to think if I buy Nintendo DS3 for DS1s seventh birthday that's it - I'll never get it off him

I don't have a child yet, but my younger brother was about 9 when he got a DS. I think it's ok if you are strict about how long they can spend on it, my brother would quite happily play on his consoles all day and night if he was allowed to. He's now a bit older and obsessed with his iPod, however it proves useful when he misbehaves. My mum confiscated his iPod for a week once after he was very disrespectful to his dad, he's been much nicer since :)

i would go for the bike

Mine were trilled with the ds when they got them and overplayed them for about a month.
Then the interest died down, and they only use them when it's a great thing, like waiting for the others to come out of an activity. They occasionally all get together and play games together too, which is great to see how they cooperate when they're on the same team.

thrilled, not trilled.

YABU.You are the parent -set limits!

DS1 got his nintendo DS aged 5. He very rarely plays with it now. He prefers Minecraft on the Kindle or laptop or at a push the wii. He is 7 and we do have to make him have enforced breaks otherwise he would spend all day everyday on Minecraft as would his 3yo brother! They can do dual play and build stuff and kill pigs and each other etc

We held out till DS's 8th birthday, by which time all his friends had had them for ages and they were possibly a bit old hat. However, he was overjoyed with it (we had given him the impression he was not likely to get one due to previous addictive behaviour problems with the family Wii and Ipad, so we were prepared to have to be as strict as we had to be with the other screens). However he has always used it sensibly (he's 9.5 now), it is just part of his overall screen time, sometimes goes a few weeks without being used at all (the Ipad is the first choice). Overall I'm glad we got it, it is a sociable thing to do with friends and great for killing time in boring places - more portable and less worry about dropping it than the Ipad. We have just spent the entire morning in a hospital waiting room, he has been happy playing quietly with the DS while I read the newspaper on my phone, with a bit of chat in between, it would have been a lot harder for both of us without it.

Ds1 got a (second hand.)dslite for his 7th birthday. Ds2 will be getting the same this year.as he will be 7. He played on it a lot when it was new, but now goes weeks without touching it. It's good for long car journeys though.

I think.ds2 will play his more, but I will limit his time on it like I've had to with the PlayStation.
Incidentally my friend thinks I'm mean for not buying ds2 a 3d ds, but I think that would be unfair on.ds1, and I'm not convinced that its not bad for his eyes.

Btw, Lego harry potter is good, although years 1-4 is tons better than years 5-7

I got one for DS1 for Christmas and regretted it for a while because he was a bit addicted to it and we saw some awful behaviour from him because he didn't want to get off it.

We came down quite hard and he now only has it at weekends and things are significantly better. They are good, as other posters have said good for long car journeys and DS1 will sometimes take it to CM in the holidays to play two player over the wifi with his best friend.

He loves the lego games too, would recommend the pirates of the Caribbean one although it's a bit tricky in places (we have it for both the DS and Wii and it's a great game to play together)

Personally, I think the devil invented the Nintendo DS as a means of driving a wedge between parents and children.

The 3DS runs out of batteries quite quickly if that helps

Seriously though, set limits and make sure they stick to them - be prepared to set timers! For mine (DSs 8 and 6), the youngest was demonstrating awful addictive behaviour, lack of creative or independent thinking, not applying himself at school and being quite rude at home so we've now set games time (can be any machine) at 1 hour on 4 days a week so there are 3 school days on which games aren't allowed. They now organise how long they want to spend doing particular game and set their own timers accordingly as they've realised how quickly an hour is up when playing a game.

We've been doing this several months and recently DS2 sincerely thanked me for setting limits to games time as it had given him lots of opportunities to do other activities.

The Nintendo DSs are the least used gaming kit in the house...

Keep hold of the charger and only let your DS charge the 3DS once a week.

I gave DD a Nintendo DS - the original one - when she was 5. I thought it a bit young, but DH insisted, and it was all DD asked for for months.
I think I have seen her play on it about 5 times in the last 18 months!
Her bike on the other hand she is on every single day .

I would second what others have said and keep hold of the charger to control the usage.

DS games are violent?

May I direct you towards Viva Pinata, Mini Ninjas, Mario, Formula 1, Fifa, Animal Crossing, Luigi's Mansion, Imagine Pet Vet, Zoo Keeper, Tetris...

Sure, you could buy Ghost Recon, Resident Evil, etc. Sure you could let him play it all the time. Or you could remember you're the adult and buy age appropriate games and restrict his usage.

I gave my DS1 my not used DS when he was 7 for using when we are travelling to see our family and for holiday travel.

He loves the Mario cart game and the Lego Star Wars game.

He is actually mighty sensible with it to my surprise. He can go weeks/months without touching it.

We also have a wii and he uses that about once every fortnight usually when his wii-mad mate comes for tea.

I would opt for the bike. If you do end up buying the DS3 tell Ds before that he will only be allowed one hour a day on it.

Why get him one if you are already worried about him being addicted to it?

The DC beg for one but I am a bitch standing firm and they know there is no way they will ever have one unless they save up for it themselves.

I don't see any arguments in favour of getting one on this thread.

We have a wii (second-hand and a present) which I prefer because I can see (and hear) clearly when it's on and so can police it better.

We struggle enough policing the computer, tv and wii, I would not add another thing into the mix.

Also, what you said about fighting with the other DC when it's finished, I notice for TV/wii - when they stop playing on something electronic they are grumpy and at a loose end.

A ds sounds like it brings more problems than it solves.

I won't be in a rush to get one for 5yo dd1.

Well partly they're not made for small children, so that's why there are fewer appropriate games for them. But they are brilliant consoles which can bring a lot of fun and enjoyment, I still play my original Game Boy 20 years later.

They only become a problem if you allow them to.

I haven't given in yet, and they're 11 and 9...

They both play loads of sports, though, so I can't really spot when they'd use it.

We don't do many long car journeys, though - once a year down to Devon, and that's generally whe there's a Test Match on the radio!

mine have had them from fairly young and we dont really limit them strictly. Both lo's (age 6 and 9) go through phases of using them and then dont use them for ages so pretty much self limit their usage.

when DS1 gets grumpy after being asked to stop playing we remind him that if he carries on like that he won't have it at all. He soon sorts himself out It's a bit of ebb and flow tbh and if DS1 starts to show signs of being obsessed then we stop it for a week or so. This applies to mine craft at the mo but could easily apply to the Wii or DS

DS is 7.6, he asked for a DS just before Christmas.. of course we told him no as had already bought him stuff. I think it was driven by talk of his frinds having games and such.

Lots of his school friends have games consoles and DS's and we think this will be the year we will have to give in and get one