watch the excitement from a Nintendo 3DS XL on your child’s face #3DSKidForADay #aSIMPLEchristmas

Nintendo of America provided me with a New Nintendo 3DS XL system and games for review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Your probably thinking, my child doesn’t need another device to sit an play on, right?  There are ways  your child can earn these things and only use it when they have actually earned it. For now, my children are not allowed to use any electronic devices during the school week. That means M-F, no iPad, iPhone, tablet or video games.  They truly dislike this rule, but it’s the only way I can keep control of the obsessiveness that has become of these electronics.

Of course, my first thought was he doesn’t need another electronic device, he already has enough.  But, then I thought, maybe we could do some learning and teaching with this.  So, we decided that this will be a great Christmas gift for him.

There are things that need to be done at home and at school.  So getting them to do it will be the task.  You do this by offering something important to them, in order to get them to complete something important to you. What do kids value? Screen time. In other words, phone, Internet, TV and video games.

In order for screen time to be an effective consequence – and a motivating incentive – it needs to be offered, and restricted, wisely.

Parents have come up with some creative ways of monitoring and restricting screen-time access in their households:

• Rather than let their child move onto another platform, some families let kids earn access to “screen time” in general, rather than restrict a specific device.
• Some parents change their family’s internet password daily, and give a time frame for certain tasks or responsibilities to be done before their child can have the password.
• Some phone companies let you turn a phone off and on remotely, or give windows of time when texting is available – this lets you monitor and control usage without a physical power struggle.
• For things like video and tv, some parents have opted to take the cable box or game controllers with them in the morning, and only hook it back up in the evening when homework or other tasks have been done.

These are just a few ways to help you create ways of limiting the screen time, even if they try to sneak it!  But rewarding for good behavior and doing chores with a new Nintendo 3DS XL will be one thing I know my son will love.

They can watch their favorite videos and shows on YouTube™, HuluPlus, or Netflix right on your system. Plus, games, and more games are available to play on this. I know he will be very excited to see this when he opens it.

Have fun adventures with characters like Mario™, Peach™, Yoshi™, Link™, and Pikachu™. The Nintendo 3DS family of systems are home to tons of high-quality games you can’t find anyplace else.