Not introducing my 6 year old to gaming ?

[immigrant002]

My ds just started y2 he says all the boys are talking about minecraft or roblox and he doesn't know what it is . I did not intentionally keep him from it but he was never really interested so it didnt occur to me he would be the odd one out !
I have no idea about gaming or what it involves . AIBU to introduce it to him, so he does not feel left out ? Dh is saying no let him be a child but i do think it keeps him from connecting with other boys in his class .

I personally would hold off as long as you possibly can! Certainly don't introduce it before he actually asks.

From experience, I hated my stepson having a console when he was younger .. he was obsessed with been on it and nothing else mattered. He used to get frustrated at games and shout at it. We of course enforced rules & limited screen time but it caused so many problems .. really glad that stage is over now! (He's 18!)

I think that might be it ! He did say they act the game out ! I do believe is quite young to play it so you might be right they probably watch it on youtube

That's a brilliant idea thank you !

My ds was gaming online with friends from this age and would most definitely have been left out had he not been able to. It's the modern day equivalent of them knocking on each other to see if they can 'play out' imo. It's not ideal granted. I was a child in the 80s and was always outdoors playing which I think was much healthier and ideally what I'd wish for for my dc, but unfortunately children aren't living in the same world as back then and this is the way things are going. Incidentally one of ds's friends wasn't allowed to access gaming until a couple years after most of the kids in the class and he's now the most obsessed with it.

DS plays Minecraft on creative mode, on the iPad. Chat turned off.

He basically builds and decorates lovely houses (tree houses, houses with infinity swimming pools by the sea, log cabins in snowy biomes, etc). He breeds dogs and cats, and names them and builds them little kennels and enclosures. It’s all very sweet and innocent, and I don’t have any issue with it at all. No worse than playing Lego.

I do have an issue with all the YouTube videos - they are awful.

I'm a gamer and I allow my year 1 child to game and my 18 year old games all his childhood, it's just about making sure all security and safety features are in place.
No roblox unless he's in the room with you so you can supervise and yes turn chat off on any game, also set strict times and days.
This is what I've done but I also will game with them so it's family time as well.
This way a good balance of outdoor play, imagination games and gaming can be attained.
Oh also all consoles, computers, Tablets whatever is used are strictly for the family room.

My year 1 child is just learning how to play Minecraft, he doesnt have any other games but he does it with my dh once a week - I have no clue about it but it is their thing, they just seem to build houses on it. My eldest has no interest. I think it is about its place in their life - sitting in their room alone for hours on end is very different to sitting with a parent and chatting about what is happening as you go along for half an hour a week. Youtube kids is banned in our house though, I'd rather they were actually engaging with a game and thinking about what they are doing than mindlessly watching another kid do it.

I was happy with my kids playing minecraft at 6. It is very creative and I was often amazed at what they can create. Limited to creative mode and on a private game together, so not playing with random strangers.

Realistically, a lot of that age kids will be on roblox. I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. They definitely won't be allowed it while in primary. Gaming is a fact of life now.

My 8yo nephew is crazy about these two and they have been the source of many a tantrum. However, at some point they'll inevitably play them. You just have to hope they can moderate or that they tone it down once they discover girls etc, rather than become a fat spud glued to the sofa playing Call of Duty. 😂

@Laiste no I completely agree it can be difficult. We have taken it away once for an extended period of time, as he wanted longer than we had decided was appropriate and kicked off.
however, since then we’ve not had a problem. If it started impacting his behaviour at all we would definitely reassess!

7 year old here and I have held off and will as long as I can. DS behaves really badly after any form of screen time so it's an easy choice for me not to allow it.

For a period he did have a tiny console that had one game on it. He was obsessed with when and for how long he would be able to play on it (30 mins Sat and Sun we allowed) and was all he ever spoke about. Thankfully, it broke and we didn't replace it. After about a week of moaning he was back to books, Lego, drawing etc without fuss.

He's definitely in the minority in his class and he's quite grumpy that his friends have access to tablets, family Nintendo switch etc. But I don't believe it is impacting him socially, he has a load of friends, they play and talk about other stuff, he has various bits and bobs of computer game-themed toys, books, clothes etc.

My 6 year old plays a bit of Minecraft and a few other games on dh's ps4. Its harness fun and he likes it. He's not addicted and has a very outdoorsy, active childhood overall (we live near the beach and countryside).

If you say no all gaming completely you run the risk of your child being teased and also it being a big, exciting 'forbidden fruit' type thing that he'll want you to go mad on the minute he's allowed to. Like kids who are never allowed any junk food ever who grow up binge eating on crap.

Everything in moderation.

