Is my DS the only 6 yr old without a ...

[pipo]

DS?
He has asked for one for his 6th birhtday next month. he assures me that EVERYONE in his class has got one. is anyone else's dc as deprived as mine? i'm not even sure why i'm not keen for him to have one - it just seems a grown-up sort of toy when i want him to play with lego, go to the park and be bored enough to make up his own little games still. has anyone else successfully got away with not getting one?

[SummerRain]

dd is 6 and got hers when she was 4 (in our defense she broke her leg and was stuck to the couch so we gave her ours to play with and she was actually quite responsible with it so we bought her one that Christmas)

I think all the kids in her class have one now, the last mother caved at Christmas as her lad really was the only one without one.

dd got loads of 'grown up' type stuff last year... a DS, a proper digital camara (my dad!) and Wii games but this year she got playmobil and dolls and was delighted.... it's not a slippery slope where once they get one grown up thing they don't want proper toys anymore, it's just a differant sort of toy.

Some of the games are quite educational, others are just downright fun.

ds1 is sitting on the couch playing mario kart atm.... he's 4 and is desperate to have his own DS as he has to share dd's!

[compo]

My ds got one for his sixth birthday
he uses about about two hours at the weekend and on long car journeys
I don't see what the harm is as long as you monitor usage

[didldidi]

nope my son will be 8 soon and doesn't have one. He wants one but doesn't use the wii we have very often. Think he only wants one because a lot of his mates do

[onimolap]

My DS and DD each got one on their respective 6th birthdays.

I found that if you let them free run at it for the first couple of weeks (during which the incessant playing will drive you mad), the novelty wears off and it naturally subsides to a suitable level (if it doesn't, then that's the time to set limits).

If you can retain your influence over what games are played, and throw in something educational like Professor Layton from time to time, then it won't seem so bad.

Do not, however, be tempted to get one of the about-to-be-released 3D ones though - even the manufacturer is putting eyesight warnings on them.

[TwoIfBySea]

My dts were 7 before they got theirs. They play them more during this time of year and hardly touch them as soon as the weather gets nicer! In fact we have gone months where they didn't play them and then had to search through the house as they couldn't remember where they had put them.

They also have Lego and like to make things from bits of paper and cardboard. When they can they are outside on their skateboards.

It does them good to be bored once and a while. I've never let mine take theirs to school or on holiday or on days out. They are more a rainy day toy, we have a wii as well.

Pipo it is up to you though.

[jamaisjedors]

DS (6) hasn't got one.

[pipo]

i think i am worrying about it being a possible source of arguments eg setting time limits so the easy option is not to get one but that is it just me being a coward.

[skydance]

DS just turned 7 years old hasn't got one, I have asked him if he would like one as he had some money for christmas but he's not interested, he's not unusual in his class either I'd say it's about 50/50, quite a middle class area though and I find a lot of the mums are very anti-computer consoles, so I suppose he hasn't got the peer pressure that other children have.

[TheMonster]

My son got one for Christmas. He's 4. He looks after it really well and plays on it a lot.

[southeastastra]

are they only for working class kids then haha

i think they're fab but then again i love computer games and have loved them since the 80s.

most kids really don't play with them all the time

[pagwatch]

Dd got one at 5 but that was a present from her 15 year old brother who, at that stage, could not conceive of a sensible present from a shop other than game.

But do not, I repeat, do NOT parent according to what your dcs tell you that other children have/do.

It is a road to disaster..( And is pretty weak ass and spineless)

[TrollyMcTrollPants]

My son (6) doesn't have one but a lot of his friends do. He plays with my Dads when we go to visit him and Mum. We bought a Wii so we could all play together and couldn't afford to buy a DS too.

[hannahsaunt]

So clearly my ds at 10.5 is really old not to have one! No plans to get him one either ... He and ds2 (8, only sans DS) share a Wii (and have even demonstrated that they can live without that).

[TwistAndShout]

My DS has just turned 6 and for a while said he wanted a DS for his birthday but actually when I questioned him, he really wnated star wars lego (which he has really enjoyed) and will maybe get a DS next Christmas instead.

I do think a lot of children his age have them but I also think there are a lot who don't. My main concern was that I didn't want DS (4) to have one yet. I've heard they're great for car journeys etc. but sometimes I like my kids to be bored! (Mean Mum Emoticon)

[ProcessYellowC]

i read this as some sort of comment on how young parents are getting ...

[SylvanianFamily]

My dd is 7 and doesn't have one.

Amusingly, we were early adopters of both Wii and DS - just don't really share with the kids !

[Psammead]

Can someone tell me what a DS is? Some kind of console?

[twinsister]

sooo out of touch. What is a DS?!

[Sazisi]

Yes, it's a nintendo DS

[dearprudence]

A lot of 6 year olds have them IME. Agree with onimolap that if you get one, the child is likely to play with it obsessively at first but will then tail off.

[Sazisi]

DD2 has DD1 's old DS, she's nearly 6. I'm not sure about the rest of her class. I was a bit dubious about her having it, concerned she'd never want to do anything else. She's actually quite good about it and will only play it for 20 minutes at a time, and sometimes forgets about it for days at a time.
My 6 year old nephew also has one, it's hard to tear him away from it.

[NorthernerAtHeart]

My 6 and a half year old DS in one of the few boys in his class without one (not sure about the girls), but luckily his best friends don't and he has never asked for one.
I was amazed when a friend told me how expensive they are!

[Sazisi]

Good point, nephew has only had since Christmas, he will probably calm down in time :)

[NoSoapInADirtyWar]

My DS is six and he doesn't have one.

He asked for one at one point and i explained that would be the only present he received from me as they are very expensive - he quickly changed his mind.

He doesn't have a console of any kind at the moment, whereas nearly all his friends have one of some kind or other.