TO X-box or not to X-box? That is the question.

Well, it's currently my question anyway.

Or perhaps, actually, it's more a question of when not if.

There's no doubt when the school curriculum starts to include computer programming for primary school children the decision about whether to let them have screen time is already out of your hands.

TV and computers are now everyday for even small children. Games consoles, tablets and iPhones still lag behind perhaps but how far and for how long I wouldn't like to say.

I'm not suggesting that screens are automatically a bad idea - or for that matter a good one. They just are.

So that means a parent's role now is working out what to do with them.

Inevitably peer pressure is at work.

You may say you won't let Minecraft rule your child's life but as soon as the other children in the class start to accumulate devices your determination begins to waver.

And if your child's friends would prefer to go to a classmate's home rather than yours because of the lack of screen time options, how long before you cave in?

Not that long I think.

So that leads to that most tricky of questions. How much screen time is too much screen time?

Or, perhaps more truthfully, how can I avoid the conversation that goes, "Can I play on my X-box?" "No" "Can I play on it later?" "Maybe." "What time can I play on it?" "After lunch." "Is it lunchtime now?" "No." "When will it be lunchtime?"

You get the idea. Children are nothing if not mind-numbingly, energy-sappingly persistent.

But then there's the other side of the coin too.

I once watched a programme entitled, "my child is addicted to computer games."

However, rather than offering insight into how to prise an unwilling child away from the computer, it soon became obvious that a more accurate title would have been "my mum is addicted to letting me play computer games while she deals with my younger siblings."

Although it's perhaps not as pithy for the TV guide.

So there it is. The real fear as I approach the gateway into this brave new world is not that that my children will turn into Minecraft-obsessed gaming zombies.

But that I might not have the energy to stop them.