Carsharing, Teen with Video Game and My 3 Year Old

Since your nephew would be playing a handheld game, if he had the volume turned down, I don't think it should be a problem to play whatever games he chooses...provided he isn't showing the screen to your son (and they are games that HIS mother approves of). I think you are overstepping a bit.

EDIT: If content is that important than ok but as far as whether or not he needs it doesn't matter. He has a game and wants to travel with it. Today's modern day gadgets weren't available years ago but it doesn't mean people can't use them today...neither was internet but you do use that now. Just saying that you are responsible for raising your childe and she is responsible for raising hers.

My thoughts are do you really want to spend 7 hours of listening to "I am so bored".

When we travel everyone has 1-2 electronic games, the 4 kids share 2 DVD players with headphones on a splitter so we don't have to hear it, they have coloring books, crayon boxes, books to read, the select about 10 movies so they can switch out if they want something different, we have a few toys like dolls or cars but they tend to be non useful due to limited space.

We also stop every 2 hours for either a snack or a meal. We stop at huge parks with lots of running room or McDonalds with very large playgrounds. Kids get sore and cranky if they can't get up and move around. We travel several times a year with my friend. We have a 7 yr. old girl and a 3 yr. old boy. She has a 7 yr. old girl and a 9 yr. old boy.

I would never leave home without a cooler in the van filled with juice boxes, milk in tippy cups for everyone (they can be washed and rinsed out or even reused if put back in the cooler when the kids are done with them), snack stuff to grab and eat with their hands like raisins, chips, granola bars, Oatmeal bars, fruit roll ups, etc...but we still stop for actual snacks for the purpose of going to the bathroom and having playtime. We hardly ever hear cranky talk from the kids. They have had activity time, quiet time, play time with their brain (the electronic games), etc...we always enjoy our trips even cross states for hours and hours.

I think that's more than fair. Considering the size of your car, your son would be able to see the screen, so it's not at all unreasonable, I don't think.

Yes absolutely! And I would ask to view the game before he gets to play them in the car. Don't feel bad about asking.

Just to let you know. I had this rule of no shooting, no guns, etc when my son, now 33, was little. It also helped that his best friend's mom had the same rule. He begged for a cowboy outfit, star wars stuff so he got that. And little boys made gun things out of sticks and fingers.

We made the rule, no shooting anything alive including trees, grass, bushes, etc, that left houses, buildings, targets...kind of boring. And had some peer group social issues. But I stuck to my "guns".

Now he is a parent of a three year old and he has the same rule. First time I saw him say it, I about fell out of my shoes!

So the morals that we teach our children as little kids, really do come through. So hang tough on what you allow your little boy to view on the video games. It does make a difference in how they grow up.

Seems like a reasonable limit to me. Especially if your little one will see or hear the games.

Reasonable - yes. It is your car so they should respect your wishes. On the other hand, if he is going to be playing more violent games than you'd like, I would ask that he wear headphones. The screens on video games are usually very very small and I doubt your 3 year old would understand them (I have a 3 year old also). If your child had a leapfrog video player to play at the same time, he might think he's pretty cool like his cousin :)