NHS to pay for treatment for children addicted to gaming.

encaser

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Should the NHS really be expected to pay for addiction treatment for children who's parents have let them game to the extent of addiction or, should parents or game makers foot the bill?
Telegraph article here
 
What about obese children? Should they be treated even though their parents have fed them too much sugar? Or people with lung cancer who smoke. Or skin cancer patients who used sunbeds?

I’m just playing devils advocate here but you get the point.
 
Maybe the parents shouldn't have relied on games to do most of the parenting and actually interacted with their children.

Also regarding the obese thing you can have 2 kids and have them eat the same **** every day they wont both turn out the same.
 
Amateurish parenting, I listened to a Mother on R5Live this morning who couldn’t accept it was her fault that little Johnny shat himself playing Fortnite and blamed the gaming companies.
 
Amateurish parenting, I listened to a Mother on R5Live this morning who couldn’t accept it was her fault that little Johnny shat himself playing Fortnite and blamed the gaming companies.

It really isn't difficult. We let our oldest (4) play a few games on the Ipad a few months ago - 20 mins or so. When we took it away he went absolutely demented. He's not had it since. Problem solved.

Same for TV. We give the kids an Alexa timer of whatever they've earned through good behaviour to watch Kid's Netflix, then it goes off. If they whinge, they lose 5mins from the next day each time until they lose their entire next day's allowance.

Parents need to parent.

My mum's favourite trick when I was a shit as a kid was to leave my SNES in my room but hide the controllers :)
 
If they whinge, they lose 5mins from the next day each time until they lose their entire next day's allowance.

And then they've got nothing to lose :)
 
Stop feeding them **** every day and they will both be fine. ;)
The analogy was, you can take two children who both play video games for x hours a day and one will become addicted and the other won't. And x doesn't need to be a particularly high number. Watching out for the signs of addiction (and in the analogy, putting on weight) is far more important than fixing a completely arbitrary schedule/diet. Although the latter is obviously easier to implement (for the lazy parent ;))
 
Really not sure what they expect kids to do and it not as though this is a major problem? I live in an area where every bit of grass has a sign 'No ball games' and it is far to dangerous to let kids out on the roads on bikes.
As for child obesity, far less exercise of course in schools as playing fields have been flogged of to developers to help pay for basics like books or not even incorporated into new schools. Of course parents have to take responsibility but are you lot all so hard done by these days with your stressful lives yadda yadda yadda and more than happy for your kids to amuse themselves and eat junk food?
 
The analogy was, you can take two children who both play video games for x hours a day and one will become addicted and the other won't. And x doesn't need to be a particularly high number.

It wasn't an analogy.

Also regarding the obese thing you can have 2 kids and have them eat the same **** every day they wont both turn out the same.

For the record I totally agree with what you are both saying but also think that both video game addiction and obesity can be prevented by good parenting.
 
but are you lot all so hard done by these days with your stressful lives yadda yadda yadda and more than happy for your kids to amuse themselves and eat junk food?
No, we are not, as we are not discussing the family of any member on here :p :D
 
Also regarding the obese thing you can have 2 kids and have them eat the same **** every day they wont both turn out the same.
That's because the greedy kid will eat the other kid's share of the food...
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I have an answer.

Take children away from parents as soon as they are born, and have them raised by qualified professionals who actually know what they are doing.
Then, age, let's say 18, when most of the brain is wired up and they have standards etc laid down that will stay with them for life, let them return to their parents ;)
 
I saw this on BBC breakfast this morning and was waiting for the mention of Fortnite and sure enough, gameplay from Fortnite soon appeared, even this article has a what is Fortnite section embedded in it. A popular game comes out to bash this old chestnut around again.

However, if there's a distinction between kids playing games and cracking on with the rest of life and a small percentage of those that become ill because of it, then its a good thing that its identified and addressed. However, I'm uncertain from what I've heard on whether there is decent program that actually works, too much finger pointing at bad parents and evil gaming companies muddying the waters..

However, from the article:

The guidelines state that for a diagnosis a victim’s behaviour must be “of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning.” They would also normally be expected to have suffered it for at least a year.

So for kids, we'll just let them downward spiral for a year before doing anything. If this is a thing, then surely giving proper advice to spot signs of unhealthy addiction and addressing them before they become fully impaired should also be a part of this program.
 
There is something different about that Fortnite game though. My kids have always gamed in moderation but something on that has got them mega hooked, it is all they talk about, same with my friends' children. I read that child psychologists were involved in the making of it.

I use the same method as someone above. They get a set period, they shout, they lose time and then I hide it. Have only needed to resort to hiding it since the Fortnite infection!
 
And my kids never shut up about Minecraft a few years ago. Fortnite has not been out a year, so clearly post dates the extreme cases leading to this research and subsequent WHO classifications.

For the record, my lad also plays Fortnite, but certainly not exclusively..
 
My boy is 6 yo. I have a games console but he's never set eye's on it as it's hidden in my home office and only comes out the odd evening when he's gone to bed. He's played a couple of game apps via our home laptop, but only for no more than 30 mins or so.

What he does have, which we do not mind him playing for longer, is a Leap Pad. He can often be consumed in this, but at least we know there's a learning element to what he's playing as all of the games played we vet and must have some educational content to them. (Literacy or numeracy)

That first day he comes home from a friends house after spending the whole time there gaming is the one day I am dreading. I already know what will be coming next! :(
 
My view on this is similar to childhood obseity.

Weight gain is pretty simple, if your calorie intake far exceeds your expenditure you'll probably put on weight.

If your child needs a huge portion or small portion to tip them into gaining weight excessively the results are still the same. They just need less calories.

In the same way if you let your kids play games for 5 hours each evening you're asking for an unhealthy relationship with gaming. Some kids might be fine with this but many won't.

But the question is should the cost of poor parenting be a burden on the NHS? It already is sadly and the freedom to "raise" your child as you wish will always ensure it stays that way.

I'm all for helping the kids but it is a little frustrating when it can so easily be prevented!
 

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