Parents: THIS is how you deal with your child playing too many video games

Game addiction is a big deal in Asia, and we come across all kinds of examples of parents who go to extremes to keep their kids off of PCs. Some parents send their kids to nightmarish boot camp “reform” schools to be beaten. Some parents chain their kids to their desks. Some parents just beat their children themselves.

None of those methods really work, as evidenced by the stories linked above, but here’s one that does: study with them. That’s the approach Chinese father Jiang Zhongxin took when he found that his son, Jiang Kang, was playing online too much at the start of his all-important high-school years. So the elder Jiang took to rising with his son, keeping the same hours as him and studying side-by-side with him.

In talking with his son, Jiang Zhongxin found that he’d lost interest in school, and that that—not game addiction—was the real problem. He started stopping by the classroom to check up on his son and, rediscovering his own interest in schooling, decided to enroll and go through high school together with his son. He even bet his son that he could finish with higher marks.

His son, moved by his father’s level of dedication, started to get more into school, and his grades picked up. This past June, Jiang Zhongxin even took the gaokao, China’s college entrance exam, with his son. The result? They both passed. The younger Jiang got higher marks, but Jiang Zhongxin scored well enough to go to college too. Now, he’s sold the family home to his brother, and both he and his son are headed to college!

Obviously, quitting your job and doing high school all over again isn’t a reasonable solution for most parents. But Jiang’s approach still has some lessons even for parents who can’t afford to go to Jiang’s extremes. Jiang’s actions—and his results—suggest something that many parents already know: talking honestly with your kids, and getting engaged in their world rather than just judging them, can make a big difference.

(via Netease Games)

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