The call has come from gaming experts following a survey of parents of four- to five-year-olds, revealing that more than eight in ten (83 per cent) want more information around controls they can put in place.
Managing screen time, in-game purchases, online interactions, and access to age-appropriate content are among areas parents of young children want advice with.
The survey has been carried out by games industry trade body UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie).
This found that most parents are already using some parental controls around their children’s gaming, with 93 per cent of parents of four- to five-year-olds setting up at least one parental control on their child’s device.
In addition, 74 per cent of parents of young children say they have spoken to their children about the amount of time they play video games.
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To promote conversations between children and parents and early years professionals, Ukie has launched a promotional campaign with downloadable guidance called PowerUpPact, available from its AskAboutGames website.
This aims to advise families on how to have conversations around gaming and to ‘mutually agree parameters’, including time limits.
AskAboutGames editor Andy Robertson advises parents and early years professionals to pay attention to relevant age ratings, listed for three-, seven- and 12-year-olds, which are clearly shown on games, as well as any description of games, such as whether there are scenes of violence.
He said the guidance aims to give ‘a structured way to talk through how you play games, what games are the best fit, and also goes into territory of how long we should play for’.
‘Rather than the adult being against the child and the gatekeeper of games it creates a context where the adult and the child can have an open conversation,’ he added.
‘By starting in this space you gain confidence and your child gains confidence that you are positive about games, which means if anything happens in a game when they play when they are older, they are more likely to come and tell you.’
‘Children of all ages should feel involved in any decisions around parental controls and playing games and by having an open conversation, controls and restrictions can be implemented together,’ added clinical psychologist Professor Tanya Byron, who is backing the campaign.
She hopes the guidance will ‘encourage more parents to have valuable conversations with their children and to negotiate and agree on the usage of video game controls and restrictions to help parents feel assured that their children are acting responsibly online whilst still learning and having fun’.
Also backing the campaign is comedian and TV presenter Judi Love, who has two children.
‘Having that proper chat changed everything and I could back up what we’d decided together by setting some parental controls, such as time limits which stop him playing games particularly on weekdays and late at night,’ she said.
This month it emerged that in China online regulator Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) is considering rules to limit smart phone use of children to a maximum of two hours a day. Since 2021 China has imposed three hours a week limit on children playing online video games.