Buying a PlayStation for a 5 year old?

[SmilingCrocodile]

A friend of mine is a single parent to a boy of 4. She has recently got a full-time job.

Went to hers for a coffee and I was asking her about her new job and she was saying how happy she is because now her DS is getting older he is getting much more aware of presents etc (compared to say a 3 year who wouldn't notice what the heck you bought them for their Birthday/Christmas) - and wants a PlayStation for his 5th birthday.

I was just a little bit like ... "oh, yeah I see what you mean". I have a DD who is only 18mo so unsure of what it is like to have older children, but is it normal to buy a child that young a PlayStation?

Maybe a Wii as it is more family friendly and has children's games. Perhaps the PlayStation does too, but I have no idea.

I'm not judging her, I'm genuinely interested in whether people do or would buy a PlayStation for a child that young? As I am clueless.

Did you want us all to say it was a bad thing?

I'm not sure what you wanted TBH.

My ds is 6 and I will not be buying him a play station x box etc ... Because he happily plays with toys, Lego and makes up imaginary games . In my opionion children grow up too quick these days ( I am aware I sound like my nan)

I don't see anything wrong with a 5 year old having a play station.

No there probably isn't anything wrong with it.

I think perhaps a wii is better because you can play it more as a family? I dunno, I've sadly never had the pleasure of playing on a PlayStation.

My Ds has always had games consoles, he still managed to play with his lego, ride his bike, play football etc.

I am aware I sound like my nan

Haha, no you don't actually.

I think its lovely to see a child using their imagination like that.

As you have said she is a good mum, so IMO a good mum has good judgement.

I love black op2 especially The zombie, it's not appropriate for my son to play it. That why he has games ( that I enjoy playing with him)

I've never played COD McNewPants2013 but something tells me I'd be awful at it.

Have you ever played Slender Man?

The play station, has playstation move which IMO is a lot better than the wii

I'm sure as he gets older he will want one and then of course I will rethink . However his older brother was a real gamer and it was impossible to get him to do anything else , we brought him a play station at 6 and I have learnt from my mistake but all kids are different and my dss has a very addictive personality !

Never heard of it sorry

You mentioned her marital status, her job, her child's 'awareness' of presents and are querying what she's choosing to buy.

Sounds judgey to me.

What?

All of those things were relevant to the OP.

I wasn't being specific and saying it's just her child that has an awareness of presents- which was pretty obvious by my OP - I meant if a 3 year old wakes up on on their birthday and has one tiny present, will they notice or care? - No.

If a 5 year old wakes up on their birthday and only has one tiny present, then yes they will probably notice. How is that being judgey?

A 5 year old will probably ask for a specific present, a 3 year old would not.

I don't judge her for her marital status in the slightest. I only mentioned it because with only one income coming into the house then there isn't as much spare cash for things such as presents.

And yes I said she works full-time, again how is that judgey? She was unable to do it before because of the cost of childcare. That's being practical.

People who play computer games are smarter than those who don't. Don't know why so many people are anti them.

My 3 year old knows exactly what she wants.

Her birthday isn't till June and she has a list already ( well scribble on a piece of paper) however I know she wants a barbie doll that she can dress like Zoe her best friend ( made up name)

Well regardless as children get older they become more aware and probably will ask for bigger and more expensive presents.

Perhaps at 5 your DD will ask for more than just a Barbie doll?

Because they are more susceptible to advertisements and what other children around them will be asking for and getting.

Basically my point is I am not singling my friends son out as the only child in the entire world that becomes more aware as he gets older.

But whatever I say will be twisted right? Because I dared to speak to Worra and now people are waiting with their sharpened claws.

"Because I dared to speak to Worra and now people are waiting with their sharpened claws."

Get over yourself

Letting DC's play endlessly on computers is moronic and lazy parenting but the very fact of letting them play computer games under parental guidence does not mean that they loose the ability to do anything else. I had games consules before my DC's were born and I (carefully) let them play on them from an early age. They are now in their late teens early 20?s and they all read for pleasure, play sports for pleasure and are generally nice kids. They even still play board games. .

IMO Playing computers is perfectly OK if you monitor it. In fact it's a great family activity.

Get over yourself

Just as soon as you file down those claws

Santa got a bit wankered in my house one year all the small children got xboxes and play stations the teenagers ended up with books and duplo bricks.

Was a weird Christmas

Wiis are a bit pointless as consoles go, they are very gimmicky, meaning potential to get bored quickly is high, and the games and accessories are still quite expensive even though the consoles themselves have plummeted in value.

An Xbox 360 or PS3 is more value for the whole family or the long term if you want to look at it like that, because there is a much wider variety of games for them. Both have motion recognition software now similar to the Wii. The Xbox 360 is probably the best, biggest number of games, Kinect is brilliant, and they're not quite as expensive as the PS3. Plus the new consoles will be out soon and historically XBox have kept the backwards compatability in some form where Playstation haven't with the PS3 and have announced that PS3 games won't be playable on the PS4 (I don't know about the Xbox 720).

I haven't and wouldn't buy a console for a 5 year old (far too expensive a present for that age, imo) but thanks to this thread I now know that I shall be buying a PS3 rather than a Wii for a 9 year old.

My opinion is that if you try to keep something like video games away from children it will make them want to try it more. So that they can see what they feel they are missing. I say be supervised and buy them age appropriate games but try and show and encourage them to do other things as well as that. People who say that kids are wasting their lives playing video games are just uneducated. Video games are a multi-billion dollar/pound industry. One day they might decide that video games are their passion and they can live a very successful and fulfilling life from that industry. Also the video game industry is only getting bigger.

Back to the main point. Yes it is ok to buy them a playstation. The Wii is total Crap. The playstation has different functions that you can benefit from as well such as netflix or the Blu-Ray player. Just put it in a room where you can monitor it.