Overview

""Perfect for any parent who wants to meet their young gamer with empathy, wisdom, and a renewed sense of partnership."" -Doug Bolton, PhD, author of Untethered: Creating Connected Families, Schools, and Communities to Raise a Resilient Generation Parents have good reason to worry when they don't understand the video games their kids are playing. Their children stare at a screen for hours every day. Eyes glazed over, they seem oblivious to the world and throw tantrums when asked to help fold laundry. According to a recent survey, three-quarters of American parents think their children spend too much time in front of screens. Two-thirds of parents believe raising children is more difficult than twenty years ago, primarily due to their children's access to technology. Parents have questions and don't know what information to trust. What games are appropriate? How much screen time is too much? Have children lost the ability and desire to socialize? Are they desensitized to violence? Who are they talking to online? Why has everything become a power struggle? Author Andrew Fishman walks parents through a comprehensive guide to all the challenges of parenting a gamer. He provides scientific evidence and cultural context to empower parents to make values-based decisions and raise healthy children. Parenting a Gamer contains practical strategies to help children make healthy decisions related to gaming, balance screen time with other activities, and practice internet safety, all without arguments. When it comes to helping children make positive choices related to gaming, this book is a game changer.

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9780897334617

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Parenting a Gamer is a thoughtful, grounded, and deeply relevant guide for families raising children in a world where gaming is not a hobby on the sidelines, but a meaningful part of many young people's lives. Andrew Fishman brings a rare and valuable dual perspective to this work. His lived experience as a gamer shows up in his fluency with gaming culture, game mechanics, and the realities of online play, while his clinical training allows him to clearly explain how gaming intersects with development, motivation, emotional regulation, and identity. He understands not only what kids are playing, but what gaming does for them--and sometimes, what it replaces. Fishman neither dismisses parental concerns nor vilifies games. Instead, he offers a balanced, psychologically informed look at how gaming can support skill-building, connection, and enjoyment, while also naming the very real challenges families face when gaming becomes a source of conflict, dysregulation, or withdrawal from other areas of life. The book is especially strong in its use of concrete examples and parent-ready language. The suggested conversations help parents move away from power struggles and toward curiosity, collaboration, and influence--an approach that protects the parent-child relationship while still supporting healthy limits. This is an essential read for parents trying to navigate gaming with clarity rather than fear, and a valuable resource for clinicians, educators, and anyone working with children and adolescents today."" --Margo M. Jacquot, PsyD, president-elect, Illinois Psychological Association ""Parenting a Gamer is a unique and wonderful resource to help parents and their children untangle one of this generation's biggest parenting challenges. Written with empathy both for children and parents, Andrew Fishman demystifies the confusing and often frightening world of gaming and provides children, parents, and clinicians with the 'cheat code' for successfully navigating some of our hardest conversations. With warmth and practicality, Fishman helps families move beyond power struggles and confusion, offering strategies that strengthen trust, communication, and connection. Whether you're navigating screen-time battles, worried about online safety, or simply trying to understand why gaming matters so much to your child, this book gives you the tools to respond with confidence and clarity. More than a manual, Parenting a Gamer is a roadmap for raising emotionally healthy, values-anchored kids in a digital world. Fishman guides the reader to imagine, and then build, a home where curiosity, boundaries, and belonging can coexist. This book is perfect for any parent who wants to meet their young gamer with empathy, wisdom, and a renewed sense of partnership."" --Doug Bolton, PhD, author of Untethered: Creating Connected Families, Schools, and Communities to Raise a Resilient Generation

Author Information

Andrew Fishman is a licensed mental health professional in Chicago, where he specializes in treating video game addiction in adolescents. He earned a master's degree in social work at Loyola University and is certified in counseling gaming disorder by the International Gambling Counselor Certification Board. Andrew's articles on video games and mental health have been featured repeatedly as essential topics in Psychology Today, where he is listed as a Thought Leader. He has been featured worldwide in interviews by the Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera Plus, FintechBeat, El Pas, and for DC Fintech's Week 2021. He has also been quoted in numerous psychology and technology publications, ranging from Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews to European Business Magazine. He lives in Chicago where he can often be found playing The Legend of Zeldaand Assassin's Creedin his spare time.

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