Many parents worry about how much time a child plays on their games console or tablets. Lots of children would much rather play on their games console than go out on their bike or making mud pies in the garden. As children are often quiet and fairly happy when playing on screens, it is easy to forget and allow them to spend too much time on them, but are they missing out on social experiences that many of us had as a child?
Although gaming can be something you do on your own it can also often be played with others either in the same room as you or online. When playing online, you do need to ensure that your child is kept safe and there are a number of ways in which you can do this. Initially some parents will only let their child play games online where there is no chat facility. This can take away the risk but still allow them to play with others. It seems that the majority of games online do have some sort of chatting function, so it may be that your child needs to use this to play the game. It is important to teach them about online safety and what information they should and shouldn’t give out. You may need to check on what they are doing from time to time to ensure that it still ok for them.
It is important to ensure that your child has time away from screens. Although they may resent this to start with, if you can show them something else that they can do instead, they may well give it a go. It is important that your child leans how to interact with others and how to have a conversation face to face. One social skill we all have to master is talking to someone else who is in front of you. You need to be able to give that person eye contact and let them know that you are listening to them by giving them a little nod in agreement or verbal response. It is easy to forget this as it is not something you have to do when chatting online. If your child does not learn these social skills when they are young, they may struggle to grasp them later on in life and it can affect a number of things such as job interviews and making new friends when going to university or starting a new job.