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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that a 3 year old doesn't really need a DS. ..

100 replies

choufleur · 26/02/2010 19:29

and if you're going to buy your 3 year old one then you shouldn't allow them to take it to nursery so that other 3 years olds (my ds) then go on and on about wanting one.

OP posts:
PfftTheMagicDragon · 26/02/2010 20:36

trinity - playing an older siblings is different I feel to being allowed to own one - the responsibily that comes with bein in sole charge of the machine is too much. Its ok to play on someone elses, I dont think they are evil in themselves.

I know someone who purchased one for their 2 year old.

rupertandfifi · 26/02/2010 20:40

This has reminded me of a friend of a friend of mine who requested money for her soon to be 3 year olds birthday so she could buy him a DS.

Must ask my friend if she gave money towards it - she was furious at the time!

But no, 3 year olds do not need game consoles of any kind.

overmydeadbody · 26/02/2010 20:40

yanbu

3 is too young

overmydeadbody · 26/02/2010 20:41

Rupert that is shocking!

janeite · 26/02/2010 20:42

Do families really have multiple DS consoles? Why?

catherineEarnshaw · 26/02/2010 20:45

yanbu games consoles devils work imPersonalopinion

piprabbit · 26/02/2010 20:46

I have a DS - and my DD had a Peppa Pig game she can play on it (from the age of about 4.5yo).

When she turned 6yo she got her own DS, with some Tinkerbell/Littlest Pet Shop games. She adores it, but we have to be careful to teach her to be responsible for it.

PardonMyClench · 26/02/2010 20:47

I think people are suspicious of this technology because they associate it with pre-teens/ teenagers spending large amount of time on game consoles at the expense of other ' more healthy' activities. This is the world with live in, interactive white boards in schools; computer games in nurseries. Employed properly they are educative and can help all kinds of development. IMO no 3 year old has the concentration span to spend more than 5 mintues playing any game let alone a DS . It's just another medium for play. No caring parent would let a 3 three sit in all day watching TV; playing one board game all day ; doing puzzles to the exclusion of everything else ; or reading even if you could get them to do this. Balance in everything is surely the key.

What exactly are people concerned about?

Coldhands · 26/02/2010 20:47

"My son informed me that for his 5th birthday the minimum he NEEDED was an Ipod touch, but what he really NEEDED was a Laptop.

He got a fire engine." LMAO

Boys2mam · 26/02/2010 20:52

My only concern is that I can see my son change when he's on his console too long. By too long I mean sometimes as little as 15-20 mins. He gets excessively tired, really short-tempered and very teary too.

When at home I make sure he's on his DS for the time I know he can handle and if he was using it in school I worry his behaviour would be as above and they can't/shouldn't have to deal with this.

At home, its his reward.

MumGoneCrazy · 26/02/2010 20:54

Trinity Im stuck on the second Prof Layton.

I cant find all the picture pieces and its really annoying me, i keep giving it up for a few days then going back to it but its been months and im tempted to just give the game away

catherineEarnshaw · 26/02/2010 20:55

pardonmyclench it's not my world nor my dcs although it may be yours

chocices · 26/02/2010 20:56

janeite we have multiple dsi's as they intereact with each other, and make for more fun in the game play. Playing against/with each other.

TrinityIsFuckingTrying · 26/02/2010 20:57

hmmm well when I said I had finished them both I meant I had got to tyhe dredits roll up
I cant remember how much I missed of the other bits
[blush}

sorry, I'll get my coat

chocices · 26/02/2010 20:58

coldhands my ds regularly tells me, that yes his fire engine is fun to play with, but for his next birthday he does really need the laptop so could he have that please. Might buy him a police car

TottWriter · 26/02/2010 21:01

YANBU for thinking a DS Console has no place in a nursery, but I think your reasons are a little OTT. It has given you a golden opportunity to begin to teach your DD that she can't have everything in life - especially not 'just' because someone else has it.

My reasoning for not permitting a child to take a console to Nursery is that

A) you are then making the staff responsible for a valuable electrical item that they shouldn't be expected to look after, and

B) The point of Nursery is to interact with other people, not play on consoles. There's plenty of time at home or on the bus/in the car to be playing on small handheld devices.

As for the age thing, I don't know. The point of the DS Console is that you hold the stick for the touch pad, which arguably prepares a child for writing, so in small doses it shouldn't be seen as a bad thing. This is a digital era, and blanketing all gaming devices with a banner which stems from uninformed parents letting their preteens develop gaming addictions is a retrospective action which doesn't benefit anyone. Addictions and unhealthy lifestyles which resulted from them were the result of new technology not being undertood and controlled appropriately. Children who grow up understanding that there has to be a balance will fare a lot better than children sheltered from it until their parents no longer have control over them and then overdo it.

TrinityIsFuckingTrying · 26/02/2010 21:02

tyhe dredits !!!!

obviously means 'the credits'

Miggsie · 26/02/2010 21:04

No one needs a DS

Original poster
choufleur · 26/02/2010 21:09

Sorry my DS (son i mean) already knows he can't have everything, he's saving money he gets at the end of each week (if he's been good) at the moment towards farm toys. I just got fed up with him going on and on about the bloody thing. whatever it is children going on and on and on is annoying.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 26/02/2010 21:10

You are naive if you think we don't live in a technological world. Unless you are Amish.

DSs school has interactive whiteboards in all classes - including the nursery. Every class has digital cameras (still and video), children can submit their homework on a USB memory stick if appropriate, they are all members of an online maths website. This is their world and what their future holds.

We have a DSLite each so I can slaughter play with the children on Bomberman. I too have finished the Layton games [preen].

Miggsie · 26/02/2010 21:12

No one needs an interactive white board either

PardonMyClench · 26/02/2010 21:12

Catherine Earnshaw - I am neither a fan or opponent of games of this type, but they are all around ' us'. By 'us' I mean most people in the modern world. My children don't have them but I am aware that at nursery there are computer games ; their friends may have them and there is increasing use of tools such as Powerpoint and Interactive white boards in schools. My DS will watch his Jolly Phonics on DVD ; read the phonics books and has just started using Cbeebies alphablocks interactive games for phonics. It's a multimedia approach that keeps him interested in a variety of ways.
What exactly is the ' devils work' and if you are so averse to such technology how do you avoid exposure to it in your family?

janeite · 26/02/2010 21:12

Am not Amish, though I may well be Neanderthal (I don't know how to switch our TV on either) but, to me, multiple consoles seems an astonishing amount of money to spend, if nothing else. We have a Wii and play on that together - much cheaper than several DS thingies I would think. Not judging at all - just genuinely a bit bemused.

SoupDragon · 26/02/2010 21:15

Miggsie, no one needs electric lights, television, computers, mumsnet, or a myriad of other items we all tend to have either.

SoupDragon · 26/02/2010 21:16

You can't take a wii on a long journey or into hospital for example.