To wonder why parents buy their children so many expensive gadgets

[frogspoon]

I teach in a private senior school and teach so many children who have or are getting iPads, iPhones, PS4, xbox one etc for birthdays, Christmas etc. Most of these children have multiple devices already, including previous versions e.g. PS3. Surely they can't play on them all at once, why do they need so many?

So why do so many parents spend hundred of pounds on gadgets, plus all the extra games etc, which except for the iPad have very limited educational value? I can understand the occasional very expensive present, but I would expect such a high quality expensive piece of technology to last a child for several years, and that if they are old enough to have the technology, they are old enough to look after it, therefore it shouldn't get broken.

One child I teach has two smart phones currently: a blackberry so he can use BBM, and an iPhone for apps. He is getting a new iPhone 5S for Christmas because he cracked the screen on his old iPhone, plus it is getting out of date. They seem to have no concept of how much these things cost, or how to look after them.

I just think it's getting a bit ridiculous.

Doesnt your school provide text books on ipad? Ds has just started grammar school in september and they are expected to have ipad or rent one from school. They're cutting down on using paper text books

ruby, no not yet, however as I said my school is independent, and it is quite traditional and run by a load of old men, so we probably won't be changing any time soon

Also I don't know about other subjects but for mine (Chemistry) we take the more unusual IGCSE course. There are far fewer textbooks for this course, and to my knowledge no ebook currently exists yet for our spec.

i agree with every word OP. I was round at a college acquaintance's house last year for some Saturday night drinks. Her overindulged eight year was still up at 11pm pissing about, alternating between playing music on his smartphone and playing on his DS, despite being told to go to bed. His mum said 'Go up to your room! You have a widescreen plasma TV and Sky in there, you don't need to be down here!' When he finally did get put to bed after hours of being a cheeky little know-it-all, the mum proudly proclaimed that he was getting the Wii U for Christmas. If my child behaved like that, they would be getting an abacus.

[shocked] Why does an eight year old need all that shit? He clearly couldn't disconnect from it all and was overstimulated!

A round of applause for the posters who said that they made their kids sell the old gadgets to put towards the newer ones. Teaches them the value of money. Why wouldn't they pine for all the latest things when there is no compromise? They obviously take what they have for granted, or else they wouldn't point blank refuse to sell in order to get the new thing! It can't be that 'must-have' then, surely?

Mine have a plasma screen and Virgin Plus in their room (not widescreen, only 18 inches). They're using it atm to listen to X-mas songs while they decorate their floor paper tree toppers with glitter and paint.

It's normally unplugged on weeknights, but I've made an exception tonight because otherwise they will want Morton, the pink iPig back, who I have stolen temporarily to replace my broken PC speakers.

They like to watch DVDs (via the PlayStation) when they have sleepovers and we get a lie in on a weekend while they watch endless amounts of Hannah Montana on the Disney channel.

Neither of them would dare stay up after they'd been put to bed, that's down to piss poor parenting, not gadgets.

The gadgets might not be as expensive as you think. My 5 yo and 7yo each have a ds. This was the best 280 quid (total) I ever spent. The games are affordable xmas/bday presents for us and relatives, some are educational (LET'S DRAW and some foreign language games) - though I dont think there is anything wrong with playing Supermario for the sheer fun of it. It means the house is no longer full of plastic tat they don't play with. It also keeps them occupied on long trips to see grandparents and at adult meals out - they are very sporty generally, so I don't think this does any harm. I have a kindle fire and dh has an ipad, which we download books onto for them (cheaper than paperbacks) as well as using for research for homework and for games. They have also inherited our ancient netbooks as they are the inly devices we have which play flash - necessary for school reading scheme.just had a free upgrade on my phone so dd is getting my old one for xmas - it has a reasonable camera on it which she loves and I will put in a sim card in case of emergencies, e.g if she gets separated from us when out. They attend inner city state primary and know they are very lucky compared tosime. I wouldn't say they were spoiled though, and I don't think we've spent a fortune.

My year 7 dd has an iPhone (parental controls on the iPhones are far superior to anything else), she has her laptop for homework, she also has a wii she barely uses.

I don't mind how many gadgets people get their kids, I think many people are actually confusing gadget ownership for poor parenting.

It's all very well saying if they can afford it why not, but people do it even if they can't afford it. My friend is in debt and has had to sell or pawn a lot of her belongings just to put food on the table. Yet still her ds has to have the most up to date gadgets all the time. This year he wants a new xbox because his old xbox, playstations, ipad, macbook, gameboys, wii etc are not good enough. She really is incapable of saying no to him and always has been. It makes me sad because she is a lovely person and spends nothing on herself ever, but her son gets everything and doesn't appreciate it.

It is OTT and personally I would rather not give my child so many gadgets, but I think it is unreasonable to question another parent's choices. It's their child, their money, so it's entirely up to them what they give them, no?