Friday, 4 January 2019

Teenager wants a TV in his bedroom to play video games without being bothered. Husband and I unsure of whether or not to allow it.


I have two kids. My oldest is a 14 year old boy and my younger is a 6 year old girl. They get along well for being so far apart in age.We have a 3 bedroom house with a bonus room. The bonus room kind of serves as a playroom for my daughter, a game room for my son, a man cave for my husband, and an all purpose kind of room for me. It's not a huge room but we have designed it so that there is a couch, love seat, and beanbag on one side that are in front of the TV. Behind the couch is my daughter's play area. We prefer for there not to be toys in the bedrooms because they are easier to manage in the playroom and she doesnt stay up late playing with toys. This normally works well.It doesn't work out well when my son wants to invite friends over to play video games or sleepover and his sister is playing with her toys right behind them. We do sometimes tell her to bring the toys downstairs but that isn't always possible. Her dollhouse for example is too big to carry up and down the stairs and she has so many different dolls. She doesn't bother them but he says he wants privacy when he has friends over so they don't have to censor themselves. I get that, which is why I usually encourage her to come out of the room when he has friends over. There are times when they both have friends over though and I don't want her and her friends playing out in the family room.The other issue is when someone else is using the bonus room to watch TV. My son gets annoyed that he can't play video games because the TV is being used. We do have a TV in the family room but I don't want the TV hooked up to gaming systems in the family room.My son has suggested using an old TV that we have as his bedroom TV. None of us have TV's in the bedrooms and I'm not so sure about the idea. I have heard that it can cause issues with sleeping and I don't want him to isolate himself in his bedroom. He plays in the bonus room right now and we walk in and out freely. In his bedroom he would be much more isolated.Disclaimer: Video games don't control his life. He plays sports in the fall and spring but doesn't do a winter sport. That combined with weather make him stay in the house more and play video games but he still spends time outside with friends. He has friends coming over today and this debate started again because my daughter already had a playdate scheduled and both want to use the bonus room. via /r/Parenting http://bit.ly/2SAbMBm

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