To be soooo pissed off with my stupid (D)H for letting our bright imaginative children spend their waking hours on the frigging x-box/nintendo/TV?

[BananaSkin]

I know I am not.

He is away in the week and I am careful to keep them away from this cr*p as much as possible.

He comes home and when he is looking after they (i.e. now, I am trying to do the Tesco order on-line) he takes the easy option and lets them play on this stuff.

DS1's week-end so far has been almost entirely x-box/nintendo etc etc (admittedly he did go for a 4 hour walk yesterday too). He use to spend every spare minute reading, and now this .....

Sympathy.

DH & I hate the PS3 which seems to have taken over my dc's life (he's 14).

But at least he's here with us, and not out spray painting old ladies, iyswim.

We try all alternatives, but that's his number one obsession.

That's just normal teenage behaviour. All their friends do it and, now that you can play with your mates remotely over the internet, it's become a real obsession for most of them.

DS1 (also 14) would sit all day every day in front of a screen. We have a PS2, a Gamecube and a Wii and he now wants an Xbos 360 because all his friends have one so they play each other other the internet and he can't join in because he's only got a Wii. His brother wants to get a PS3.

As a parent, I think we instinctively want to keep them away from these things, in the same way that our parents used to prevent us from watching ITV . However it's part of their culture now, like mobile phones, and you risk isolating them from their mates if you stop them from playing.

Aren't all Dh's likely to do easy parenting????

I hope YOU'RE not going to spend all day on MN then? We all have our vices..

how old are your dc's

(Psst - Freckle - I'm no expert, but I do know that Wiis can connect to the internet too, if you have wi-fi. Might save you a fortune, if you let him know!)

Why do you have them then?

We have 'not on weekdays' rule and a time limit at weekends (40 minutes at a time). If I go out shopping and find that DH has let them play while I was out I just shoo them outside for a bit. No big deal.
How old are they?

Chill - its the weekend, half-term next week, plus we have an extra hour today!

I have three bright, imaginative children who have all spent rather a lot of time on the various consoles this weekend, and I have no excuse - I've been away for a few days with a friend, but hey it's le weekend, and what's more, half-term.

(I guess they may have had the consoles on during the week when we generally have a no consoles/DVD rule, but I wasn't here so for one week I'm not worrying about it.)

Have you completed your online order yet? What are your plans once you do?

My eldest DS1 (7) is a total screen freak and loves computers etc... But I have realised that he is obsessive and will obess about anything - so for half term have bought UNO Spin and no doubt will spend hours on that..

Today they did one and a half hours in soft play and are presently on computer/nintendo. When DH and I have digested lunch we will get them off to play UNO Spin and James and the Giant peach is on later.

Yes, the boys do connect the Wii to the internet. DS1's point is that all his friends have Xbox 360s, not Wiis, so he can't connect to them.

We have a no consoles during the week rule, so they tend to be glued to them at the weekend. We do chuck them outside periodically and try to ensure they at least visit the loo .

LOL freckle!

I agree that consoles are part of children's and teenager's culture. Being in front of a screen for a while on a rainy day over half term is no crime.

Bananaskin, if you were posting this on a glorious sunny day I would be more cross with your dh.

Without knowing the ages of your children, or how busy they are during the week (do they play sports, music, etc after school?) It's difficult to judge.

Does your dh do anything active with them? help them with their other hobbies? If his sole input is letting them sit in front of screens then you are not being unreasonable in feeling cross with him.

Just because he has let them do something they enjoy doesn't mean he is stupid!

Forgot I had posted this in a bit of a strop this morning. DH is unfortunately reading over my shoulder and tends to agree with ilove.

Er we have them as they are DH's toys. The oldest of my children is 7 - so not teenagers.

They did have a constructive day after my outburst earlier, but I still wish they were in the garden building a tree house or picnicing with lashings of ginger beer ...

"I still wish they were in the garden building a tree house or picnicing with lashings of ginger beer"

It was p*ssing down and freezing here today though

OK, it's not perfect but I think spending a block of time on this activity (or non actvity) won't hurt them. You mention one of them going for a 4 hour walk yesterday. And here the weather today was rubbish.

dp looks after our 17 month old ds1 quite a lot while I try and make up for night time pregnancy insomnia on weekend mornings. He does take him out, especially now we've discovered a music/toy library session on Saturday mornings which they both really enjoy getting out to. But I find that I often need to think of what to do, whether it's for the three of us (and possibly meeting up with my dad too) or for dp and ds. Without planning to do other things, computer games and TV are always going to be a fallback, especially in grotty weather.

DS is nearly 5 and today DP him found the games on his mobile,and showed them to ds its a slippery slope!

In desperation I took the kids to the park this afternoon to splash in puddles and get muddy

Am dreading when ds is old enough to utter the words "Wii" or "PS3".I just know he and dp will spend hours blasting things into kingdom come in virtual reality AAARRGHH!!

I guess everything in moderation and all that,but you have my sympathy

Dd aged 4.5 is an absolute wizz on my ipod touch - I've actually loaded stuff she can play with - and has found some great games on NickJr.com. I fell I need to actually BUY her somthing. Wii seems too expensive though......

Surely like EVERYTHING else eg chocolate, sweet, McD's, Frootshoots - Moderation is the key!