Summer is Here! {How we deal with video games}

 Ahhh, Summer is officially here! We are in our third day of our Summer Vacation routine and it is just awesome.  I don't know if it has something to do with this mom gets to sleep in every morning while the kids watch TV and help themselves to a easy breakfast or that we are just in a sweet spot with the stage of parenting we are in.  Actually, it might be a little of both.

We are making every intention of ditching our busy schedules for the quiet, lazy days of summer.  Which is great, because I don't know about my kids, but I am exhausted.  I even took a bit of a nap this afternoon while my kids rested up for another night of Vacation Bible School.  The school year always packed with sports and school activities, homework, and more so, I really push to make sure our summer is not overly packed. I want to enjoy my kids.

 If you've visited this blog last summer, I have a lot of ideas for surviving summer and while we are still following a routine, there is a large chunk of time where the kids have to figure out for themselves what to do.  I really do think it's good for them to solve their own problems of being bored. However, we had to solve the problem of video games. 

Both of our boys LOVE to play video games, computer games, and games on their handheld devices.  We have found that too much time spent zoning on these devices creates a sort of monster, if you will.  I know that I can't be alone, because there are a ton of research articles out there on the impacts of screen time on our kids.  (Also, note that I didn't lump TV into that because i feel a little differently about that).  The general rule at our house has been screen time is a weekend only thing and that has worked out nicely.  But, during the summer, there is more time and it's okay.  So, this year we implemented the screen time checklist.  We are in day 3 of it and it is working amazingly!  So amazing, that no one has felt the need to earn extra time.  30 minutes is working.

 Basically, they have to do their daily chores, read, some summer review (we use the Brain quest books and I pulled out some of my file folder games I made way back when I actually taught!), they have to play, build or craft something (this has been fun to watch!), spend some time in God's Word (they have devotionals that come home each week from church, but also some neat books that work really well), and they have to write in their journal that we are working on this summer. 

I know a lot of people might argue that reading shouldn't be put on there, but my kids love to read, and I want to teach them that those things are priorities over video game usage.  They area working on two reading programs this summer and need that motivation to finish so they can earn free books! 

 One of my favorite things is that when we upgrade our Xbox last fall, we put the old one in the office, so now if they don't want to play together, they can play on two separate devices.  So far, they both have been playing the older games and just waiting til the other one's time  is up and it's been great. 

The checklist is available here if you would like to download and use it. 
Please remember that it is for personal use only. 

How are you handling screen time at your house this summer? 

Oh and before I forget, let me explain why I don't lump TV into the screen time category.  First of all, it doesn't effect them like playing a game does.  I love watching TV and while we only watch it during certain parts of the day, there might be a day or two this summer where that's all we do.  I'm okay with that. 

And I better get going, the kids need to eat some dinner before heading off to church.  Have a great day!