To ask what your eight year olds are into?

[Rainbowb]

My dd is an 8yo only child and quite shy but I’ve noticed some of her classmates seem to be into quite different things to her. Many of them are on TikTok and another mum showed me videos of one or two of them gyrating to music and posing. I’ve also seen pictures of her friends’ bedrooms on Facebook, a lot of them have had room makeovers during lockdown and there’s not a toy in sight, the rooms look so grown up! My dd still plays with dolls and figures making up stories, she loves cuddly toys, making dens and making little houses for her toys. I love her imagination and the way she is and wouldn’t want her on social media. I do wonder at the back of my mind though how she gets on with her classmates, whether she sometimes feels a bit out of it. I noticed once at a social occasion some of the girls were practising dance routines while she was just wanting to make animals. I’m glad she’s her own person but just wondered what eight year olds are generally into?

@BikeRunSki I feel your pain!

DS is 8. No social media here.
Still very much into Lego, playgrounds, his bike, soft toys, board games and Minecraft.
He watches plenty of TV but limited iPad. Won’t get a phone until secondary school.
Your daughter sounds fine

@Rainbowb your post describes my 8 year old DD perfectly. She still plays with dolls and makes dens, plays make up stories with her younger sister and on her own. She colours a lot too making little books and scrap books. Makes potions in the garden out of flower petals, soil etc.

No social media, no phone and definitely no TikTok. I am letting her play how she wants to play. Kids aren’t kids very long.

My nearly 8 year old loves Lego, plays in the garden loads, crafts, den building, beaches, riding her bike, chasing games. Reads Diary of a Wimpy Kid, David Walliams. She dances in her room to her Alexa but she has never seen a pop video in this house, doesn’t go on You Tube and dances Like a silly kid. She has never liked dolls but a lot of her friends still play with dolls and figures. I would say most of the girls in her class are similar to her.

She has a couple of friends who seem much older than her. They watch You Tube, Tik Tok, dance wiggling their hips, bending over and dropping, they have crushes and very into fashion - crop tops and things. I genuinely think the difference is the amount of time they spend online and what they are allowed to watch.

I have a 7.5 year old ds and absolutely no way will he be on tiktok on the near or distant future! It's absolutely full of inappropriate stuff, even with the filter on.
He loves Minecraft, Star Wars, Lego, and soft toys, him and his brother who is a year younger spend ages playing what they call Teddy Wars I think it's a bigger boy version of a Teddy bears picnic 😂, definitely can't get rid of their toys from their room. Sad that age 8 is seen as too old for toys, they're still so little at that age.

Thy 'have' Tik tok? As in they have their own phones??

Like pp said, if I see a funny Tik tok that's appropriate I'll show my 8 year old, but he's not allowed on on his own.

He loves cycling, skateboarding, Pokemon, minecraft, Dan tdm and Denis daly,roblox, fortnite on very strict settings, puppy's, cuddly teddy's, Star Wars. He loves to think of himself as a bit grown up but is still very much a little boy ❤️

Since lockdown, DD aged 8 has discovered Roblox but only for a controlled amount of time. Her favourite toy is her Barbie camper van, likes those TY things with the big eyes, LOL dolls, drawing and crafts and board games. Over my dead body will she have tik tok or social media at aged 8!! Such a shame when they grow up too quickly.

Don’t worry what other kids are doing, let her develop in her own time, she sounds loverly.

16, 10 and 7yo DSs here.

I worry that mine get too much screen time (though for the younger two it's only ever stuff like Super Mario, Minecraft, Rocket League, Pokemon etc and even the 16yo still plays Minecraft and Pokemon!) but the younger two have no phones, no tablets of their own and definitely no social media.

10yo knows what TikTok is (but has never seen / used it), 7yo would probably assume it was the name of a Pokemon , 16yo just says it's crap.

