To spend so much on ds for his birthday

[yippeekaiyay]

Ds (age 5) has never really been one to play with toys. He likes to be on his bike/scooter/trampoline/playing at shooting basketball hoops etc.

When indoors (rare) he likes to play on his wii, dsi, paint/draw/colour in and watch films (I have got him in to all the films I loved as a child - neverending story/labrynth/drop dead fred etc)

Asked him what he wants for his birthday and he replied he wanted an xbox 360 with kinect. Its really expensive, so I am considering getting the xbox for birthay in november and kinect and games can come off santa

My mum thinks think is completely ott and ridiculous. That it is far too much to spend on a 5 year old and I should buy him somethingh for £20-£30

AIBU to want to buy him what he actually wants?

If he has a gift which is arguably not age appropriate now, what will he get next year......mobile phone? Ipad? Laptop? TV for his room? or whatever he wants? At this rate you'll run out of options by the time he is 10!

laluna this does worry me. I am considering now getting the xbox for ds AND DSD's for at our house between all 3 for xmas - more appropriate maybe

Is there any element of competitive parenting going on? ExP buys him a bike so you have to buy him something big as well?

I did have a mr frosty, and we were really poor, although I never did get a bmx, just a crappy second hand bike (loved it really), mr frosty was the golden coin maker of it's day, tedious and produced poor results.

My two older ones sound similar to your son, they don't trash things, but inevitably anything with small parts/board games, stay intact for about 5 minutes. For this reason I have given up on posh lego sets and playmobil. We stick to random lego bits and toys that can still be used if bits go bye bye.

We do have an xbox 360, playstation 3 and wii, although the first two officially belong to Dp. They do play a lot with the playstation and xbox, the wii has been forgotten really, it's not that great.

If you are trading in the wii I say go for it, I don't think xbox 360's are that expensive now are they?

Did anyone actually get a bloody Mr Frosty??

No

Mind you in those days I never met any parent daft enough to queue up overnight just to get their child what they wanted.

Not like nowadays where 'they want, they get' seems to be the order of the day

I'm waiting for the OP to tell us she's on benefits so that we can adjust our cardis and purse our lips tighter.

Well, the Spirograph produced pictures which looked like they did on the advert...whilst the fashion wheel black crayon roller thing did NOT produce the clear crisp outline it did on TV....

OP, be honest. Do you think you would get more family time out of the Xbox because you would enjoy playing it with him more than you do the Wii? Because that has plenty of family friendly interactive games, and if he's not interested in it, it seems a bit pointless to spend over £300 on the basis of him playing a friend's one.

midnightexpress no

Aha, now I DID have a Spirograph. I bloody loved it.

Girls' World decapitated doll's head anyone?

Slacking9to5 no - on a good salary and working 55+ hours per week.

I think your DSD's may feel a bit bumped that their main present stays at your house and is played mainly by your son!

My name is Georgimama and I had a Mr Frosty. I can reassure those who still feel they missed out 20+ years later that it was rubbish. The grater inside isn't strong enough to chop up ice properly.

OP I was on your side until you said he is destructive. Not because he will destroy the X box, I doubt he will, but I don't think the aggression triggered by some of the games he would play would be a good thing for a child like him. DS plays on DH's x box and I have to call halt to it from time to time for a few days because he can get quite over wraught about it.

My best friend had a Girls WOrld. It looked like something from a horror film by them time she finished with it, although it was pretty gruesome to begin with, being JUST A HEAD!!

pumpkinbones we have got them 3-4 x per week so no not really

Georgimama but on the advert the ice flowed out, all fluffy and crunchy!!

Well... personally I opine:

1. 5yo too young for an Xbox (to get enough out of it); it WILL be considered outdated & replaced by a new different more popular games console by the time he's 10yo;

2. You could consider a DS for him... but there's that destructiveness trait.

3. Your son only wants an XBox as a status symbol; bragging rights to his mates. It's not really his thing at all.

4. If I bought an XBox for just one child they would not want to share, would lead to lots of family friction, so at the very least it's got to be a joint/family gift, not just supposed to be for one child.

As for money you spend, that's your call what you can afford and what will be value for money. It is a lot of money for most people.

Georgimama, you are the envy on mumsnet.

Aye, hideous Girls' World doll used to freak my Mum out when I left it in the bath to dry, post shampoo!

Oh dear - just because my ds doesn't look after board games and the like, doesn't meant he is agressive.

There must have been a Kenwood Chef hidden inside that one, like when Top Gear take some crappy old Beetle and put a V8 engine in it.

Oh dear - just because my ds doesn't look after board games and the like, doesn't meant he is agressive.

No, it means he's ill disciplined.

I didn't say he is aggressive, but he's a five year old boy. They feel aggression and computer games, even "gentle" ones like Lego Harry Potter can make DS get over excitable.

If you want to spaff £300 on a present for your son that's up to you. I just wouldn't recommend an x box. DS gets obsessive about playing ours and I wish we'd never given the thing house room (DH bought it for himself when DS was but a glimmer in his eye).

Some of the responses on this thread are really saddening.

I must be very few parents around that actually don't subscribe to the thought process "Hey, I can afford it, so DC will therefore have it".

Learning to wait, about moderation and restraint is, to me, more important to my DC than being acquistive and having 3 different consoles and several different uptodate gadgets.

Sigh.

Get him what he wants. Don't listen to all this lark on here about being spoiled etc... You will know if he's going to break it or not surely? And presumably you're not silly enough to buy him it if you think he'll damage it. That said, if he likes the Wii, how much does he like it if he won't even notice you trading it in? I'm a little confused really.
From what I'm told Wii is more suitable for younger children than Xbox but I don't have the latter so I can't make a comparison.

And to those that are insulting this child and calling him a spoiled brat, just because he has nice things, doesn't necessarily make him spoiled.

My kids are well behaved (not just my opinion, I am often complimented on their behaviour) and they have lots of technology.

I'm even buying both my 4 and 6 year olds a laptop and a digital camera each for Christmas this year! What of it? They respect electronic goods, I don't see the problem.

It is really irritating that people say kids are spoiled because they get bought things at the choice of the parent.

p.s. never had a Mr. Frosty but did have a fashion wheel which I loved

slacking its his downfall I will admit. But he is a lovely, mild mannered and very well brought up child in every other respect. He just has no interest in fiddly games and the like and therefore gets driven to the distraction of say, peeling the backing off the board. I don't even think he realises what he us doing half the time, and it has been the cause of much frustration here. But to say he is ill disciplined is very far from the truth

Last post should have said get him what you want