st amg]

My 12 yr old boy abides by a no electronics during the school week rule. We noticed that this works best as it keeps them focused on their sports and activities and of course school. He was a Fortnite addict until this past summer, when he and all his friends would play online, it was tough to pry them away at times. Now, they are into Minecraft again and Grand Theft Auto....no I do not play, way to fast paced for me these new games.

[jaisonline]

sounds advice.

we use google wifi and apple's screen time features to limit usage for our 2 kids. kids will be kids.
all it took was us catching him sneaking YouTube time twice on a school night at 10pm so we lock down all internet devices after 7:30PM. We hope they each will learn self-control as they mature.

too much screen time causes my son to be a house hermit. so we manage online & game time for him. that's why it's so important to go out to do just about anything to occupy their minds.

my kids also like Lego remote control vehicles (not true R/Cs :) ). we also picked up a tabletop hockey game 3 years ago with all the push in / pull out sticks and a cheap air hockey table. Seems we rotate regularly to keep their interest inside.

Originally Posted by Chester01

There is a place outside the home we go to, perhaps a couple of times each winter. I prefer not to have them in the house. Not to mention, the fights it leads to between parents and their older kids about excessive screen time as they get older. While I grew up with them, they are purposely engineered now to get kids to stay glued to them as much time as possible as there is big bucks involved. I have also had good luck with old fashion slot car sets, R/C cars, and indoor air hockey this winter.

[FHFinster]

Originally Posted by jaisonline

My kids plays a ton of youth sports and does well in school, so the wife and I allow him to play some video games on the laptop during weekends.



He picked Fortnite. Lots of building strategies but does have cartoon violence. He also likes Roblox after taking a programming class for it and RBI Baseball on the xBox.



Personally, I only played baseball, football, soccer, and basketball games growing up as a kids in the 1980s (Atari and NES) and on PCs during the early 1990s. So games today are super fast for me and it's hard to keep up.



Anyone else play the occasional video game with their kids?

We have similar situation here. Weekends and only after sports and hours of school work. My boys are spoiled, each have their own TV w their own PS4. It’s great watching them play FIFA and other online games together.

I do enjoy playing with them on occasion. The games are sick. But I usually use the free time to catch up on my own chores or hide in the garage smoking a big fat stogie!






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ltmgeller]

I used to, but can't follow the games he's playing now. Evidently I'm too slow for him.

[utc66]

My son loves video games to the point where it was a huge problem, he would sneak and stay up all night, we’d argue over screen time. Take away the game console, etc. He wouldn’t get up for school and grades were bad. He is in boarding school now it was a tough decision, but he’s doing much much better with grades, socializing and sports. I know too many people with adult children living in their basement doing nothing.

[blown5.0]

Video games in moderation are probably not a bad thing. Some of those shooters are great for your twitch muscles =D and fast actions. It also does help with some level of hand eye coordination- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-g...good-surgeons/

There is only one true RBI baseball and it is not on the Xbox.

[1st amg]

We noticed at around 9 yrs of age when we allowed him to play Xbox, when it was time for dinner, he had a bad attitude. Huffing and puffing, short and a little rude....which is not his personality. After about one month of adding it all together, it was that darn electronic that would add this anxiety and frustration. That is when we added the no electronics Monday to Friday and only on weekends after his sports. Even playing with electronics before a hockey or soccer game really was evident, he had no energy and looked like a zombie. There are so many articles now that state the electronics add anxiety, frustrations and really affect their mental state. It’s liked he would be drained physically and in fact they also mentioned this in articles. Anyway it really has changed the atmosphere of the house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BigBlue1]

No I usually read with them.
I’ll buy three books of whatever we read.
Currently on Catcher of the Rye.
It’s a cool way to build up their confidence.
We usually read between 10 to 15 books thru the year together.
We use to donate 1 to each of their schools, but the library has since been slowly abolishing books so now we usually donate to the Salvation Army.
So many books are now banned from the students library.
Crazy times we live in.

[pickettt]

Originally Posted by 1st amg

We noticed at around 9 yrs of age when we allowed him to play Xbox, when it was time for dinner, he had a bad attitude. Huffing and puffing, short and a little rude....which is not his personality. After about one month of adding it all together, it was that darn electronic that would add this anxiety and frustration. That is when we added the no electronics Monday to Friday and only on weekends after his sports. Even playing with electronics before a hockey or soccer game really was evident, he had no energy and looked like a zombie. There are so many articles now that state the electronics add anxiety, frustrations and really affect their mental state. It’s liked he would be drained physically and in fact they also mentioned this in articles. Anyway it really has changed the atmosphere of the house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That really is interesting because we don't let him play, what we consider mindless games, too often. Once again, it's a reward for hard work and good behavior. When we do allow it, he is completely immersed and captivated. It's somewhat scary. However, when we tell him it's time to turn it off, he does so without a fight or having to be told a second time.

One thing we all need to be mindful of and honest about; At times, we use these things as babysitters for our own sake. Perhaps it's the wrong tool

[Rebel]

Used to. Kids are now grown and gone.

[tritium8]

Yep. We do a lot of abcya.com

They're going to hate us when they realize there aren't video games.

[FHFinster]

Originally Posted by 1st amg

We noticed at around 9 yrs of age when we allowed him to play Xbox, when it was time for dinner, he had a bad attitude. Huffing and puffing, short and a little rude....which is not his personality. After about one month of adding it all together, it was that darn electronic that would add this anxiety and frustration. That is when we added the no electronics Monday to Friday and only on weekends after his sports. Even playing with electronics before a hockey or soccer game really was evident, he had no energy and looked like a zombie. There are so many articles now that state the electronics add anxiety, frustrations and really affect their mental state. It’s liked he would be drained physically and in fact they also mentioned this in articles. Anyway it really has changed the atmosphere of the house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You gotta wonder, why didn’t it affect us this way? Was it bc TV got boring after a while? Cartoons ended and then adult crap came on. So we had to go play. Now everything is on demand, one show ends or gets boring, 6,000 more to choose from.

And the video games, way less immersive back in the 80s. Mario simply got too boring or too frustrating.

Kids also came and went from house to house to house back in the day. Now 20 kids on my block here, not a single one is outside, EVER. So why do anything other than play video games?

Games today such as Roblox and Fortnite are mindless, pointless, never ending zombie inducing games. Both have been banned in my house. I didn’t spend thousands of dollars on high def TVs, consoles powerful enough to fly an aircraft, and endless super complicated games so that my boys could be a soldier in a dress, chopping wood with a plunger while “looting” for more dresses or run around in a 16bit roblox world built by some 40 year old slob living in his mother’ basement.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jaisonline]

Seems like many of us are in the same boat finding that fine line w/ kids and screen time. Finding that right balance. Last last yr, NPR has two great “life kit” articles / podcasts about this topic.

I highly recommend a listen. Def worth it weight in “precious metal” :)

My wife (the good cop in the house) even liked the 2 podcasts much if each were based on studies.

Part 1.
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/20/73453...of-screen-time

Part 2.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/16/76131...time-questions

[royerlich]

When the weather is bad, i still go to the beach to practice for the army

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk