Media Moderation

When we started homeschooling this year, our media intake naturally decreased. We simply didn't have time for it anymore. Honestly, my kids didn't miss it either. Then Christmas came and Gavin got a new game for the Wii. The obsession began. He started to want to play all day every day. It was overwhelming for me. The extra noise, the whining when he couldn't play. I got fed up really fast. We started putting time allotments on him. He was allowed 60 minutes of any and all media every day (computer, t.v., video games, games on my phone).

To some of you, one hour might seem like a lot. Others may think it's not enough. One hour is right for us. Do I wish we had NO media whatsoever? I respond with a hearty "YES". The rest of my family is not quite on board with that. We have settled at one hour.

We did really well for the first few months. I was STRICT! I set timers. We made rules and restrictions. Then things just got hairy. I would get a phone call and loose track of time, he wasn't finished with a level so we let him play longer, Dad would come home and they would want to play together even though he had already completed his hour and so on . . .

Today, I made a chart.

The blue arrow moves down the chart as he uses up his time. The best part is that when he loses minutes for bad behavior, he can see the effect.