My 10yo is obsessed with fortnite. He wants to play constantly and I'm trying to set boundaries but it feels like every kid his age is playing it so he feels left out when he can't. We do an hour on weekends and he does chores/homework first. Is that reasonable or am I being too strict? Other parents at school seem to let their kids play whenever.
Honestly it's a losing battle if you don't have a united front. My ex and I went back and forth on screen time for months and the kids played us against each other. Sit down with your wife and get on the same page first. That matters more than the actual number of minutes.
I feel you on this one. We set up a schedule with my 10 year old where he gets gaming time after homework and chores are done, usually weekends and a little on school nights. Took some battles at first but he knows the rules now.
I get it, that's tough. My take is you set the boundary and stick with it - yeah other kids are playing more but that doesn't mean you have to let yours. We do family game night instead sometimes, gives us actual time together.
Yeah the peer pressure thing is real, everyone's playing it. We told our kids they can play but there's a time limit and it doesn't happen until other stuff is done first. Some days work better than others but at least it's consistent.
I let my 10 year old play but we set it up so he gets about an hour on weekends and maybe 30 mins on school nights but only after homework is done. He pushes back constantly but the boundary is the boundary. The trick is being consistent about it.
The key is making sure other stuff is more fun. We got my 9 year old doing little league and now he actually wants to go outside more than play games. Fortnite will always be there but you gotta build the habit of doing other things too.
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Same struggle here. My son is obsessed. We did an hour a day max on non-school days and it actually helped when we explained that's what pro players practice too so he's doing exactly what they do. Framed it differently and he took it better.