To think games consoles are a complete waste of money?

[Costanza]

I have 3 DC . We have a games console, with 3 games. Fifa, Skylanders and -of course- minecraft. So getting on for £600 worth of stuff. To plplayau any of these games takes a bit of time. X3 so they all get a good go. We never have time! But all their fruefriendsnds play - so how have they got time?

So really what you're saying OP is that your kids time is managed by you to the point they have no free time to do what they want themselves? Do they not get to unwind at all on a weekend?

Maybe the question to be asked should be of your kids on whether they would like a weekend off to do what they choose to do. No outings, no family over, no long lunches (!) Just chilling in the house.

What they say will be the answer you're looking for to this thread.

For you maybe.

We've got an xbox 360 which three out of 4 of our boys play, as do DH and I. I would say we've got in excess of 40 games, lots of them bought for less than £5 pre-owned.

Maybe if they want to play it and you don't want to feel you have wasted your money you should stop arranging quite so much after school and weekends?

I admit as a child/teenager I would not have had time to play myself, that was because I did lots of extracurricular activities. There were several I wanted to quit and have more time to chill, but didn't as I didn't want to disappoint my parents .

I know, sucks to be me

For you maybe.

We've got an xbox 360 which three out of 4 of our boys play, as do DH and I. I would say we've got in excess of 40 games, lots of them bought for less than £5 pre-owned.

Maybe if they want to play it and you don't want to feel you have wasted your money you should stop arranging quite so much after school and weekends?

I admit as a child/teenager I would not have had time to play myself, that was because I did lots of extracurricular activities. There were several I wanted to quit and have more time to chill, but didn't as I didn't want to disappoint my parents .

I know, sucks to be me

Both DS and I use the wii. He's an only child though so maybe that makes a difference? We play games together and individually and also use it to watch Netflix.

I don't like having massively busy weekends though - I think downtime is really important and I plan pyjama days for us at least once a month :)

But that's what I'm saying, our weekends are 'downtime'. Aside from Sunday morning footie - which, believe me, they'd rather sell their Nan than give that up. We usually have visitors and have a long lunch - the kids play in the gardens/woods. We take the dog for a walk. Read, they play with their Lego. We'll watch a film. Computer games seem to get them wired and don't seem to relax them at all - I wouldn't associate them with downtime. Plus, it's not very socialable for everyone else? Or is it?

I wish they would drop some after school activities - if anything they ask for more!

Maybe I just have unusually active boys. Perhaps, like I say, that will change in the colder months.

I didn't know they could play 2 player on Minecraft - that would help! How do you do that? They have 2 controllers.

ds says you can play up to 4 players on the xbox minecraft game (as long as you have enough controllers)

minecraft.gamepedia.com/Splitscreen

Well if they are happy with the set up then it's the way it is. Things might be different when it's snowing.

My 14 yr old hasn't touched his xbox all summer.. its all about fishing but I know when the cold sets in he'll be back on it.

I second the Netflix.. If you have the UK version on your telly box you can change he code on he X box to get the us version which means more films. On the same netflix account.

I'm sure you don't mean it to come across this way, but your first couple of posts come over a bit like stealth smuggery - as though your DCs have such interesting lives that they don't have time to play minecraft, but their friends have nothing better to do. From your later posts, it sounds as though your DCs aren't that bothered about playing console games. Fair enough; we all have different interests, and yes, you may well have wasted money in terms of the value you get out of the games.

Still, you've spent the money now, and presumably they'll be able to continue playing the games as and when. Do you think you'd have the same concerns if you paid hundreds for a musical instrument that only got played a couple of hours a week? I used to have an upright piano in the hallway (when I had a sufficiently large hallway) which only got played once a Preston guild, but I never thought that a waste of money. Each to their own, I guess.

Complete waste of money for you and your family - that's up to you.

I don't see how you can make that judgement for everyone else, though.

Stealth boasting.

Yawn.

Why not just sell them and put the money towards cub camp or something.

We have 2 PS4s, a PS3 and a Wii U. I think they are great. I used to love playing on my Atari when I was a young teen.

We do after school clubs, long lunches and playing in the woods here too. The boys find time to play minecraft whilst I'm cooking tea when they/we get in. It doesn't take that much time to play, in fact it takes as little or as long as you have. Minecraft is a never ending game really.

HopefulHamster CoD was given to DS by nephew, I didn't even realise it was an 18!

Isn't this just covert smugging? "My children are just bit too good for the games your children waste hours on, they just have far too many more important interests"

Well bully for you. Mine can spend literally days on 4 player minecraft, I choose to see it as architecture training for the future, shame yours can't manage to concentrate on it for long.....

Sorry didn't mean to seem judgey Alexaa - it might be a '16', worth a check. I just know it won't be suitable for a 4-year-old and probably not a nine-year-old either.

We're gamers in our house, so believe they can be fantastic recreation, but for younger kids Minecraft or one of the Lego Batman-type-games would be much better.

DS has time to play because I am clearly an inferior parent who does not engage with her child enough.

Right then sugarskully.
We have:
PS 3
Xbox 360
PS 2
Xbox original
PS 1
wii
And an entire wardrobe in the spare room full of other consoles from the 70s to 80s. 20 at the last count.
We also have an arcade machine in the front room.

So, in short, we have wasted a lot of money on them!

Well I've only got the one child so gaming is what he does to amuse himself.

We also do the dog walking but he gets dragged out twice a day at the weekends so doesn't find it fun in the same way as having a few siblings.

I should imagine if you have a garden large enough to play in and woods nearby you wouldn't need a console.