Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

to ask if your dc have computer games and if so what age did they get them?

32 replies

Inneedofadvice553 · 12/10/2015 19:13

i abhor and detest computer games and my ds (6) has none and has never played any....

not sure of my stance on this after discovering .I.T now has equal weighting in the new curriculum as Maths and Literacy.

What is your opinion?

OP posts:

RealityCheque · 12/10/2015 19:27

Yabvvvvu. And quite ridiculous.

But you already know this.

"Abhor", " detest". Get a grip.

Original poster

Inneedofadvice553 · 12/10/2015 19:30

why am I being very very U and ridiculous to have not yet let my six year old child play computer games yet?

No I don't already know this and am looking for genuine answers in relation to age!

OP posts:

RealityCheque · 12/10/2015 19:39

Why do you "abhor and detest" computer games? As a blanket statement?

It's that crazy statement that is vvvu and pretty much guarantees (ime) that you are commenting on something you know nothing about.

He will almost certainly have been playing educational computer games by now at school as a normal part of the curriculum.

Purplepoodle · 12/10/2015 19:42

All my kids have played apps on my iPad from about 2 years as got some great phonics and intro to maths games.

ds1 got a second hand 3ds for his 6th birthday and that's the first ever computer style gaming he had ever played. He's allowed 20mins a day and looses time for bad behaviour.

Probably buy ds2 one possibly for his 5th birthday if he wants one as he is youngest in his school year where ds1 is the eldest.

maddening · 12/10/2015 19:42

DS is neArlY 5 And plays lego games on the Xbox 360 not every day but he enjoys them and we play together.

Seeyounearertime · 12/10/2015 19:42

Op. What is you issue with games?
Wouldni be almost right in saying that you believe they're not educational? Not expanding horizons? Do you believe them violent?
Why does you child do at 6? Read Hemingway?

Seems a lot like forcing your I'll conceived prejudices on your dc to me.

heronsfly · 12/10/2015 19:43

Are you referring to educational programs on a desktop computer, or play station, Xbox type games ?

Rdoo · 12/10/2015 19:43

I think it's the use of your words to describe games which makes you ridiculous.

Hulababy · 12/10/2015 19:45

"not sure of my stance on this after discovering .I.T now has equal weighting in the new curriculum as Maths and Literacy."

It is called computing and is, or should be, very different to the old style IT.

However, he may well be learning to code and test (ie play) his own games as a result.

lavendersun · 12/10/2015 19:45

We have avoided them completely here, has a chess app, a music app, sticker dolly dressing (?), fun language things.

No games, ds, PlayStation and whatever else there is out there in the world.

Aged 9, she doesn't get the point of mine craft, friends have it. Makes elaborate Lego and meccano structures daily 45 mins a day min on Lego.

BondJayneBond · 12/10/2015 19:49

Both DC have played age appropriate game apps on my and DH's tablets from around 2 years.

Why do you detest and abhor computer games? I wouldn't allow a child access to a computer game without checking it to be sure it was age appropriate, but there's plenty of educational games out there, the apps my DC are allowed to play include phonics games, maths games, painting / sketchbook apps, puzzle games that encourage problem solving.

Hulababy · 12/10/2015 19:50

FWIW my DD played on age appropriate computer games from being a toddler. At 13y she doesn't play many computer games but does have some - all very much age appropriate still.

I teach computing at key stage 1 these days - so in my school your child would be using age appropriate software and iPad apps from age 4y at least once a week. Each class has an hour Computing lesson, using computers and iPads for a range of reasons. They also have two further sessions where the class has a set of 15 iPads available - the teachers will use these as they choose, to enhance teaching and learning in different ways.

You say your abhor and detest all computer games?
Why is that?
Is it all computer based games?
Do you realise that there are many fabulous educational software out there?

Why do you feel specifically selected computer based games are far worse than non computer based games?

BondJayneBond · 12/10/2015 19:50

lavender - isn't chess a game?

Hulababy · 12/10/2015 19:52

lavendersun

You do know that lego and Minecraft are not mutually exclusive?
Infact, in my experience, often children who are good at building via Minecraft are really good at creating Lego structures.

At school we use the Lego software - means children can build virtually, using any Lego piece that exists. Many like to build virtually and then try and replicate with Lego as well, to compare the two and see how accurately they can do it.

lavendersun · 12/10/2015 19:53

Of course it is a bloody game Bond, and at 9 she is a mean chess player thanks to the time she spent on dinochess a few years back.

lavendersun · 12/10/2015 19:58

No idea about mine craft or anything Lego on screens, not something we have looked into. Not sure why I would need to when I have a child with a big box of Lego she enjoys.

But I am anti upping screen time tbh, there are other things to do in down time.

Don't have a TV either so screen time fairly limited.

Homework can be typed these days though and DD is sat here reading an Ebook on her iPad so not completely anti just don't wish to increase it.

redskybynight · 12/10/2015 20:05

I bet he will have played computer games at school.

BondJayneBond · 12/10/2015 20:32

I'd consider using a chess app on an iPad or similar to be playing a computer game, personally.

RiverTam · 12/10/2015 20:37

DD is 5.9 and had only ever played games once in a cousin's iPad. We don't have an iPad or any consoles (DH has a DS Lite somewhere, no idea where), and we've only had smartphones very recently and don't have games on them. She's never asked for games so I'm happy with the way things are right now.

multivac · 12/10/2015 20:41

I fail to see the difference between a 'chess app' and any other strategic computer game.

lavendersun · 12/10/2015 20:48

I don't, I consider it very different, it translates to real life, not sure how many others do.

Dd is a very keen member of the chess club, plays with both parents, thinks ahead.

Thankfully we are all different and entitled to choose what we want to.

Hulababy · 12/10/2015 20:51

I agree - not much difference in reality. Chess app is still a computer game, just like any other strategic computer game based on other games.

multivac · 12/10/2015 20:52

Well, given that you don't know 'what's out there in the world', lavendersun, I guess it's fair enough that you aren't aware how many computer games translate brilliantly, purposefully and constructively to 'real life'. But as you say, horses for courses and so on.

If it makes you feel better to say you've 'avoided them completely', when in fact, like most others, you've picked and chosen the ones that chime with your world view, so be it.

As for the OP - do you choose all your child's activities according to national curriculum weightings?

Rdoo · 12/10/2015 20:59

How does chess translate to real life any more so than many, many other games.

Does it make you feel superior that your child only plays chess?

(I love chess by the way, great game)

TheExMotherInLaw · 12/10/2015 21:01

Passes OP a grip
My dd had computer games from about 3 years old. Mother Goose, if I remember correctly.
What is important is the type of game, not the format.
As long as they are age appropriate, and not used for a stupid length of time, they are part and parcel of life these days.
Oh, and it didn't hold her back - quite the contrary - she became a competent typist while still in junior school, useful to counteract the family dyslexia, and now has an MSc in Chemistry.

Flip

1 2