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Original poster

Would you let your 8yo buy this?

57 replies

FlopsyDoodle · 02/06/2020 19:19

My son had his 8th birthday last month and due to Coronavirus his grandparents couldn’t visit him for his birthday. They’ve been shielding and as they’re not happy to buy stuff online they posted him £50 and told him that he could spend it on whatever makes him happy.

I let him have an hours screen time each day where he can watch YouTube videos, play his switch or play one of his games that he’s downloaded on the iPad. Despite having lots of (what I would consider) decent games he constantly goes back to this free game that I downloaded for him ages ago about this Hungry Shark. It seems pretty basic - you have a shark and it swims through the sea and you see how many points you can get by eating stuff. It’s got in app purchases but I’ve disabled them obviously but he’s been saying for weeks now that he wants to spend his birthday money on a new shark for the game. This new shark, which doesn’t seem to have any additional features, just looks a lot cooler is £48. £48! For a bloody shark on a crappy game.

But - it’s his money, right? It just seems so much money for him to piss away. He keeps getting in such a tizz about it. It’s a limited time offer and he’s convinced it’s going to go away. I asked him to ask his grandparents at the weekend if they were happy for him to buy it. They are, but they are of the impression that he’s using it to buy a whole new computer game, not a little animation wit hi n a game that he already has.

At the moment I’m at the ‘I need to have a think about it’ stage. Wwyd?

OP posts:

kaleidoscopeantebellum · 02/06/2020 19:21

Honestly no I wouldn't, he'll be bored of it within a couple of weeks.

Rainbowb · 02/06/2020 19:23

Good God no. It would be cheaper to take him to see a real bloody shark! Yes it’s his money but this is a large amount of money and should not be wasted. He won’t care about the shark in a week’s time!

bloodyhellsbellsx · 02/06/2020 19:24

Nope, absolutely not. £48 is extortionate for that!

ShandlersWig · 02/06/2020 19:24

I'll happlily allow birthday money to buy gamesbut we have a rule of not buying skins, coins etc. Anything virtual. It would be a no from me.

Gammeldragz · 02/06/2020 19:26

I've always been torn by this. My kids don't really play with toys any more (though DD did spend all her pocket money on a slime kit from amazon today!) so they don't spend money on much else. DH and I have always said in app purchases are a con etc etc and waste if money. However, it is their money, the games were free ones and they do enjoy it, so we let them but only in reasonable amounts and not too often. This is a compromise and they accept this.
£48 is not reasonable though! Does it really do nothing else but look cool?! I kind of need a photo...

Rockbird · 02/06/2020 19:27

No way. My 12yo buys Robucks or whatever they are, but she buys them once in a blue moon with her own money and spends a maximum of £5. Anything else is a huge waste of money.

Wheresthebiffer2 · 02/06/2020 19:33

I'm a softy, and I also enjoy computer games. So when my DC wanted to spend her real money on virtual items in a game (think Cafeland or Moshi Monsters) I agreed. But she spent maybe up to £15 which gave advanced features for the whole summer holidays. So it's a yes from me in principle, as it does make their game more fun, but I think the price is too high in this case.

TenShortStories · 02/06/2020 19:36

I was initially thinking a hard no, but it may prove to be a useful lesson in buyers remorse after spending money on absolute crap.

I think I'd get him to look through a website/catalogue and find 5 things for about £50 that he's interested in and then get him to imagine having each one. If he still chooses the shark and regrets it then you can have a good chat about getting sucked into advertising and in game purchases and how they never live up to the hype, that if he'd bought the Lego (for example) and got bored of it then he could still sell it on and get a bit of money back. And if he loves it and makes good use, then I suppose it was money well spent and at least you don't have more toys cluttering up the place! He'll hopefully regret it though as that's a better life lesson!

Ohnopoo · 02/06/2020 19:36

I think I’d be showing him other things he could buy for £48-that really is extortionate for an animation.
Up to £10 I’d probably say ok

SkyPieRat · 02/06/2020 19:54

No way! I think they're too young for that yet plus is extortionate for what it is.

