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Sherry,
I know it's very hard to believe this, but scheduling their time will lead to
more problems than you want to deal with!!
Let them use it when they want to, as long as they want to. This sounds
strange, but it's the advice I got here and it's working beautifully.
Recently, we moved a tv out of Trevors room and into the living room. I made
a deal in which the N64 became family property instead of his (now I have to
figure out how to afford that Gamecube which was part of the deal) and
everyone has access to it more easily now.
Jared was spending hours on it, and Sierra was getting mad. I would gently
remind him that if he wasn't sensitive to the fact that she wanted time, then
she might have a hard time being sensitive also.
I've asked them to focus on a way to solve the problem if two want it at the
same time, instead of focusing on how long the other person had it or any
other challenge at the moment. It's interesting to see how they deal with it.
Sometimes I have to mediate, but most often, without undue pressure, the
person playing will hand it over to the other person eventually and everyone
is fine.
The longer you let them use it where, when and how they want, the less needy
they'll act about it. The more you regulate, schedule and time them, the less
they will problem solve and the more obsessed they will act about their time
on it.
Ren
"The answers aren't important really...
What's important, is knowing all the questions."
-Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Unschooling support at pensacolaunschoolers.com