We wanted to take a moment to congratulate all of the Grand Prize winners of the Xbox 360 Family Sweepstakes: Veronica, Tynishia, Randy and Matthew! Throughout the course of the four-week giveaway, we received numerous entries from parents with a wide array of household media tips and tricks on balancing screen time, choosing the right video games for your family and rules around online gaming and social networking. Here’s some of the great advice we received:

• “Our two kids are not allowed to hear voice chat when playing multiplayer games with strangers and they can only use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter when we are in the room with them.”
• “Online games are allowed after school lessons are done and only on weekends (along with TV and movies) - social networking site rules are that all safety features of Facebook are utilized.”
• “Parents should play video games, watch TV, and use the Internet with their children. They need to establish cut off hours such as 11 pm on weekdays and 12 am on the weekend.”
• “Use a screen time tracker like the Family Timer which is handily built right into Xbox 360 Family Settings.”
• “To find appropriate games for my family, I check game websites and game ratings for trailers and information on family friendly games.”
• “I rent the games first and play them myself so that I can decide if it’s good or not for the family.”

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Sweepstakes! Remember that GetGameSmart.com has step-by-step parental control set-up guides and tools for helping your family enjoy TV, video games, and the Internet in ways that are safer and more balanced. Follow @GetGameSmart on Twitter or become a fan of GetGameSmart.com on Facebook for updates on the go.