Nintendo switch

[Imustbemad00]

My son will be 7 soon. I refused to buy one last year for several reasons..

1. He only wanted one because of advertising and some of his friends having one.
2. Too expensive.
3. Too young.
4. Not wanting him to get addicted to video games so young. He already spends way too much time on tablet and d.s so I know this is likely.

Now, I thought I’d get him one this year if he was still asking but now I’m not so sure. He does say he wants one but generally only when triggered by seeing an advert. The things he asks for more are Harry Potter Lego and toys, which I’d obviously rather encourage. The Nintendo is just so expensive that if I get it, it’ll mean less toys.

If he really wants it and I can’t talk him out of it I’ll probably get it. But do people recommend them for his age? What are people’s experiences with them?

I’d probably keep it as tv only as I wouldn’t trust him with it as a handheld
(I’d quite like to have a go on one!)

Ds is 9 and doesn't have xbox or switch. He is not going to get one this year. Last Xmas we gave him £20 arcade handhold game console. He likes the games but is not addicted. He plays with it now and then. He took it school in their toy day and other kids were queuing to try it. He thinks he has some special game console :) he is not asking for Xbox anymore.

I'm planning on getting one for my 6 year DS this year. He really loves playing games on the tablet, but I already have restrictions in place so he only plays Friday after school and a set time at weekends.

He's worked through the decent quality free games on the app store, and I'm generally unhappy about the rubbish ads and gamification tactics in games like Angry Birds. For me, he'll get a much better experience with a Nintendo, as they're high quality games, and no adverts of course. I work in software development for a living, so I personally don't have a problem in introducing a console, and see the fun/benefits of it too.

The amount of time he'll have to spend on a console will be similar, so I'm expecting the Switch to reduce his tablet time. He also will also have to complete homework, reading etc before going on it too.

My DS is a big builder, so I'm not expecting it to tear him away from his Lego. Have a look at Nintendo Labo, Nintendo are a very innovative company, and that range may be of interest to your son too.

We bought one for our son's 7th birthday this year. He's allowed 30 minutes a day, when he chooses, and we're more relaxed with more time allowed at weekends. He still loves Lego, reading, playmobil, and I'm trying to encourage self-regulation of it at the weekend so he learns to balance his time well.

Probably worth saying that he always plays it in the living room, that's just a own thing that happened and we prefer it.

I wouldn't. My 12 year old has one but never uses the TV screen option which was the whole point of me buying it. I also didn't realise they can browse the internet/YouTube on them! Your DS is still so little, get him toys.

My oldest loves her switch, has had it since about 7/8. She pretty much always uses the Tv option

Ds 9 has one but doesn’t really bother with it. He wants a PS4 now despite having 5 different consoles and an iPad. I’d hold off if I were you.

We have a Switch, DSs are 9 and 4. They both love it; there are some great games for young children and the parental controls are good. They're not addicted, we're upfront with them about when they're allowed to play and for how long so there aren't any issues when it's time to turn it off.

My 6YO has one.Its the same as anything. If you parent well with it, it will be fine.

Use of ours is limited to specific times. He plays for so long on it and generally gets bored and goes off to play with his toys. It only connects to the internet if you set up a Nintendo account on their profile. Ours is set up so only my account has the internet and it's password protected. We have it downstairs and do play games on it together as a family. We play pokémon and super Mario together on it.

It is expensive, but we use it collectively. The games are expensive but DS understands if he wants games it means no toys.

I don't see the problem with them. But like everything like I said it's how you manage it that makes the difference.

My daughter who has it is older at 14 but I’d say the Nintendo platform is the best for kids as they have lots of age appropriate games. She’s had some form of Nintendo since she was quite small as has her sister. Obviously you need to manage the amount of time spent on them but the switch being able to be used as a personal device for example for long journeys or as a family game on the tv is great fun.

You could get something like a secondhand Nintendo Wii and half a dozen games for about £30 as a 'tester' to see how interested he is.

I’ll admit I’m not great at restricting screen time. I don’t see it as a huge deal, and some days he won’t touch it or will get bored and play with toys. We’ve been a lot over the summer holidays but when we’ve had days indoors I’ve pretty much left him to it and it has been known for him to spend many hours on his ds. Not necessarily all in one go.
He definitely has the potential to be quite addicted and it would be harder to enforce limits on a switch when I’ve been so relaxed about it up until now. Although being used only on the tv would help that as others will want to watch tv. I do regret my relaxed attitude about screen time sometimes.

I don’t think a wii would work now, he wants the switch and the games and would know the difference. I considered it last year though.