Little Bit of Green

All my kids talk about getting every year for Christmas is video games if they don’t go downstairs and find Gears of War 2 under our new flocked christmas tree I do not know how they will survive. This drives me a little crazy since I like to encourage my kids to go outside. I would much rather give them a pair of new skates or golf clubs then some mind numbing thing that will enchant them in front of the television. Alas, I suppose boys will be boys. Arguing with the boys over “appropriate” lengths of time is just too much work.

That being said I’ve tried to find some tricks for my family and video games. With a few techniques I try to get them outside more. The first way I try to accomplish my goal is by limiting time that can be spent in front of them television to only one hour per day. I have discovered that limiting the time is key to everything else because then they know time above and beyond that is to be earned. To be more fair I’ve allowed them some methods of earning more television time. That leads me to talk about trick number two. They have a few options to earn more television time, either playing outside or doing some chores for me. The chores is nice for me and generally has a pretty good payoff for them. I set it up so it ends with one hour of chores earning one hour of television time.

The second way they earn time, by going outside, is a little less rewarding. When they go outside and play nice I allow them 15 minutes of gaming to every hour of outside time. Like I say this isn’t a huge payoff, but I also don’t really think asking them to be outside is a huge thing to ask. That option works the best of their long Saturdays where they spend the majority of the day outside anyway. They can play outdoors for the day on Saturday and then spend the night playing video games. Realistically a night of playing games and watching movies isn’t so bad after a full day outside.

Anyway I guess that I don’t mind a game or two under the prelit flocked christmas tree this year if it has the effect of getting my brats outside and getting some stuff done around the house for me. I hope they like their games, because I am going to like my “gift” of a little more control around the house.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!