The Big Debate: Video Games in the Bedroom

I know that this is a subject that polarises people. For a long time I was strictly in the "No TV or video games in the bedroom" camp.

I didn't like the idea of the kids having games in their rooms because I thought that they would spend too much time on them and also that the screen would stop them sleeping so well.

However, after much pressure from my son, I have finally given in.

The problem was that we had one TV in the living room and the kids were rotating taking turns on the games consoles. This meant that we never got time to actually watch TV on it and there always seemed to be games running. Having 3 kids, this often led to agitation and arguments. The other problem was that we have quite a few older games consoles, so I would be constantly swapping between the Playstation, Wii and Nintendos.

Anyway, the little one was asking to have a TV in his room so that he could have one of the older consoles connected to it to play games. I asked around on freegle and someone very kindly gave me a little portable TV.

He absolutely loves it. Of course, I am going to impose time restrictions on it, but so far there have been no problems. For some reason, the kids have all been co-operating a lot better whilst crammed into his box room playing on the old console. It also gives him some control and independence.

So far, so good.

Autistic kids love video games, and like 'em or hate 'em, they are a part of life these days. The games we buy are all kiddie-friendly, usually racing games or sports games. I would never buy violent games for him.

Life is a bit more peaceful. My son has his own space and territory. His room is somewhere he can get away from things if they get stressful. I know that not everyone agrees with video games and TV's in the bedroom, but in our case, it works. and it gives us ALL some respite.