My 12 year old is on fortnite every single day after school. Says everyone at school plays and he'll be left out if he doesn't. I set a 1 hour limit but he fights me on it constantly. Anyone else dealing with this? How do you handle the social pressure angle of it all? I don't want him isolated but this is getting out of hand.
At 12 they really do all play the same games. The 1 hour limit is solid though, that's not unreasonable no matter what his friends are doing.
The FOMO argument is tough at that age. I'd say stick with the limit but maybe let him pick one weekend afternoon to play longer with his buddies instead of fighting it every day.
1 hour is fair and you're doing the right thing. All his friends probably aren't playing as much as he thinks anyway.
Yeah that's a tough one at 12. Everyone legitimately does play it which makes your position hard but the addiction pattern is real. My nephew went down this road and his parents finally had to just pull the plug for a month to reset it.
The 'all my friends play' argument is real but here's the thing, not all of them are playing 3 hours a day. There's a middle ground where he can play and still do other stuff. Maybe set specific days or time limits instead of just saying no?
Talk to his school friends' parents if you can. You might find out some of them have limits on it too and that gives you backup. Kids are more likely to accept boundaries if they know their friends have them.
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This is the one that keeps me up at night with my oldest. Fortnite specifically is designed to keep them hooked. I don't have the answer but I know just banning it makes kids sneak it or resent you. There's got to be a compromise in there somewhere.