Another thing to consider is age 6 upwards gaming birthday parties can be a thing and your kid would either have to go being the only one with no idea what to do or give the party a miss and let's face it neither of those is great for your kid. You'll just want him to go, have fun and come home again.

I'd leave it as long as possible and not at all if he doesn't show an interest. Celebrate and support his actual interests instead and encourage friendships around these. Mine is an adult now but about 9/10 when we first got an xbox, they wanted it and enjoyed it but I do wish we had waited longer.

I am not really saying no to it it just didn't occur to me that it would start this early z i was thinking more like 9 /10 year olds .
He loves lego and building with magnets so i do believe he would like Minecraft .
I will try it myself first see how it works then i might give it to him in a controlled way .
He didnt really asked for it it was just conversation today i asked him if he made any new friends in his new class and he said everyone is playing Minecraft and i don't know what is it

Or 11 year old plays on the Xbox but we have a pin so she has to ask. She’s only allowed to play games we’ve authorised and we have a strict policy they have to be single player only, no online. She especially loves racing and driving games.

I know you can put blocks on Roblox but I don’t trust any online platform where anyone can create games.

Oh fair enough. You do need to beware of certain games though -my son is not allowed Roblox or fortnight at all as I just don't think they'd be appropriate for him. Also he asked for 'among us' so I googled it and was horrified so that's a definite no.

There a a bluey game that's very innocent and he likes car racing.

Resist resist resist! I managed to hold off until my son was age 10. No other activities compare to the excitement of gaming consoles. He’s 12 now and well and truly entrenched. Resist!

I'd encourage Minecraft. It'd be good for him in all manner of ways.

As long as he has a wide range of hobbies there is absolutely space for (age appropriate) video games.

I used to love playing video games with my mum and dad so it'd be great if you could find one that you can enjoy together. Have a look into family friendly games that a 6 year old can play.

I agree with all this and one further thing I would suggest is that you don't introduce limits on gaming time unless it becomes necessary to do so. Limits are needed for a child who is persistently gaming to the detriment of other interests but I think it's a misstep to arbitrarily say, off the bat, "here's a new toy but you can only use it for 1 hour a day" - I think that can drive obsessiveness and conflict.

I was gaming from a young age and never had any particular limits, but I had a range of other hobbies so they weren't really needed.

OP, if you're still reading. have a look at some minecraft videos on you tube of things some folks have built. Then when you go on to have a look at the game yourself you'll have an idea of what the heck the point is 😅

On 'creative' it's just a limitless world with different 'biomes' ie: jungle, desert, snow, plains, acres of sea with coral, massive caves to explore with bats, ect, with different animals which crop up there living their lives and a day/night cycle and a bit of weather. Nothing happens unless you make it happen. You can't die. You can take off and fly. A bed means you can sleep through the night if you want to, or you can stay awake all night and keep doing what you're doing. As i said if you put it on 'peaceful' there's no monsters which come out at night, although in creative they can't see you/touch you anyway and they all disappear in the morning. You can build a basic house not much bigger than yourself and live in it or build a replica of hogwarts castle!

One of my DCs put on the Ancient Greek 'pack' which meant that all the building blocks had carved columns and stuff. I confess i had a go and ended up building a whole Ancient Grecian port with a Colosseum .... I furnished the houses and everything!

(i hope you don't get hooked cos that would be funny 😂)

My 6 year old son isn't showing the slightest interest in gaming. He hears about some of these things, as older cousins definitely have played. Maybe comes up at school but he hasn't said anything.
He has lots of his own interests which he is more than happy to chat to others about. He's perfectly confident within himself......
More than happy for it to stay that way!

Nothing wrong with a bit of gaming, just manage it you’re not sure.

My 6 year old is OBSESSED with minecraft. Has he ever played it? Nope.

Mine has minecraft Lego, reads Minecraft books, has minecraft annuals, stickers, t shirts, hats. But has never played the game (ok once for 1 hour at an older family friends house). He has watched some YouTube videos of other people playing it, but that was one series with about 20 short videos. Doesn’t watch that anymore.

You might find a lot of the children in your DS’s class are the same. I know a lot of my DS’s friends are the same as I talk to the parents, yet they all love it and play ‘Minecraft’ (a chasing game they’ve made up) every playtime. If you want him not to feel left out you could let him watch some of the videos on YouTube, then he’ll at least have an idea what they are talking about and be able to join in. He doesn’t need to play it to be into it though!

Edited to add - I don’t actually see anything particularly wrong with playing minecraft and will probably get some form of ‘family console’ for Christmas so that he can play occasionally. It’ll just replace when he normally watches tv, and tbh it’s probably better than staring at cartoons on tv!

As the mum of 12 and 17 year old boys, I wish I never had. Leave it as long as you can x