Younger two make up games on the trampoline, usually based on their favourite switch/DS games admittedly but they're still using their imaginations. They also download colouring sheets of their favourite Nintendo characters, create Hama bead models of them and make up stories about them. 7yo still adores Lego, 10yo reads voraciously, they both love board games and they are both still an absolute sucker for any cute cuddly (again, anything based on favourite Nintendo characters is a winner). They love watching gamers on YouTube which drives me slightly nuts but neither has shown any interest in social media. I feel sad for kids drawn into that world too early, my 16yo does now do stuff like snapchat and WhatsApp but he didn't do it until an age where he could sensibly cope with it.

My dd is also 8 and an only child. Not allowed tik tok or games such as Roblox or minecraft either.

Plays for hours with Lego, dolls, dressing up etc. She is very self-sufficient and happy with her own company as well as having lots of friends.

Likes to read - when not rolling around on the floor pretending to be Princess Leia or running around being Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon.

Thanks all, your kids all sound great! I agree with so many of you - let kids be kids!! I find it so depressing when they’re into social media this young. It’s nice to know my dd has lots of kindred spirits out there! Sometimes it’s nice to have a reassuring dose of reality

8yo Dts love make believe play, dolls, house, school and random games they make up. They love riding their bikes and playing in the park.

They also love bloody you tube, the Descendants and TiKTok. They have an old phone of mine with Tik Tok on - it's totally locked down they use it make and post videos that only their two mates can see. They show me everything before the post it.

Oh and make up, make up and make up again.

They're at a weird stage - some of the games they play together they wouldn't dream of telling their mates about. I've also noticed that while I'm still definitely mama at home I'm mum if they're talking about me to their friends.

DD is almost 9. She loves playing with barbie but she mainly likes to make videos with them on her laptop (we bought a chrome book when we locked down for school).

She still really likes Lego and writing and craft. She loves watching those crap Disney shoes with Dove Cameron and Ariana Grande!

I downloaded Tik Tok on my phone and we made some funny videos (I kept the profile private) but then I saw all the stuff on the news about it being unsecure so I deleted it much to her annoyance!

My 8 yo sounds very similar to your DD in that she still loves to make environments for her figures and still plays mainly story based fantasy narratives with her friends. She is allowed limited screentime, but has audio books, music and is a big Harry Potter fan and generally reads a lot. She has completely changed her dress style this year, from pink and frilly to what she sees as sophisticated (black, white and occasional fashionable print, no more flowers and love hearts). And she wants new curtains because hers are very nursery themed.

My 8 year old ds loves sport / playing outdoors. He has a go cart / bike / scooter so can be found on any of those at any time of the day. But he also loves the Xbox and roblox in particular. I try to limit that though! He was a massive Lego fan for a long time but not so much anymore.

My 8yo is a boy, but he has absolutely no idea what social media even is. He loves Lego, Disney films, Ninjago, playing with teddies with his sister (6), baking, going to the park, practising with his scooter, playing on his switch (minecraft, we don’t allow any online play at all) and watching ridiculously complex science videos on YouTube. He has ASD, but his older brother was broadly similar at the same age.

Even my teen and preteen don’t have any social media, because it’s toxic and unnecessary.

Nice to see many 8 year olds still enjoying imaginative play and dolls, my dd has just turned 8 and she got given my old phone as only has one friend on her contacts along with me and dad, no social media.

For her birthday along with my old phone she got a design a friend doll, scratch art pads, pens etc, TY teddies, a sequin dress, Claire's kids fashion jewellery.

Her room is quite grown up I guess as she wanted one of those velvet headboard beds and a crystal lampshade, the room is still covered with barbie, unicorns and teddies and long may it continue!

My 8 year old is not allowed TikTok. It is Chinese-owned which makes its (dodgy) data practices impossible to regulate in any meaningful way.

She likes Roblox with her friends, Ty pet toys, Babysitters Club books, roller skates, drawing comics and making forts. Her hero is illustrator Raina Teiglermeier.