My husband (37) and I (40) are having disagreements about the amount of game time our 4-year-old daughter is getting.
Hello Reddit, This is my first time posting here, so I hope I do this right. I'm a 40-year-old female, and my husband is 37. We're currently having a disagreement about our eldest child's gaming time. My husband is a passionate gamer, and while I used to enjoy gaming myself, I haven't had the time since we had kids. I now view life itself as a game where I’m focused on developing my skills. I enjoy socializing, particularly with fellow socially awkward individuals, while my husband prefers to avoid social interactions. We have a daughter who's almost 4 years old, and my husband has been introducing her to gaming. This has been a source of contention between us. We’ve managed to agree on a limit of 2 hours of gaming per day, but I'm still uncomfortable with that restriction. It applies specifically to the game he enjoys, which she has now taken to as well. Additionally, there's TV screen time, watching him play, or activities she might do while he’s playing that don't count towards that limit. He insists he keeps track in his head, but I worry he loses track, allowing her time to accumulate. I’m concerned that she might start engaging in random activities just to extend her gaming time. My husband believes the game helps her learn valuable skills and thinks this justifies the gaming time. However, I feel it’s troubling that our daughter is so eager to play that it’s often the first thing she mentions when she wakes up. I also feel frustrated that I end up being the “bad cop” who has to enforce the gaming limits, putting me in a position where it feels like it’s fun daddy versus mean mommy. He claims I'm being unfair by wanting to limit her time, but he acknowledges that my restrictions on her gaming time might be unfair to him as well, since it means he would have less time to play, too, since he’d need to entertain her with other activities. So, Reddit, what do you think is an acceptable amount of gaming time for an almost 4-year-old?