AIBU to not want my 10 year old on XBoxLive?

[Mum2Luke]

My 10 year old lad wants his XBox connected to XBoxLive but am not sure about it as I don't want to be seen to encourage him to go on the XBox. I know his friends have it but it needs connecting and I haven't a clue how to do this or what to buy (as his big brother had the XBox originally and he is away in germany).

I have told him he will have to wait until his brother comes home in 3 or 4 weeks to sort it out and he just sulks which is tough luck basically as I am not going to be bullied into sorting it.

Sometimes I wish I could throw the dam thing out!!!!!!!!!

YANBU - I have heard all sorts of stuff about when they go live on the games consoles...subjected to swearing etc etc.

My DS isnt interested in going live but if he was I would tell him he is not old enough and he would have to wait a few years.

In the words of the famous mumsnetters......no is a complete sentence :)

If you dont want him on Xbox LIve then dont let him. You are the parent.

well in 3-4 are you going to stick to your word.

xbox live has built in wifi

I'm a big gamer and I wouldn't let a 10 year old use Live. I'm disgusted by some of the stuff I hear and get thrown at me on there, I wouldn't let my kids within a mile of it.

I suppose a lot of it depends on what games he plays, though.

No, don't let him go on there. Or you could let him play without listening to the headphones. That's what DS1 did after a while. The people on there can be really aggressive and swear loads.

It absolutely depends on the games. If he's playing Viva Pinata and swapping animals with his friends then no problem. If he's going to be playing online games with strangers then not a chance in hell.

Although I like the new Fifa Kinect feature that red cards you if you swear

It depends on the games he wants to play and who his friends are. Ds has it and it's heavily supervised - family settings and we have to accept any friends he adds. Xbox is in the front room where i can hear what's going on and will not be moving up to his bedroom no matter HOW hard he pleads.

Usual conversations are -

Hello - join my party -nice one - wicked goal - yeah bye

Viva piñata is a great game :)

With Valium If you set up an Xbox live account for anyone under the age of thirteen they cannot hear what others say during games and no one can hear them. It's all muted. Also you have to accept their friends for them. My son has one, everything comes through my email, If one of his school chums wants to play with him they ask me first and tell me the gamertag so I can recognise them, otherwise the friend request gets deleted. Like with any internet access there are dangers but Microsoft have done a lot to ensure their younger players can enjoy Live as much as possible.

I agree that the language used isn't suitable for a 10 year old. There is also the option of sending a private message to users like a voicemail. My dp has had some vile messages on there but is an adult and can give as good as he gets. I wouldn't let him if i were you.

new you can stop all that by using family settings.

My 10 year old uses XBox Live - usually for a football game (PES) - but never uses a headset. He might be playing against a nutter from Kentucky, but we have no actual contact with the nutter, IYSWIM.

im with valium on this,you can stop all of that.