Computer/Console games with your kids

[lumberjim]

didn't like how he was affected by them.

to clarify that a bit, he becomes instantly addicted. he cannot hear you telling him it's time to stop, and as soon as you make him, he starts to cry. later that day, he'll start bargaining with you so he can play again. the next day, he tells you about how much fun the game is. I can tell he's re-living playing the game in his mind. I want to play with him, but he becomes so irrational, that he makes you miserable when he's not playing.

I feel a little bad about it too, because when he was 3 1/2, he wanted to play, but I told him that if he wanted to play, he'd need to know how to read. The deal was that when I felt like he could read a whole book by himself, he'd be allowed to play. The carrot worked very well, and he was reading by age 4. Early age 4. now, he reads to his sister, he can read fortune cookies, ...he's even read "undertoad" off of the computer screen, and knew enough about it to ask " who's undertoad?"

So, I kind of feel like I went back on my word, but I won;t have him being a video game junkie. He gets enough board game time at school to make up for what he's missing.