Windyatthebeach · 02/06/2020 19:56

Ds is allowed to blast his money some times.
Helpful in learning about spending /value of purchases and wasting it!!
We all like a blown out don't we??

Onceuponatimethen · 02/06/2020 19:58

No I wouldn’t

I think I would say he has to save up pocket money for it

BlueJava · 02/06/2020 19:58

Personally I'd say it's his money, he can choose what he wants to do with it. He may end up with buyer's remorse - which I'd tell him about (in 8 year old terms first) but my view would be his money, his choice.

ZeroFuchsGiven · 02/06/2020 19:59

No I wouldn't let him spend £48 on it but I wouldn't be letting him have only 1 hour screen time a day either.

Impatientwino · 02/06/2020 20:01

My only experience of buying virtual stuff may help put you off...

DS (nearly 8) is Minecraft mad so as a reward for working so hard at home the last few months I let him buy a pack of coins for Minecraft to use in it at £9.99.

Well my apple account/card was debited but the coins didn't show up in DS game and Apple direct you to the app developer who just keep sending an automated message saying they'll be in touch soon. That was a month ago

I'm cross enough with £10 let alone £48! It's the type of thing my DS would ask for too.

Original poster

FlopsyDoodle · 02/06/2020 20:13

I’ve tried to convince him to buy Minecoins or the different seed packs for Minecraft as he does actually like Minecraft. But he’s adamant he wants this flipping shark even though he knows it doesn’t do anything. He’s got an Argos catalogue and a Bright Minds catalogue as his little brother uses them in his ‘shop’. He just won’t accept anything other than this bloody shark. He’s never had money to do whatever he wants with before and it would be a good lesson in buyers remorse. I’d just prefer that he’d get buyers remorse after spending a fiver or so.

OP posts:

Original poster

FlopsyDoodle · 02/06/2020 20:16

zerofuchs is an hour not very much? I thought it was a pretty average amount. He also does his school work on his iPad and we watch a film or a tv show most nights. It’s just an hour that he has where he can flop about doing whatever he wants on it.

OP posts:

Lucked · 02/06/2020 20:17

Nope, somethings can never justify the expense and that just seems too wasteful.

Original poster

FlopsyDoodle · 02/06/2020 20:18

This is the £48 shark.

OP posts:

tildaMa · 02/06/2020 20:19

£4.80 - expensive for that kind of crap, but I'd allow it as birthday present.
£48 - no way.

He clearly doesn't comprehend how much money it is. While I'm all for learning about value of purchases, as a responsible adult part of your role is to shield him while he's too young to learn much from it.
Right now to him it's just gift money, an abstract number.
@TenShortStories has a good idea that might work.

Ohyesohyeah · 02/06/2020 20:23

But will he get buyer's remorse over £50 that he hasn't had to earn and he quite probably doesn't understand the value of? If he gets bored of it after a week, losing £50 still won't mean anything to him.

It would be an absolute no for me. If his grandparents are absolutely loaded, then maybe, but I'd be really annoyed if I gave a gift of my hard-earned money to be spent on this - I know technically I've handed over the gift willingly for the to get something they want, but I wouldn't be able to help but be annoyed by it.

And what about next time he wants something like this?

Ilovemystarter · 02/06/2020 20:32

I think you should see this as basically throwing the money away. I wouldn’t do it as I’d feel so incredibly guilty that the givers had just had their money completely wasted (and I’m a mother of screen crazed boys so I do know what it’s like!).

Sometimes being a parent is about saying no. He’ll soon have got bored with the shark game anyway.

AJPTaylor · 02/06/2020 20:36

I would just say no and mean it.
There are certain things that you have to take control of and this is one of them.
Any more whining and the whole gain comes off his iPad

Gurning · 02/06/2020 20:40

Maybe let him this one time. It's ultimately a harmless thing, he will either love it, or not....in which case he has learned an important lesson about buying shit you can't sell on.

pinksquash13 · 02/06/2020 20:42

You could ask him to think about it for another 2 weeks. If he's still desperate for it then let him buy it.

I'm not sure what I'd do. I can see why you're torn. £48 is a lot of money!!!

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