Excellent piece of writing and thinking, Jordan!
I’ve personally gone back and forth with my 2 sons. First they could play, then we saw some bad behavior after they played and so we locked it down. They even agree, yes it’s bad for us, we get grumpy and hyper after playing for too long.
So after some thinking about competencies they will need to learn anyways, and of course consulting with my wife, we decided to open it up again if certain conditions are met.
- School work is done
- You have helped with something specific around the house (dishwasher is their fav)
- You’ve cleaned your room (these tiny lego nighmares have to be out of the carpet!!)
- You did some physical activity (right now they are digging badminton and soccer in the backyard)
- it’s afternoon and you either showered already or went to the bathroom and fueled up with some snack and water (yes, they forget to eat and drink when they play)
- You agree to switching off after previously set timer (usually 60 minutes, we let them complete the round if they are still in battle)
This arrangement seems to work well right now, they designed the rules together with us and start being very proactive about what they’ll need to do in any given day.
I think back in the early 90s when my father was so against the internet that he would not let me spend any time on it. It ended up with me running some wires outside the house and secretly hooking up a modem to my computer at nights. This drive and passion about the “new medium internet” led me down a path of amazing opportunities that let me travel the world and work for some amazing companies.
Just because the video gaming industry is not necessarily a “standard” career path, doesn’t mean that won’t be true in 15–20 years. I am not just talking about coding and graphic design, but also playing and entertaining by playing. There are already people entertaining with their playing and making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why would I deprive my children from building that skill?
