To not want my lo to play on the ds

[maypole1]

Dropped lo off at holiday club and I asked the play leader if he wouldn't mind making sure my lo is not on a ds at any point in the day.

Lo dose not bring one, but several children do I was told yesterday that he was on a ds for a whole hour.

Even when I dropped lo off their were about 6 children sitting their zonked out on their ds

The leader looked at me as if I am mad and said what do you want me to do

I said well if Los on a ds it won't be los so tell lo to give it back and join an activity and that if I wanted lo sitting playing ds lo can do that home from free

Btw I have also to lo I don't expect to be told lo was on ds today or i will be very cross

how old is your LO? A ds is not the devil, in fact sometimes, they help kids to chill out for a bit.....

I'm with you maypole1.

what the hell is a lo????

little one (or Learning Outcome)

What is so wrong with a child playing on a DS so long as the games are vaguely educational.

11 its not that they cause a lot of fights, games going missing kids saying such and such have their ds because they all have the same ,the leaders spend all day telling them to put them away

Also a girl ended up in a&e she was playing ds instead of playing basket ball and she got it straight in the face when she looked up

My lo dose not bring one and I personally don't want him on one I want him to do the activities I have paid for swimming, trampoline, craft ect is that so wrong

I see your point that if you paying for a holiday club, then the people running it ought to be interacting with the children and should have activities planned for them. Is it a proper holiday club or more of a babysitting service?

That said, no harm will come to your child if he/she plays with a DS for a while. It's just another toy and probably has a novelty value if you don't have one at home. I think it would only be a problem if he/she was on it all day, so in that sense I do think you are being a bit precious.

Little one

I

oh

well,its HIS holiday too. have you thought of that? that he might NOT want to be micro managed into 'activities' all day long like in school time?

I think yabu

I wouldn't have a problem with this

YABU

Its a toy not a crack pipe.

Yabu to expect the staff to single out your ds and stop him playing with his friends on an activity he wants to do.

I think if they are floating about, they will get A LOT of use. If you don't like them, best to check beforehand that the holiday club doesn't allow them. I can imagine if other parents are happy for their dc to take them along and use them there, it is diffiuclt for the play leaders to enforce that your ds shouldn't use any. What did the leader say to you when you said you wanted him to make sure your ds didn't use one and get him involved in some activities instead? If it is a small group, he could probably manage it

I thought the whole point of a holiday club is that there are organised activities for the children to take part in?

I wouldn't want to spend my money on this and find out he'd been doing something he could do at home for free either OP.

So YANBU, in my opinion.

If he's 11 and and holiday maybe he should have some say in what he wants to do? YABU

11??? Jesus I thought you were going to say 4 or 5...even then I was going to say it's only an hour

Put yourself in his shoes for a minute OP. Are you always in the mood for trampolining/doing crafts etc? Perhaps he just wanted a break from all that for an hour?

As for the kid who looked up and got a ball in the face...she could have been tying her shoelaces and the same thing might have happened.

I missed that he's 11. I assumed he was 4 or 5. You are defintely being unreasonable.

11

bloody hell,poor,poor kid

maypole I'm not sure why everyone is laying into you. This is a holiday club, with organised activities that you pay for your DS to attend - right?

I think you have a reasonable right to expect the staff to ensure the children do what you have paid for them to do, not take your £40 (or whatever) for the day and let the kids play computer games.

thought that too really. She paid for something and this is not what she thought she was paying for. I can see why it bothers her

I was presuming she dropped him there as she was working.

I also assumed he'd be much younger than 11. You can't really expect an 11-year-old to choose crafts over a ds, and they can't do physical stuff all day. YABU

The holiday club my dc go to does not allow them to take their own consoles, mobiles, ipods etc as too many get lost or damaged. This stops the kind of situation the op describes. They do have a playstation and tv/dvd's for general use and lots of other activities to choose from, as well as outside play-space. My dc are 12 and 9 and have no problem with this.

I had a parent like the OP. We were only supposed to do things that were good for us, and weren't allowed the things that were fashionable with other children at the time [TV, Barbie dolls etc] ,it just made for a really boring childhood and a continual feeling of being left out.
I don't see why an 11 year old is at a holiday club anyway. Surely they should be able to look after and entertain themselves at that age.