Digital Games and Media EducationWhat Is My Child Actually Playing? Tips for Parents on Gaming
Whether on a console, computer, or smartphone, digital games are a popular hobby among many children and teens. They offer entertainment, challenges, and the opportunity to spend time with friends and other players. It’s therefore worthwhile for parents to familiarize themselves with their children’s gaming world and to consider the potential benefits and risks.
The new informational brochure “What Is My Child Actually Playing? Digital Games—Tips for Parents” by klicksafe, in cooperation with Spieleratgeber-NRW, provides parents with ten practical tips. Here, we highlight three topics from the brochure as examples.
Playtime: Rules That Fit Into Everyday Family Life
How long can they play? And what happens if the child is in the middle of an exciting round? Mutually agreed-upon rules provide guidance and can help reduce conflicts over media use. It’s important that the rules are reasonable and appropriate for the child’s age.
For younger children, fixed usage times or media vouchers can be helpful. Teenagers, on the other hand, can gradually take on more responsibility, for example, with a mutually agreed-upon weekly time allowance.
Here’s what parents can do:
- Agree on fixed usage times that apply even when you’re out and about.
- Consistently stick to the agreements and explain the reasons for the restrictions to your child.
- Make sure that other activities and interests don’t get neglected alongside gaming.
Safety: Use the Right Settings
Smartphones, consoles, and computers offer numerous parental control and safety settings. These can be used, for example, to set age limits, restrict usage times, limit online purchases, or manage contacts and privacy.
Technical settings are an important tool, but they do not replace parental guidance. While younger children need more protection, teenagers can be gradually guided toward using digital media independently.
Here’s what parents can do:
- Set up a separate account for your child and enter their correct age.
- Use parental controls to restrict inappropriate content, contacts, or purchases.
- Learn more about security settings at www.medien-kindersicher.de.
Costs: Keep an Eye on In-Game Purchases
Many games offer in-game or in-app purchases. Digital items, game advantages, or subscriptions can quickly add up to a lot of money—even if the amounts seem small at first. Some games also use so-called “dark patterns” to encourage players to make additional purchases.
Clear agreements help you stay on top of things. For older children, setting a fixed budget can also be a good way to learn how to manage money.
Here’s what parents can do:
- Decide together whether in-game purchases are allowed and, if so, within what limits.
- If necessary, agree on a fixed budget and a spending limit.
- Disable in-app purchases in the device settings if they are not permitted, and avoid storing payment information on the gaming device whenever possible.
More Tips for Parents
Playtime, safety, and costs are just three of the topics covered in our brochure. In total, “What Is My Child Actually Playing? Digital Games—Tips for Parents” offers ten concise tips for media education, including topics such as age ratings, digital gaming contacts, problematic gaming behavior, and streaming and video platforms.
The revised brochure is 20 pages long and is now available for download or can be ordered as a printed copy. Up to 25 copies are available free of charge; beyond that, there is a fee of 0.10 euros per copy.