How To Build Healthy Online Gaming Habits

With the pandemic on the rise, it's difficult to send the kids out to play. You may or may not agree with me when I say that online games are sometimes helpful in keeping our children engaged in online activities. Kids can have fun and enjoy in the safety of our homes as long as they have good gaming habits and good choices of online games. 

Any type of activity is good as long as you know how to balance using them for you and your child's development. You can help your child develop good gaming habits as soon as they start playing video games. 

Here are some ways on how to start them develop healthy video gaming. 

1. Play games with your child

Spending time playing with your child or just watching them play is already showing support on what they are doing. At the same time, it also becomes an opportunity for you to bond with them. It gives you the chance to talk with them and ask them about what type of game they want to play and how long you are going to allow them to play. 

When my child started learning how to play the alphabets on my mobile, I let her choose what type of game to play and I found out she can even do some tricks that I didn't know she would. 

2. Do some rules while playing games

Healthy gaming habits also involves setting up rules when playing. Just like how we set rules at home, this shows how we want our children to establish values and routine. You can agree on things like when to download games, playing only according to schedule like after school work or during the weekends and a lot more things. 

Plays.org is an online game where the kids don't have to download the app anymore which I think is great because it is safer since it won't have access on mobile settings. There are also no ads that pops up so you know that kids won't mistakenly click on them. 

The site even has specific categories for easier navigation and I like checking on the Words and Kids category because my children love the games in it. I even found myself playing the Word Spelling Puzzle Game for hours because it is addictive and it enhances me and my kids' vocabulary. 

 

3. Make sure adults are available to check on the games being played

This is advisable especially for younger kids. With a lot of online games in the market, there are a lot of risks on online games, so it is best to always watch on them and keep the kids playing safe online. 

We have a small home and we established a rule that the computer should be set on the living room so we can easily check and identify what games our children are playing. They should only play games with a G or a PG rating. 

4. Praise your child 

Encourage good gaming behavior on your children. Praise them when they follow the rules and praise them as well when they are doing good on the game. This should be practiced especially if the children played after school works or after helping out on the house chores. 

5. Discuss about online issues

With lots of choices on gaming online, talk to your children what type of games are highly stimulating for them. It might affect their sleep or their interest, depending on what they are playing. Also talk to them about breaks during the game or even break after a weekend play or so. Check on how they hold their emotions during the game, if they feel frustrated or feel too excited in the games' challenges. It is also important to note how the children manage their expectations like losing and failing in the game as it also plays a huge part of their development. 

Online games can be an exciting learning experience for your child. Just always bear in mind that screen time needs to be monitored and checked. It is important to balance playing online with other offline activities as well such as interacting with other kids, physical play and reading which are all good for your child's development.