What does your 8 year old do in their spare time?

[champagneplanet]

DD1 is 8 (Y4) and generally very well behaved, great report with regards to behaviour and is achieving the expected level at school. We occasionally get some stomping/moodiness but generally she's a good girl.

My concern is really surrounding what she does in her spare time, she dances and swims once a week each as hobbies which is fine however she and her friends are getting to the age where they play roblox, they want to watch (and be on) tiktok, facetime each other and watch vloggers on your tube. I feel like they are losing their childhood to a degree. I was 100% playing with dolls, lego, etc at that age.

I want to find a happy medium between what is too much of the above but also allow her to feel included with others and be a bit streetwise.

As a comparison what is your 8 year old up to in the evening and spare time at weekends and how much 'tech' do you allow?

She also reads a lot, she asks to o on her iPad and it isn't much!

DS is 9. No social media but a lot of gaming, Netflix and YouTube. But he also loves reading, board games and generally doing stuff with me if I'm free to play/bake etc. He also does cubs and science club, and volunteers with me at a sanctuary for farm animals every week.

I don't stress about the screen time tbh. He self regulates, is doing well at school and is well-rounded. He's definitely not mature enough for social media though.

My yr4 just 9 year old daughter doesn’t have much free time but would play with her LOL dolls or watches YouTube.

I’ve said no to tictok but she does have a private account on my parents mobile phone. No other social media

She reads a lot especially in the car on the way to training (30 Minutes each way without traffic) she swims between 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 most days so by time she is fed doesn’t leave much free time

Dd is nearly 8. However y3 so perhaps it all changes in y4.

She does loads of arts and crafts, writes stories, plays piano, plays small world stuff. Reading, story Cds, singing along to sing star. Baking, swimming, brownies.

In terms of tech she loves TV and watches an hour a day, more at weekend. She doesn't have access to a tablet apart from a maths website she uses for school.

She's got ASD and struggles to focus and follow instructions. She's is not where she should be at school. But she's making progress, she's very happy, I feel she has well rounded interests.

Just turned 9 yo DD. Restricted to an hour a day of iPad. She uses that to play Roblox, minecraft or make stop motion. She likes reading, looking at her Pokémon cards, playing with her sister and eating mandarins and leaving the skins about the house

My 8 yr old DS will still play with lego/his teddies (!), but currently is really into minecraft and watching people play minecraft on you tube. Trying to introduce you tube free screen time, so any suggestions of programmes on Netflix or Amazon much appreciated?

He like ms spending time with me cooking/playing top trumps/bike rides but can sometimes find it difficult to entertain himself which I worry about.

Almost 8 year old DD. No phone, no
Social media, no YouTube, one hour of tv (usually Netflix) per day. Tablet at weekends only (kindle fire) and limited to one hour per day. She goes to swimming, Brownies, French weekly. Loves cycling, reading, Lego, playmobil, playing animal hospital with her cuddly toys, games such as UNO, dominoes, jigsaws, play dates with friends where they tend to play role play games.

9 yr old in Y5.
Organised activities - coding club, guitar lesson, tag rugby, cricket.
Watches CBBC for about half an hour/one program after school, reads, lego, builds dens, conducts scientific experiments/biological warfare in his room, snap circuits.
Very limited supervised internet access because he has form for setting up google accounts, twitter etc, is allowed to play Roblox once or twice a week but only with real life friends (form for chatting to strangers) has computer based homework e.g. Timetable Rockstars pretty regularly but only takes 10 minutes. No Tiktok, no phone, definitely no Fortnite, and we don't have a games console.
Left to his own devices he would play Roblox 24/7, with short breaks to set up social media accounts he's not old enough for! School friends seems to have fewer restrictions and play games we consider unsuitable for his age group. He's very computer savvy and talented at coding. It's difficult finding a balance between letting him utilise that and keeping him safe. It's a parenting minefield!

@kiwiinkits my son has been addressing the question 'what happens if I leave a banana hidden behind the books on my shelving?' Full Hazmat suit required for room decontamination....

Thanks all for your replies, there seems to be a bit of a mixed bag which is reassuring.

I'm liking the idea of 'earning' time, that's something I might implement, I have a younger DD too so that could work moving forward.

I don't mind a bit of roblox, that's just a computer game essentially and she plays a group game with school friends so that's fine. The youtubers she watches are people who play roblox, presumably the stories all set up for views. I won't be allowing tiktok at all yet.

I think the answer is allow the ipad but limit it so she appreciates the time she gets but also enjoys the other things she does. She does play a lot of school and some dolls, she's actually asked for some doll things for Christmas too.

I'm just so aware of her being exposed to too much too soon and it's so hard when other kids are doing it. I think I just need to stop doubting my decisions!

Just make sure her age is set as under 13 for Roblox. This will stop strangers from being able to message her.

@SylvanianFrenemies Thanks, she's definitely set to child. I set my own account up after doing hers and it wouldn't even let me be friends with her so I think i've done it right.

Not that I was going to play roblox I just thought maybe I could keep an eye on what she was doing via my own log in!

That's a good idea - I might try that. When I first set my DD's up I used my own details and it was quite full on seeing how many randoms were trying to friend her.

DS is 8 and watches Netflix Kids (Steven Universe is a particular favourite) after school for half an hour. He's allowed to play on his Switch at weekends and during holidays (but not all the time) and he can earn blocks of 10 minutes of screen time during the week by doing chores etc. He plays mainly Minecraft and Sonic games and watches Minecraft vloggers on youtube, he is also the only child in his class not playing Roblox apparently

I wouldn't let him on any social media and to be fair, he's not interested in it either.

Other than that, he goes swimming once a week, plays Jenga, cards, Bananagrams and board games. Oh, and runs around the garden a lot.