Yes I know, I’m a bad parent and telling him what his limit is should result in the desired behaviours, BUT are there any ways of enforcing how long he can play on it? I know there are parental controls, but they seem more about age-related content than time limits.
Any ideas – novel ones including third party option also welcome.
TIA

Walk in and press the power button?

Walk in and press the power button?

disconnect all the sockets in his room and put it on a timer from the living room? Saves walking

Turn it off. If he kicks off unplug it & put it away.

Take the controller off him.

My lad is restricted to Sunday’s & Wednesdays if he’s good, gets his homework done & understands it’s a privelage. It a good right.

Madness! Losing an entire weekend to Fallout is all part of being in your 30s growing up!

Skyrim remastered is out, still addictive.

My router allows me to set wifi on/off times for individual devices.

Otherwise, take the controller!

Mate of mine’s dad used to throw the circuit breaker to his room.

Be cool about it. Act like a prat and switch it off arrogantly and they see it as a punishment and will try to play it secretly.

Just say: times up! and 30 seconds to save. Job done.

Only act like God should they ever refuse.

Wifi access control by device on the router as per martinhutch above has cured all gaming hassles in our household.

Thanks guys 🙂
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/router-with-timed-access-to-different-ipmac-addresses-recommendations

Nothing stopping him playing offline though.

Nothing stopping him playing offline though.

Lockable plug timer….mmm

Better (worse) sanctions 8)

Would you put a time limit on reading books? Riding a bike?

We live in the internet age. People are going to use computers. Video games are a form of entertainment, yes, but they also teach fine motor skills, problem solving, teamwork, etc. You’re not going to pick those things up plowing through the latest John Grisham.

It’s like the 50s when all the grown-ups thought Rock n Roll was the work of the devil.

Would you put a time limit on reading books? Riding a bike?

Yup.

Oh…

Would you put a time limit on reading books? Riding a bike?

If it was to the exclusion of doing other things then yes.

It’s not that bad, and yes I know its really about proper parenting, setting boundaries, saying no, respect and all that good stuff, but some physical barriers are also useful in certain circumstances.

I don’t restrict him during his free-time in the day. I’d like him to get a decent amount of sleep though, as he would play until 2am and fall asleep drooling in front of the monitor otherwise.

I don’t restrict him during his free-time in the day. I’d like him to get a decent amount of sleep though, as he would play until 2am and fall asleep drooling in front of the monitor otherwise.

How old is he?

martinhutch – Member

I don’t restrict him during his free-time in the day. I’d like him to get a decent amount of sleep though, as he would play until 2am and fall asleep drooling in front of the monitor otherwise.

We all did that though. The number of days i bunked off school as i was up playing Attack of the mutant camels until 5am or Football manager… i can’t even count them.

You do realise that natural role of the parent is to attempt (unsuccessfully) to stop teenagers doing the same things that you did?

i can’t even count them.

That’s what you get for bunking school.