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• Your Child’s Never-Ending Games Are Not Their Life

Games are fun and all, but what happens when they start to take over your child’s life?

Let the games begin.

Your child’s got him/herself a new game, and that’s great! It’s a new form of entertainment for him/her and it’ll help keep him/her occupied during long car rides. However, because of how fun the game is, it’s easy for your child to get sucked into it and potentially develop an addiction to his/her new game.

In the third instalment of The Plano Adventures, Zed gets addicted to a new game that has been released. In an interesting turn of events, he ends up getting sucked into the game, literally. While your child doesn’t have to worry about disappearing into a virtual game in real life, he/she can still lose themselves while playing a game, in a different sense. A latent effect of gaming addiction is screen addiction and it’s absolutely critical to put a cap on your child’s screen time to prevent any damages to their eye health. Parental control apps can help to manage your child’s screen time to remind them to take regular eye breaks from their devices.

Managing gaming addiction.

Playing games are a great way to relieve stress, and for your children, games serve as a world away from their worries at school. Some games even teach them creative and strategical thinking! Not all games are bad, and there’s also nothing bad about playing games. But it’s important to remind your child to play these games in moderation. Even if your child is highly addicted to his/her game, don’t stop them abruptly as this can make them go cold turkey and develop adverse withdrawal symptoms. Rather, negotiate the amount of time they’d be allocated to play games and stick to that schedule.

When your child does take a break between gaming, take him/her out for a walk outdoors to enjoy the sun. It’s been widely researched that spending at least 2 hours a day outdoors helps to protect your child’s eyes. It’s also a great opportunity to play outdoors as a family and spend time with your child.

In the book, after Zed comes to his senses about his gaming addiction, he exercises My Power to fight against his desire to play the game. The Plano Adventures explores the cruciality of healthy device use and how we, as individuals, have the power to develop good device habits on our own.

If you would like to purchase The Never-Ending Game, or any of the other 4 books in the series, you may find them in Singapore at Kinokuniya, Times Bookstores, and at Popular. Alternatively, buy them online on Amazon or Book Depository.