Minecraft Addicts

My son is driving me mad! It's minecraft all day, everyday-all the time.when he's not playing, he's telling me all about it. It's insane.

My son who will be 11 in 3 weeks loves Minecraft, but he also loves playing basketball, jumping on the trampoline, reading books, playing Legos, and just hanging out. Sometimes I think he plays on the computer too long and I just tell him it's time to find something else to do. He's very agreeable about shifting to something else. Usually though, I don't even need to say anything about it.

No, but I know a lot of kids who are very into Minecraft and it teaches them to be better readers and a little about things like alloys. If your child is not interested in anything else and spends too much time in your opinion on the game, limit game time.

Our grand kids we're raising play it with my husband. He actually plays it more than they do. It's not something I have interest in though. I do enjoy hearing my hubby yell at the boy "STOP LETTING ZOMBIES IN MY HOUSE!!! SHUT THE DOORS!!!"

I think it's fun for them and they are plenty busy otherwise too.

Since you're asking, I figure you have a kid whom you feel is absorbed in Minecraft to the increasing exclusion of all else--?

My friend has a counseling degree and is pretty aware of her own kids' personalities, reactions to things, what different routines and disciplines work with her very different kids, etc. Her elementary aged son was utterly absorbed by Minecraft as soon as he started on it, wanted to play it ALL the time, and immediately got very upset when he was told no, or when he was told to stop in order to do other things (homework, bed, even meals). He got that way pretty quickly over this stuff. So she nipped it by setting limits on use early on, starting with limiting it to weekends only, and only after any weekend homework or long-term project work was completed. Yep, that meant mom and dad had to check the homework but that's something the son needed anyway. He hated it at first but got used to it because she and her husband are SO calm about enforcing their rules -- this is the rule; the answer is no, because your math is not done; now the math sheet is done and we have seen that it is, so you can now play until X o'clock. They never caved or yelled or fussed, just said it is what it is. They did lay out the rules with him very clearly so he knew what to expect -- no surprises. Since he was in elementary school he didn't have a lot of homework, so it wasn't like they were making him wade through hours of work before Minecraft, but the message was: Work first, Minecraft second, and then only for a specified time. Fight the Minecraft use rules, whine or complain, and (after a clear warning and a chance to shape up), you lose Minecraft for that day, period.

That will sound overly strict to some parents but it's what they needed to do with their son, to work with his particular personality. He still played a lot of Minecraft and enjoyed it and eventually was less intense about being upset if he couldn't play it in every spare moment.

If you limit it to weekends, that instantly means that weekday free time has to be spent otherwise and that becomes time for other activities.

Mine had it for a week. Got addicted (not medically of course, but more than I felt like dealing with). Got bratty and unmotivated. Started fighting over the ipad all the time. I took it away. Problem solved! Everyone's back to drawing, reading, laughing, and playing in the real world now.

Mine was an addict. When she first started playing she wanted to use it all the time and I had to pay attention to limiting her screen time (like setting a timer). Now that she has become a better player she wont stay on as long, she gets stuff done quicker or she gets board not sure.

I have also added some of it into her homeschooling. I have found many websites that use it for learning and will sometimes add things to our schedule.

She likes watching the videos on YouTube of popular players playing different games or building things that kids email and ask to have built. There is also someone on YouTube (I cant remember the name) that incorporates different books. She will read the book and then create a world based on it. My daughter loves that because she loves to read and it helps her to find new reading material.

I think parents should always monitor their children when playing these games even if they are positive games. It is easy for kids to get caught up in them and loose track of time.

Yep, Minecraft is a big hit here at my house...some of the stuff they build is amazing!!!

~Like all things it can take over IF YOU LET IT, so don't let it.

At our house, electronics have ruled for forever, so we have solid foundation rules since forever:
It goes off when we say it does.
Chores & Homework first, ALWAYS.
*And in the summer I have a "before breakfast & after dinner only" rule...can't be starring at a screen during the best weather, that's kind of a no brainier, I know, but it helps to set the precedent ASAP & it'll sort itself out.

My son is 6 and yes, I admit, he's addicted to it. He builds mods, watches videos and plays on it whenever he's allowed. He's actually very good at creating in it. He's also interested in Little Big Planet and is very creative in that game. Watch how much time you allow your child to play - it can get out of control easily! :) My 11 yr. old daughter also likes Minecraft, but her passion is reading and writing.

