Do I get my 5 (nearly 6) year old a Ps5?

[TheCosyOpalSeal]

My son has a second hand Nintendo switch from my Mother already. And the original plan was to buy him some new games for that. We've already completed 2 pokemon games together, so it gets used.
(He doesn't have any kind of tablet, he just has the switch which we play on Friday nights and weekends)

He's played astrot bot in a friend's house which is only available on Ps5. And has asked if he could have is for Christmas. I've done some research and it's onlt available on the new system, I can't even buy an old PS4 to play it on!

My first instinct was no, he's too young and it's too expensive for just 1 game. My husband and I do enjoy gaming but he prefers xbox and pc games and I enjoy Nintendo.

However I've seen some decent deals on a bundle which includes the game, and I know it's what he REALLY wants. He's quite a sensible 5 year old and doesn't get caught up in the Christmas spirit too much, so I don't think we'll have many more years of 'believing'. So the mum guilt has me feeling we should get it for him from Father Christmas (even though we've told him that he can't have it because it's for older children) just to see the surprise on his face.

We are tight for money at the moment but could just stretch to it. I'm feeling like I shouldn't get it but wanted to see what others would do. He's 6 at the end of January too.

Op i wouldn't he has one console he doesn't need another. That can be part of the fun going to friends to play with different stuff.

However I will say the parental controls on Xbox are far better than the Switch. It bugs me that the Switch will be available from 8am and if you go to add time them you can't just give them and extra 30min you completely remove time limits for the rest of the day.

To put things into context, we didn’t get a console until we got a switch when my kids were teens - and only then for the online shared play (came into its own during covid). I’m looking at the ps5 now as an upgrade for my nearly 18 year old. Games are fun, but just a part of life - they don’t take over.

5 is still very young for a PlayStation.
I wasn't much older when I first used one, although there were more child friendly games back then.

When you do get one, just make sure you set up a Master & Sub Account so you can use the parental controls properly. Lots of parents don't and PlayStation are actually very good at that. - I have the experience of being locked out of features at 18 when they didn't have a way for those accounts to become a Master when they became adults.

(Also posting this here for any parents who have these consoles but may not know about this) :)

They're fragile, are a pain for drift, replacement joycons arent cheap and the cartridges are tiny and expensive.

Tbh for a handheld id probably lean towards a steamdeck. There'll be a way to play astro bot on that but you wouldn't get the full experience with the game as you would with a ps controller.

But this is Mumsnet where kids are always too young and adults are too old to play games. It's like there's this tiny margin of age where it's acceptable in half hour stints only.

I wouldn’t personally, yes it does feel too young. There are lots of other things a 5 year old should be playing with and this ain’t it

No of course you don’t

Too young for multiple consoles and it’s just silly to buy an expensive second console for 1 game. Get him Mario Odyssey and maybe something social he can play with you or friends when they come over like Mario Kart or Mario Party.

Our oldest is 14 and he doesn't have a ps5, he has age appropriate games on his 4 and even then screen time for him and young siblings has always been limited. That's probably why they talk so much and enjoy playing proper board games, played monopoly the other night and I've never laughed so much when we figured youngest was sneaking money from the bank 😁

By the time he is old enough to play the majority of PS games, we'll be on a PS7 or so! Don't do it for one game. Get one of the Mario games for Switch.

I wouldn't but for a bit of a different reason to those already mentioned. Astro Bot is not a very long game, it's around 16 hours (perhaps add on a few as your boy is so wee), and as there really aren't many games released on the PS5 aimed at weans I don't think it would get enough use to justify the cost.

No!!!!!

Thanks I was wondering about this too!

I wouldn't even consider it.

I saw someone recommend a Christmas book that could be brought out each year as a tradition. I have a 3yo and 6mo and would like a fairly sturdy book maybe with flaps that looks special. Bonus if tells the story of Christmas and we can bring out every year.

Any recommendations?