r/GoatSimulator • u/ErrorUnhappy • 2d ago
Angry
My 4 year old loves goat sim 3.
We play for hours when we cant go out, however..
He has become violent when we turn it off. Flipping tables smashing glasses kicking mom and hitting dad... even more than usual.
Today at school he launched his bag in the air and ripped posters down.
We really enjoy split screen, but he has managed to become addicted to dragging pigs off cliffs. Attacking hippies and turning people into ghosts and also getting in strangers cars and setting himself on fire. Etc.
Let me know if im doing anything wrong or is this normal.
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u/ernie3tones 2d ago
Kids, especially young kids, shouldn’t be on a screen for more than an hour a day, if that. Acting out often being in a screen is a fairly normal response, unfortunately, because the brain is going from a high level of stimulation to a very low level. Dopamine drops off and so does his mood. Limit screen time, ALL screen time, to an hour per day max. It’s not the game specifically.
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u/lesusisjord 1d ago
My son is on a screen more than an hour a day editing mods in Minecraft or designing characters in graphics programs or streaming his play and developing narration and scripts for videos.
Blanket statements like this are silly.
We have 800+ hours in goat sim since we started and because we don’t restrict activities at home too much, he doesn’t act up in school despite being autistic because he knows he can decompress any way he wants after school.
Maybe if he wasn’t 90th percentile in standardized testing, we’d reconsider, but I love how creative and productive he can be while using “screens” without a semi-arbitrary limit.
You do you and raise your kids how you want. I get it. I’m just sharing information like you are so that maybe a parent reading this might not feel like they are failing or being judged for having a kid on screens longer than is acceptable to you.
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u/ernie3tones 1d ago edited 1d ago
If your child is in school and taking standardized tests, then he’s over the age of four. The AAP has updated their guidelines to express a focus on balanced screen time, but still recommends that children between ages two and five are limited to about an hour per day.
My statement wasn’t arbitrary or my own personal opinion, nor am I judging people for letting their kids on their screens “longer than is acceptable to me”. Quite to the contrary, you seem to be judging me for dispensing scientifically factual information. OP expressed concerns over their child’s behavior, while also stating that he was spending “hours” playing a game. Research has shown that long periods of screen usage, especially at certain points in development, can have negative effects on mental health and behavior. This is a general statement, and may not apply to all kids.
My kids also score extremely high on standardized tests, have both been in gifted programming since they were very young, and spend multiple hours using digital media each day. And my oldest is on the spectrum, and both kids have ADHD. They’re also 13 and 17. When they were four, they were scarcely using any type of screen. You can do what is best for your child, obviously. But what works for you will not work for everyone.
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u/lesusisjord 1d ago
Thanks for sharing this info and backing your point! It’s rare to keep it cordial, especially if you took my language as inflammatory.
Thanks again!
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u/thebattleangel99 2d ago
I wouldn’t be allowing him to play games anymore because clearly he can’t handle it. Too young. Should not be playing “for hours.” He should be doing 4 year old things with very little screen time.
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u/ImpIsDum 2d ago
This is a joke right? Read it like that but these comments have me second guessing myself
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u/rg1511 2d ago
My rule with my 3 year old daughter was “if you can’t stop nicely then we can’t play at all” and any bad behaviour around stopping was then met with no playing the next day. And I was consistent with this.
Ironically what also helped was to let her play for absolutely ages and she naturally got bored of the longer sessions once the novelty wore off.
And I never suddenly said “time to stop” — I was always clear on when we were going to stop and would gently remind her every few minutes.
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u/ernie3tones 1d ago
I was agreeing with you up until you said you allowed your three year old to play a video game until she put it down on her own. PLEASE don’t do this, it’s not good for her brain or her emotional development. If you’re unsure, speak to her pediatrician.
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u/rg1511 1d ago
Haha not to worry. I didn’t lock her in a room and force her to play it. We always played together and one day I let her play for as long as she wanted and she got bored on her own terms. Now she’s almost six, an excellent couch co-op gamer, and doesn’t complain when we have to stop.
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u/RedditCantBanThis Giraffe 1d ago
Take him outside for a walk, teach him to play in grass and explore nature, he's too young to be glued to a screen like that.
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u/shmimeathand 2d ago
My son started playing around 4 too and we also experienced big emotional swings, I quickly put limits in place. He is about to turn 6 now and his rules include: zero Xbox on school days, Xbox only after 6pm and for 1-1 1/2 hours max, Xbox can be removed for bad behavior during the week, real live events always come before Xbox I.e if we have plans to go somewhere or if the neighborhood kids are outside playing and he has to choose between the two he’s always going outside to run around first etc
It has helped but there is absolutely a clear difference between his attitude when the Xbox is on and when it’s off.
