Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Parents often find their hearts broken when their children are addicted to online gaming rather than focusing on their study. Most of them feel frustrated and helpless and have no effective way to bring their children back on the right track. However, parents from Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, had an idea of how to deal with their 8-year-old son who was in the third grade of a primary school. They let the boy "quit" school for a whole week, and set strict plans for him to play video games: he must play as long as 16 hours per day; if he misses meal time he would have nothing to eat; at noon and at the end of the day, he must then summarize his achievements for playing the games. The mom also invited an old hand to "fight" her son. The parents said they wanted to use this method to make their kid give up online games - when something becomes a task, there will be no fun. According to media reports, the boy lost his temper four times in just three days. It might be a good way to educate children, but parents should better reflect themselves on why children are addicted - kids only resort to online games when they are psychologically hollow.