drum kit for 6 year old - toatl insanity or alternatives please

[ernest]

OK ds is 6 just after Christmas. Got his Christmas pressie sorted but at a loss for birthday pressie (so cheating a bit posting here)

He was flicking through a catalogue and saw picture of drum kit and asked for that (to be fair he did ask for about 50% of the catalogue). I immediately said "no chance, matey"

but have no other ideas. He needs no more toys. Ever. Ever.

I think a musical instrument would be cool, and good for him, ad it wouldn't be another toy, and I have no other ideas.

Thoughts? Or even better, a sane alternative.

He has a bike, roller blades, 2 brothers a game boy and anything else a 6 year old could possibly want

noooooooooooooooooooooo. I couldnt do that, not ever!

You could get an electric drum kit - so that he can use headphones? They're a bit smaller too I think.

only if you have a sound proofed room

Personally I'm all for a drum kit, fab idea, but then my mum would never let me have one.....so I had to wait until we visited my cousin and play on his!! he ended up in a band for a bit, so you never know!

My dp is a drummer and teaches drums to boys that age and always advises no!Electric drums are more expensive so they are prob a no too.Very few kids stick with drums and should really have lessons and see how they go before you make such a big purchase.The noise is deafening and so quite often they don't get to practice as others in teh house/street just can't bear it.We have electric drums for practice and I can still feel the banging above my head but it is bearable.Get him a little drum machine if he really wants them!

noddyholder, would your dp suggest a musical alternative? DH also
saying ' hmmm', not just noise factor, but also he won't be able to have the satisfaction of playing a tune. He's saying recorder. Me not so sure. Even a tin whistle (thinking Pogues at this moment) would be better. Could you advise? Ta

I will aski him tonight and let you know xx

We brought ds2 a drum set for last Xmas when he was 4 and the noise isn't really a problem. They were in the room over the garage but didn't get used much so are now in the house. The playroom can be shut off from the other rooms and isn't under ds3 bedroom so I just let them get on with it. small boys don't seem to bother about lack of tune - they just bang along - he likes putting on dh cds and playing along to strange things.

DS1 (7 at the time) wanted a drum kit last Christmas but we were really unsure if it was just a fad so we paid for a term of lessons through the local music school and hired a set of junior drums through them for 6 months for (I think) £60. At the end of 6 months, if you bought a set of drums through them, the whole amount was credited towards the purchase. On Christmas Day, we wrapped the letter about classes around a pair of drum sticks. DS1 was thrilled, we collected the drums a few days later. He also turned out to be very good so still takes lessons and enjoys playing. He will be doing his Grade 1 exam in Feb. Only downside was that his teacher recommended we got a full-size set when the rental expired so we bought a second-hand set and therefore never got to use any credit on the rental.

meanwhile, how about some of these?

thanks for your ideas. I'm not sure he's musical (would I know, as I'm not?) so don't want to send him to formal lessons but would like to encourage him, plus would love to get him a birthday present that wasn't a toy. more ideas?

hovely, funny link, but think here they'd be used as weapons with a comedy twist

bump for noddy holder