Tikkabik

So we keep our kids on a really short leash (to borrow a phrase from our Commander-in-Chief) when it comes to what they call "game time."

As someone who plays video games quasi-professionally (at least in the context of reviews), I keep a lot of game systems in the house. When my son's friends come over to the house, their reaction is funny -- it's almost like they've been led into the Fortress of Solitude or the Batcave. Their eyes grow wide, their mouths open and they gasp. Many of them have never seen so many video games in their lives. If you have the idea it's some kind of gamer's paradise in my house, however, you're wrong. We carefully mete out gaming time as a privilege to each of our kids as a reward for good behavior. We give them their time each day in return for good behavior and completing their chores. In fact, our policy towards kids playing video games is a lot more restrictive than most other parents we know.

I started doing this several years ago when I noted that Robert was developing obsessive tendencies towards playing video games -- he would do so to the exclusion of anything else, including homework and physical activity. He also became markedly anti-social and aggressive toward his brother and sister when it came to anything to do with video games. I wanted to nip that behavior in the bud before it evolved into a more serious problem. So using video games as the reward for good behavior became my model.

Unfortunately, Bob seems to have made it his job to subvert this policy. And I've been repeatedly finding my Zodiac where I didn't leave it, with the sound turned all the way down -- a sure sign he's been playing one of the RPG's I have installed. And until the CRT on his computer went south a few weeks ago, Bob was also playing a lot of online video games -- so I'm taking this opportunity to install a Web browser called BumperCar that will let me more thoroughly restrict his online access.

Outside of actually locking up the games, however, I'm running out of ideas for how to keep him playing games only when I want him to. Anyone have any creative ideas?