to think it sad that such young children are being bought such grown-up presents?

[allIWannaBeForChristmas]

partly brought on by the other thread, but have heard from so many people who are buying their 4/5/6 yo's games consoles/televisions/dvd players and even know of one who has bought her 7 yo a mobile phone.

am I the only one that thinks this is wrong?

ah but a furreal pony won't shit on your carpet. .

True! And no vet bills either.

at lovely initials I have NOW

am increasingly suspecting that my brilliant disguise is not QUITE the masterpiece of brilliance I thought it was...

and when you get sick of it you can just flog it on ebay .

I do wonder about the longevity of a toy like that though - 300 quid is a lot of money for something that tbh doesn't do an awful lot and which the novelty will prob wear off within weeks.

I don't think it is wrong. It is simply parents making choices about what they believe their child will like and get benefit from. Surely that is every parent's right to do? And not all children are alike - so what one 5 year old enjoys another won't. Some 5 years may be into computer ganes. Some children won't be even at 15.

My own 5yo likes games consoles AND more traditional toys. She seems perfectly capable of switching between and getting a good balance.

I woouldn't buy TVs and DVDs as I don't want DD having them in her room and there is no where else she could put one. Mind you she does have a portable DVD for the car. And no way to a mobile ohone for a long time either as I don't see how she could possible need, want or gain benefit from one.

i dont see whats wrong with butterscotch, apart from the high price.

By NineUnlovelyTinselDecorations on Tue 18-Dec-07 11:54:36
Yes it's much better these days now we have technology so you don't have to interact with them and they can become violent and obese asap.

[Hmm] Yes, becuase all games consoles and anything to do with technology will lead to this obviously. Maybe I am lucky. I have a DD who is very capable of not becoming obsessed by these things and I still retai control with my own child. And she just doesn't sit with one toy - whatever that be - fixated on it for hours on end. She likes variety.

What a bizarre over genralisation, and so blatently not true when used sensibly!

• the obese statement - anything item that required a child to sit for periods of time - colouring, craft, lego, playmobil, etc... are these all bad too?

• the ignore statement - personally I play with my DD with all manner of toys on and off, although she does have free play on her own too - both important IMO. So is any type of free playing on their own ignoring them then?

• as for the violence - yes, I am sure playing ten pin bowling on the wii or playing Disney Princess game on the DS will be a very disturbing experience causing DD to lash out in uncontrolled agression and violence

Our friends bought us
this for dd's first birthday. They wanted to see the looks on everyone's faces as we opened it surrounded by all the PC wooden toys given by our other friends...

For the record, dd LOVES it. But it has somehow found it's way to Nanna's house, while we put our flat on the market... wonder why...

kerryk, if it was £20 then fair enough, but it's £300 for something that is going to be used very little is silly.

oh I have no doubt the pony is lovely, and that the little girl who receives it will be over the moon (for a few days anyway ) but at £300 and big enough to take up a considerable portion of the house, I would imagine the novelty will soon wear off for all concerned .

My DD got the cat last year and the frickin thing is weird and a bit scarey. It is hard and 'boney' and not at all nice to hold.
weirdy thing of the devil !

(CALM, don't worry, I'm a genius )

That pony is just under £200 in the cash and carry type places - is it Macro??? Still expensive though, but £100 cheaper than Toys R Us!

My dads got a card for makro, i wonder if there are any left...

Hulababy see my apology on about page 2, I was just being stupid

Ah right, okay I don't have pages - just a long list of threads - couldn't get used to the changes, lol. Missed it, sorry.

My DS 6 loves lego, art and craft and putting on puppet shows and is not that interested in computer games. But we have bought him a DS for Xmas, mainly due to peer pressure. All his friends have different types of games consoles and when our DS goes to their houses he has no idea what to do. Also, I do think that children today need to be able to get used to using new technology.

However, I do find it really sad that when some of his friends come round to play they have no interest in playing with any toys, and are bored as there are no computer games to pay with. Some of them seem to have a total lack of imagination, and find it babyish to play with many of my DS's toys.

mrspnut - consoles do not teach you about programming.

Using a computer may well do. In fact I can still remember a little BBC Basic from messing around on a friend's computer. And that's exactly what I mean - your dh taught himself programming on a Spectrum ZX, my dh taught himself on the county computer. But you can't programme a Wii or a Nintendo ds - you just plug games in!

Marina - that website sounds great!

a friend told me when she looked at leapsters/leap pads in toysrus, one of the spotty yoofs said to her: Oh Don't buy that one, it's just educational! (in v disapproving tone)

No, Tortoiseshell, but they get you interested in programming, and many games can be rewritten to add whole new levels or add new parts to levels and then be played. Admittedly it's usually by transferring from console to PC to do the coding but then transferred back to console to play it.

I don't see why people are so against computer games to be honest. My dd is 4 and she loves playing on the cbeebies website, in fact I am really proud how quickly she has mastered mouse skills and menus etc, she figured this out herself and is now adept at navigating the pc. She also plays viva pinata on the xbox360 (ours) which she gets a lot of pleasure from.

It gets on my nerves how many toys and childrens tv programmes are geared towards teaching them morals, letters, blah blah. Whatever happened to toys being fun, cartoons being funny.

Don't get me started on the bloody vsmile thingy £50 and it is really crap, the graphics are crap, the games are crap (really simplistic and repetitive) and surely there are million more interesting ways to teach letters/phonics.

Actually if anyone wants a vsmile plus 3 games barely played with e-mail me at planetofsound @ btinternet.com . I bought dd one last year and it has been played with twice (although I did get it half price).

sorry planet of sound @ btinternet.com without the spaces

Besides, why do all toys have t be educational anyway? Can we not just let children have a fun game without any educational value? Once in a while is not going hurt surely?!