Hi,

This is an interesting topic. My 10 year old is obsessed with them as are most of the kids in his class and it seems to be the general topic of day to day conversation. I find that when he has been spending alot of time on them his personality changes, not only does he get frustrated with the games but he also becomes anti social and grumpy. It is almost like an addiction which frightens me.

DH and I have a rule that there is nothing electronic on school days. We have also decided not to let Dominic play the pc or playstation for a while and have said he can play his hand held nintendo ds on weekends with time limits imposed. It was just becoming all consuming for him and it was actually scary.

Some children are probably better able to cope with computer games etc and we have friends whose kids will play for a while and then have a break with no problems, however, Dominic would throw two year old tantrums if he was told to stop playing for any reason and carry on like a nut case. DH and I decided quite a while ago that this could not be healthy for him. These are just my experiences, he is like a different kid when he's not playing them.