how much is too much computer time..

[zoe20]

Just wondering what your thoughts are on how much time a child should spend playing games on the computer. What games do your kids play

[confusd]

umm i dont have older kids. but we were allowed 1-2 hours a night if we were good and we had done homework etc...

if we were working on an assignment we were usually allowed as long as we liked but mum and dad would come in and check on us to make sure that is what we were doing.

ETA: it also depends on the age of your kids.

[Ys_Woman]

I have a 7yr old and an 8yr old and they are allowed one hour each on the net on Friday nights. They can play on the Cartoon Network site or the Lego site but nothing else.
They also have their own computer that isn't connected to the net and they are allowed an hour after homework is done and two hours each (usually in 30mins about turns) on Saturdays. I buy G rated games for them but dd2 (7) likes The Sims..so I let her play that too (think it is PG).
We have a rule that Sundays is a day without computers or video games. They accept the rules we impose on them even if their friend's have more freedom, although ds1 (8) will often tell me how his friends get to play the M and MA games that their dads buy. I tell him that's fine for them but I don't want my kids filling their heads with thoughts that are hard to get rid of.
Hopefully they are as easy going with rules through their teens.. (not that dd1 was!).

Amy

[Mrs Potts]

We don't really set a limit for DS (almost 8). Particularly if he's playing educational games. So long as we feel he is still spending time doing other things (reading/playing outside/spending time with the family/etc) then he mostly has free reign with puter time.

I figure that since I spend so much time on the computer I can hardly limit his time too much.