School is now out, and my child admitted that my ex let her sit in front of intercraften (Minecraft with chat rooms) for 9 hours yesterday while he watched TV.
She said she took a break from it for an hour but was on youtube for that time.
He never spends time with her outside of home. It will be like this all summer long and she hates my home where I make her do chores for even an hour of video games. He won't stop. What can I do legally? She wants to live with him, help?
There's nothing you can do but make her feel bored to be there. When she's with you do fun things with her so she doesn't feel like it's all chores at home with you. It's great to have structure but when you have a child that's ready to rebel, you have to improvise to win. Something small that will make a huge difference.
You can't do a thing. If your ex is a couch potato and sits around watching TV for nine hours a day, allows your child to play games on the computer while he watches TV, this is what he does in his own home, his world, his choices.
He's a different person from you. The Courts are going to do nothing about it. He's not harming her, he's not abusing her, he's living his life the way he wants to. It's the same with the company he might keep -- his life, his friends, his choices.
I didn't particularly like everything my ex's household either, and our son stayed with him all summer, every summer until he was 18 or so. My ex's household was different from mine, and i accepted it. I didn't sit around dwelling on what my ex was doing at his house or how he was entertaining or "training" our son.
When our son was at home with me, he lived a different lifestyle and we were more active, he had more responsibilities in my home. He'd come home and be a bit bratty for a while (typical behavior for some children when they return from the other parent's home). But soon, he'd settle back in. He respected my rules, our lifestyle and the truth is, my son and i are much closer than he and his father could ever be.
Just be a good parent and good example.
I had things to do, and a life to live. And today my son is 28 years old, has his own child, and is no worse for the experiences he had with his Dad over his summer vacations.
Minecraft is an instant baby sitter. There's nothing you can do except consult with a lawyer to see if you can have supervised visits.
The best thing to do is talk to him about it and educate him about raising his child.
I bet your child wants to be with him because there's video games all day!