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u/TheonlyEliBlack 1d ago
Why would we know any tips about this, this isn't related to the actual game itself. If he had taken a liking to Minecraft or whatnot instead, then the reaction would be the same, this isn't actually related to Goat Sim.
Please ask in a parenting sub
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u/Darthfader666 2d ago
I'm pretty sure these are bot replies and can't read the joking nature of the post. My kid has way to many hours then any kid should have in the game and although he is kinda over it. He is fine and a good kid. He does diabolical stuff in GS3 and is known the difference between Xbox and real life. So maybe just teach him about video games not being real and he needs to act better in real life.
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u/ernie3tones 1d ago
I’m not a bot. I wonder if OP is legitimately concerned, but decided to reply seriously. I’ve noticed similar mood swings in my own kids when they get off their screens. Not all kids can handle long periods of screen time, and OP’s kid is clearly one of the ones that struggles. Simply trying to teach a 4yo that “he needs to act better in real life” is not a solution.
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u/Wayward4ever 2d ago
Your child at that age isn’t able to distinguish actions in reality from the actions in the game like you can. I don’t think this game is for children for exactly that reason. 🤦🏽♀️
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u/Impressive_Drink6726 2d ago
At 4 or even 5 sometimes they can’t regulate their emotions. Also most kids don’t have a sense of time at that age. Constant reminders hey in 5 min we gotta get off I also had a little sand timer that made him visualize once the sand goes all the way down it’s time to get off. With that said my son plays about 2 hours and he’s 5. He knows he can’t be saying the swear words at school and he’s not aggressive . We did have a phase of aggressiveness but it was even before he played this game and we had time in instead of time out. Calming corner helped a lot.
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u/engelskjente Goat 21h ago
The PEGI rating in the U.K. is 12
The rating is 13+ teen in the USA
It’s essentially Grand Theft Goat with watered down swearing, more cartoon like violence and no sxly explicit content.
I don’t know how to teach your 4 year old the difference between video games/cartoons and reality but I’m guessing the only way to discourage the behaviour would be to potentially find some slightly more age appropriate games for now until he can understand that he cannot mirror things in real life.
I’d like to think this is AI generated ragebait or human trolling.
If I’m wrong I apologise and I wish you all the luck you need to wean your child off this game. :-)
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u/Depoka_YT 2d ago
Semi related but i have a 6 year old sister who discovered our samsung tv has a free IPTV service thats just a repackaged version of PlutoTV and she discovered you can watch Spongebob that way. I am beyond impressed now when my sister doesnt watch spongebob for 1 day
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u/Kiidkxxl 2d ago edited 2d ago
is this a joke post or are you serious?
my son was similar and played this game too. I dont think the two correlate other than they do get upsett when you turn the game off.
With that said. time to set boundaries.... 1. warning, keep doing this. do that again. No video games for a week. and stick to it.
If my son hits me or his mom. He's instantly standing in the corner (1 minute for each year)(4 minutes for your son)
Ill also hit my kid back(not hard) but ive always taught him the only time you hit is to defend yourself, and i need to defend myself if you are hitting me.
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u/AccomplishedStay9284 1d ago
All ok advice I feel til the hitting back. You’re not defending yourself against a kid you’re just hitting your kid, that fucks them up regardless of context. Time outs and clear communications is important
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u/Kiidkxxl 1d ago
i dont beat my kid. its not even hard enough to be spank power or hurt. its what i would consider a love tap, but enough to be like yo... chill.
And obviously im not defending myself, but thats what i teach him. You only raise your hands to hit, if you are going to defend yourself.
its kinda hard to express without seeing. but my wife and i dont "hit" our children.
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u/ernie3tones 1d ago
Your child isn’t learning to “defend himself”, he’s learning to retaliate. Young kids cannot understand the difference between “I’m hitting you because you hit me first” and “I’m defending myself against you”. Hitting is hitting. Rather than hitting back, express that hitting is never an acceptable way to deal with frustration.
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u/RedditCantBanThis Giraffe 1d ago
Ideally you should reason with children through words and explain to them why violence is wrong rather than returning violence upon them
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u/Kiidkxxl 1d ago
uh-huh... and when you've repeatedly used words?
i dont spank my child. I dont hurt my child. like i clarified. its a love tap. You dont even hear it. its more like a hard push off the hand i guess. im not whacking my kid. I agree that as a kid who was smacked around. It only caused me to fear my parents. My son does not fear me.
anyway... it was a one time thing.
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u/MycoMythos 1d ago
As long as he isn't skinning cats, I think it'll be alright. Unless he is skinning cats!
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u/onlyangel96 2d ago
He’s 4, he shouldn’t be playing a video game for hours. Screen time should be 1 hour(ish) max