How to Raise a Healthy Gamer : Break Bad Screen Habits, End Power Struggles, and Transform

How to Raise a Healthy Gamer offers a proven, tested plan from Dr K to help parents define, set and reinforce healthy boundaries around technology, communicate better with their children and help kids who have developed an addiction to gaming.

Is your child spending too much time playing video games? Or are your children begging you for screen time and you don't know how to help them establish healthy tech habits? Are games causing conflict and arguments? Whatever brings you here, I can help.

How much should I let them play? How do I get them to be interested in anything else?!

Video games and managing screen time are a modern parenting problem with no blueprint and a rapidly changing landscape. Harvard-trained psychiatrist and former gaming addict, Dr Alok Kanojia – Dr K to his millions of followers – offers a proven, tested plan to help parents define, set and reinforce healthy boundaries around screens and video games.

From communication strategies and advice on dealing with behavioural issues to the neurological reasons behind why tech is so addictive, How to Raise a Healthy Gamer is essential for parents of children of all ages.

Based on Dr K’s own experience with gaming addiction and his neuroscientific and psychiatric expertise, this is an accessible and engaging eight-week, step-by-step program covering how to react when your child becomes irritable, rude, or seemingly directionless around screens. Specific advice is also offered for parenting neurodiverse children, including those with ADHD and autism.

Written to empower parents with knowledge and practical advice, this guide from the foremost expert on video game psychology provides skills, offers hope and sets out a clear road map to building healthy gaming habits that will equip your child for a fulfilling future.

Contributor Bio(s)

Dr Kanojia, known widely as 'Dr K,' is the world's foremost expert on video game psychology.

He is Instructor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a private psychiatrist working with e-sports professionals, and the co-founder of Healthy Gamer, an online digital mental health platform that helps gamers and parents achieve healthy video gaming habits. Dr K's expertise is further informed by his own personal history - as someone who struggled with his own video game addiction as a teenager and young adult. He made the radical decision to escape his own habits, travelling to India and embarking on a seven-year journey to become a monk. He later returned to the US, conducted neuroscience research at Harvard Medical School, and completed his psychiatry training. He continues to teach about video game addiction at Harvard Medical school.

Quotes/Reviews

Clear, persuasive, and rooted in the most current research as well as the wisdom of the ages, How to Raise a Healthy Gamer is the book you’ve been looking for — not only for your child but for yourself as well! -Edward Hallowell, M.D., author of Driven to Distraction and ADHD 2.0 I highly recommend this calm, structured, and nurturing approach to better and less screen use. -Tina Payne Bryson, PhD, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Whole Brain Child and No Drama Discipline

This groundbreaking book will give you what you need to come to an informed and sensible resolution that works for you. It’s a book that will give you the strength to live within your values and that will support your hope for a family that is deeply connected. -Kim John Payne, author of Simplicity Parenting and The Soul of Discipline

Complete with scripts, milestones, rewards, and boundaries, this book will walk you through every step of the process to build an alliance with your child, helping them learn use their gaming strengths toward fulfillment in the world beyond their console. -Michelle Icard, author of Eight Setbacks That Can Make a Child A Success