Video games

Another one of the Brain Balance rules limits screen time to one hour each day.  When Betsy shared this one with me, I resisted. Sam is addicted to video games and I am used to defending his playtime. The games serve as a haven for him where he is able to block everything else out and hide from all the sensory overload. Also, he's so good at every game he plays. And sweet Sam doesn't get to be the best at much. Sports are hard because of his low muscle tone and lack of coordination.  His fine motor skills make all art frustrating. He's too shy for any kind of performance art. So can't he just hide out in his games?

Betsy (the Center Director) nods and I am sure I've convinced her. But no. She explains that playing video games and watching tv both activate the left side of the brain. Since Sam's right hemisphere is weaker, this makes the disparity between his two hemispheres even larger. Exactly what we want to avoid. She reminds me that the premise of Brain Balance is not to hover safely where he's capable and comfortable; the goal is to strengthen what's weak and make him uniformly strong across all areas. I get it and I know she is right. By letting Sam bury himself in the games, he is building up the side that already dominates and the weaker hemisphere doesn't have a chance to catch up.

 

So how big a change will this be for us? On school days, Sam is allowed to play 30 minutes of Xbox and then about an hour of TV between dinner and bedtime. Plus he's allowed to play his itouch in the car. To bring screen time down to an hour, we will cut out car time and make him choose between tv or Xbox after dinner. I tell Sam about the change and he's pretty ok with it. And giving him the choice of tv or video games makes him feel like he's got some power. Phew. Not so hard.

The real challenge will be the weekends. He usually plays for three-five hours each day. That's a lot. I'm embarrassed to put it down for the world to see. But he loves, loves, loves playing. And there's NOTHING else that makes him as happy. I know that Betsy's point is valid and at the same time there's a lot being asked of Sam right now and this may push him over the edge. There's one more day till the weekend; I'm going to mull it over for as long as I can.