Mine likes it, not addicted, but it's one of the only games I've heard good things about in terms of creativity, etc. It's a computer game - so you have to limit their screen time. Make it a reward. And maybe dig into why they like it and find complimentary activities.

Definite addiction. ..needs to be taken away..because some is never enough.

Mine love it. LOVE IT. But I would not say that they are addicted, because if I tell them that it's time to do something else, they turn if off immediately and walk away. It doesn't take over their life because they have rules about how long they are allowed to play. And yes, they are still interested in other activities.

My boys love it and they would be addicted if we let them. Our kindergartener is easy to distract, but our 2nd grader will find other things to do but still think about the fact that we limited his screen time.

One thing that has helped with our 2nd grader is the Minecraft Books. There are 4 books that I know of that explain the things you can find and build. He enjoys reading those and then trying them out. I do think that's educational, and I'm really proud of him for reading something, applying it and just figuring things out on his own. I'm amazed at how much he can do.

Recently we bought "Invasion of the Overworld: An Unofficial Minecrafter's Adventure." This is a novel about a gamer that gets sucked into the game (I think). He hasn't read it yet, but overall it has gotten very good reviews on Amazon. Again, I'm ok with him reading this, as it's still reading and creating the image in your mind and learning.

Minecraft seems like a great game, but I am very aware of how much time my sons spend in front of a computer or tablet screen just playing the game. They need to get outside, too!

My boys love minecraft ~ they are not allowed electronics (no ds', kindles or xbox) during the week and have limits as to how much time they can play on the weekends. Sometimes they are really into it and we will allow a little more time, other times they put it away before their time is up.

My boys do love it and are addicted to it, but it is not hard to get them to do other things because we set very clear limits on video game time.

My kids (7.5 and 5.5) LOVE Minecraft. I just bought it at Christmas (first the Android and Kindle version) and for V-day bought them the PC version. They play on it and watch Youtube videos about it almost exclusively - I'd say 99% of their screen time is using that. However, they have learned a lot - my daughter reads all the words to my son, he has learned some on his own and they are very creative when they are in the worlds creating so I don't mind it. Weekends I am much more relaxed about how much time they are allowed on it but during the week, it's usually for 1-2 hours after homework and baths are done. Occasionally when they have a sport or activity, I let them play on Minecraft before doing homework but that is not very often. They WOULD play on it all day if I let them, that is for sure! Or until a neighbor comes over to play, then they would drop it to play, so that is good!

Mine love it, and my daughter would let it take over if we allowed it. So we don't. We have fairly strict rules about screen time.

I've seen lots of reasons to like this game, though. I love the imagination, the open-ended creative potential, the potential to collaborate, the need to figure out how a system works and how to work within a system. I also love that my kids can borrow my phone, call their best friend, who has moved half the country away from here, and all meet up virtually on a Minecraft server to play together. From what I understand, there's also potential to learn to code to build things within the game.

Yes, they love Minecraft, No to the other questions.

They do have an obsessed friend though, who will play as long as he is allowed to the exclusion of all things. Including eating. His mom has to enforce firm limits.

My 12 yo loves that and Roblox. Both my kids can only get on their electronics after homework and chores are done and after dinner. So they are on from about 6-7:30 during the week and about 4-5 hours on Saturday and about 2 hours on Sunday after church only if we aren't doing something, which isn't often. They also don't have TV's in their rooms and they can't take phones or tablets or ds's or anything else upstairs at all. If they do, they will lose all of them for a month, no questions asked. Don't be afraid to limit the time. Just because you love something doesn't mean you do it constantly. MODERATION is the key for everything. JMO. Good luck.

Loves it, yes, but not "addicted". It is his preferred method of play 75% of the time, but he will definitely do other things. We have strict limits on ipad usage during the week, with things a little looser on the weekends, so i think that helps. :)

Set limits on their video time. And the video time happens after homework, and chores. And if there is argument about time being done for the day after the first reminder they loose time the next day.

on a separate note lol. My grandson who is 10 was so into mindcraft he drove us all crazy last year. It got to the point where he was allowed to talk about it only on the way to school each morning. And had to save it other times until other conversation was had. otherwise it was non stop mindcraft.