To send DS's PS4 back?

[PSNah]

D'S is turning 13.

His dad had a PS4 at his house so D'S wanted the new battlefront game for his birthday. The game is £50 (!!) And I saw a bundle with that game, 2 other games and a PS4 for just £199 (a lot but a bargain really)

So as it's a big birthday I decided to get him the bundle as a surprise.

Now I'm torn.

This morning at 7.55 (he leaves at 8) he tells me he's left his planner at his dads.
Then he tells me that he has Food Tech and he is supposed to choose something to make and bring in his own ingredients.

With 5 mins to leave the house.

Then it transpires that this is the 2nd time Food Tech have done this and he didn't bring anything in the first time.

I'm really annoyed.

We had this with a geography project last term.

The kicker is that if he would tell me I would happily sit and choose a recipe, print it. Get the ingredients.
Or help him with any home projects.

He has no organisational skills at all.

Now the flip side is he is a very clever boy who is top of his class in most subjects. He is a library assistant. He gets awards every term for reading the most books in his year. He gets glowing reports apart from his homework and organisational skills.

I feel this is partly my fault. For not nagging him more and checking up on him.

So what do you think?

Should he be allowed a PS4 in his room?

Or should he not?

You need to limit his screen time, children cannot limit their own. Even some adults can't, so don't expect it of teenagers. Screens and teenagers are like sugar and toddlers.

He's a child. You need to be a parent.

You must know it's Food Tech this term. You need to be asking him days in advance what the requirements are for Monday's lesson, so you can take him to Tesco for him to choose them.

Children don't magically get organisation skills, so if he doesn't have them you need to support him until he does.

Taking back the PS4 won't have any impact if he spends all his time on his phone it's just the medium that's changing. It's your job as a parent to manage how much time is spent on technology compared to school work.

And yes Battlefront 2 is just a pay to win game. As in you pretty much either need to spend extra money on crates to get better characters and items or spend 60+ hours grinding.

As he's not expecting it what about:
-give him the game for his birthday to play at his dad's
-Hang onto the console
-talk to him about time management and organisation, what would help and what changes you want to see (not forgetting projects etc)
-Let him know you're thinking about getting him his own PS4 but you're worried it will mean he neglects his homework

• Let him have it in a few months time when he's shown he can work on organising his time/stuff better?

If he already has a PS4 at his dad's, are you sure that another one at yours is the ideal? It might be better for him to have an Xbox or one of the other consoles at yours because there's then some variety in some of the games available.

Growing up, I had a PlayStation at my mum's and a Nintendo at my dad's which was great because it wasn't just duplicating the entertainment options. For the most part there's lots of cross-over between different consoles nowadays, but there are still some "exclusives".

Also, I would have been asking my dad for the games at his house and my mum for the games at her house. I would never have asked for something from one of them that I couldn't use at their place! As 1Vandal said - are you sure that his dad isn't also planning to get Battlefront for him?

I wouldn't buy it for him in the first instance as by not having a console in your house at all you are saving yourself a world of pain in the future trying to get him off it.
Isn't it enough that it remains a 'treat' at his dads? It's win win for you that way. Do you feel that he resents you a little for not having the equivalent thing at home and you are the "nagging" mum that deals with the practical day to day side of thing while dad gets to be the "cool" one?