I recently shared how much my sons love Club Penguin, especially my oldest son. Heck, he even made a video for parents about Club Penguin. (Check out my post all about the ins and outs of Club Penguin by clicking here.)
The thing about my son Aidan is that he is kind of addicted to technology. I can’t fault him for it, as he’s a chip off the old block. The problem is that he is so addicted, we have to set very firm limits for his game play. Aidan has always loved technology. As young as 2-years-old, he would get on my laptop to play Mickey’s Spooky Ooky House Builder and scream blood murder when it was time to step away from the screen. While he isn’t quite as bad about Club Penguin, it’s awfully close.
As you very well know, life with three kids can be pretty hectic and when you add in my work schedule and the crazy days and hours my husband has been working this summer, our time has been pretty difficult to manage. Because of this, I have been trying to implement less TV and computer time and more time with the kids helping around the house. With this implementation has come less Club Penguin, much to Aidan’s disappointment.
During this reduced computer and TV time, I have also noticed Aidan being more tired than normal when he gets up in the morning. I’ve been chalking it up to busy weekends and the like…until this morning. Last night I fell asleep on the sofa in our family room and was awoken at 2a.m. to this: “Brandon (that’s my middle son). Brandon, wake up! Let’s play Club Penguin.” Brandon ignored Aidan’s pleas that went on for at least two minutes. Aidan finally gave up and entered the family room to look for my laptop. When I popped up off the couch and busted him, it was quite a scene.
Today, I am dealing with the ramifications of this new scheme I have uncovered and began using the Club Penguin parent tools on the site. After registering for a free parent account and linking my sons’ penguins to my account, I am now able to control the hours they can use their penguins but the amount of time they can be on Club Penguin each day. I’m also able to see how much time they have played each day and how many times they logged in, and let’s just say I uncovered some spans of time that I cannot account for during “waking hours.” I can also set the chat mode from “standard safe chat” to “ultimate safe chat.”
The parental controls are genius and although they can’t solve the underlying problem of my son sneaking out of bed in the dead of night to play and do things he shouldn’t (God help me when he’s a teenager), at least I know the enticing allure of Club Penguin will no longer speak to him in his dreams.
