Setting healthy screen-time rules for a gaming household

A practical guide for Ridents readers, written from everyday experience.

Rules about games work when they are predictable, agreed in advance and the same every week. Decide together how many hours, which days and which times are off limits, such as meals and the hour before bed, and write it where everyone can see it. A visible timer beats a parent calling from another room every time.

Rules about games work when they are predictable, agreed in advance and the same every week.

Learn what the games are and play one yourself; it makes the conversation about content easier and earns the right to set limits. Use the console's own family controls for the parts you cannot supervise, and keep the console in a shared room. The aim is a household where games are one enjoyable thing among several, not a daily battleground.