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Original poster

Please tell me there are more parents out there who like to keep their 8 year olds like 8 year olds?

73 replies

anniebear · 28/12/2009 08:27

feel a bit on my own at the mo. I know everyone parents differently.......

I have two 8 year old girls, they have IPods , DS's, like Miley Cyrus ect

But they dont have mobiles or go on Facebook and I am careful what they watch on TV

I have just seen on FB a child from School who is 9 :0

Then more of their friends are getting mobiles, say they watched Im a celeb get me out of here, Eastenders!

I am not having a go at those parents, each to their own, but it is so hard when I tell DD's they can have mobile when they start walking to school on own, no way are they watching Adult progs, they dont need to know certain stuff yet..then their school friends do

why do people want their 'children' to do all these older things (and make my life more difficult lol lol)

Please tell me Im not alone!

Just felt like having a litle moan !

OP posts:

LittleWhiteWolf · 29/12/2009 11:56

My youngest SIL is 9 and she's on facebook. I find this very sad especially as her mother has no knowledge of the internet at all and I can just see SIL wanting to play all the games on FB and making friends with people playing those games (some require you have friends so you can level up etc) and yet not knowing who they are. Then they have access to her page etc and its just not worth thinking about. She sent me a friend request and I denied it because a) I dont agree with her being on FB b) I dont want strange people having access to my daughters pictures on there and c) I dont want to be bombarded with app requests from her!

Feel a bit mean not being her friend, but I am more than happy to explain to MIL why I did this...not that she'll get it...

MrsMorgan · 29/12/2009 11:58

My girls are 12 and 10, both have mp3 players, tv's in their rooms and facebook accounts. Only the 12yr old has a mobile.

Wrt Facebook, I see no problem with it so long as it is closely supervised. Both my dd's had to add me as a friend so I could see exactly what went on on their pages.

Dd2 mainly uses it for Farmville and similar, and dd1 uses it to waffle on about nothing much from what I can see.

Dd2 asked for a mobile for xmas, and was told no, not until secondary school.

Oh and wrt tv's in rooms, I still keep a close eye on what they watch. For example Hollyoaks is not allowed and both switch over as soon as it comes on. Dd2's fave programme is Emmerdale.

poinsettydawg · 29/12/2009 11:59

reminds me of deputy dAWg

poinsettydawg · 29/12/2009 12:00

why would you let them on facebook and not have a mobile phone?

poinsettydawg · 29/12/2009 12:01

don't know who said hot diggity dawg.

MrsMorgan · 29/12/2009 12:02

I don't have to pay for them to use facebook.

Dd1 has a mobile because she walks to and from school alone sometimes, and also sometimes stays behind for some club or other and so rings to tell me.

Dd2, still walks to school with me, so doesn't need the phone.

poinsettydawg · 29/12/2009 12:03

ON teh basis of cost? ok. But I wouldn't haev thought the cost would be much more than mp3 players and downloads.

IlanaK · 29/12/2009 12:04

I have an 8 year old boy. He has an mp3 player, onto which is downloaded a huge collection of audiobooks - no music at all. It was getting beyond a joke trying to take a selction of cd's out with us so he could use an old portable cd player. So the mp3 player was just a solution to that problem. My 5 year old wants one and I have said no way as he is too young, does not have the obssesion of listening to audiobooks that ds1 has, and he breaks things.

Ds1 does not have a mobile phone. He has no interest in one - who would he call?? He does not have his own computer. We have a family desktop and he uses that. No facebook - I will not let him do any social networking site. He does Club Penguin, but is not allowed to use that aspect of it.

As to tv's and dvd's in bedrooms, I am dead set against them. He has never asked either. We do have a Wii that was bought for my dh. The kids use it a fair bit, and love it, but only age appropriate games.

My kids are home schooled so they don't have the peer pressure that probably occurs in school. The have lots of friends in the HE community and none of them have any of the things you have all mentioned either.

MrsMorgan · 29/12/2009 12:06

I don't download any music for them. They just have albums on there that either we already own or, other family members do.

Dd2 also has some story cd's on hers.

Original poster

anniebear · 29/12/2009 16:13

I dont see anything wrong with Ipods, its just a newer version of a stero, cassette player . cd player etc depending on what they have on it

dont see anything wrong with them liking HSM and HM its all clean !!

A DS is just games, no harm in them if they are not on them too long

Mobiles, facebook, surely that is just for older kids, these things can cause harm to children through bulling, things they see etc etc

Nice to have some things for them to look forward to I guess

But thats just my opinion

Its really nice to see and reasurring that there are many other parents who are not letting their kids have all these things

OP posts:

JaneiteQuiteRight · 29/12/2009 16:36

I have a 14 and a 12 year old. They each got a mobile when they started secondary school. The 14 year old has an MP3 player; the 12 year old has no interest in one.

Neither of them use Facebook, MSN etc - tbh I can't see the point in them and if they want to speak to friends they can see them or phone them.

The 14 year old wears make up but the 12 year old is only allowed nail varnish.

TV - they watch I'm A Celebrity with their dad (yawn) but don't watch Casulalty, Eastenders or that ilk: I guess because neither dp or I have ever been interested in them so neither are they.

We don't censor books really but each of them wiated until age 12 to read the Georgia Nicholson diaries.

They seem happy enough anyway and are generally v lovely girls!

JaneiteQuiteRight · 29/12/2009 16:36

Oh - no TVs in bedrooms either - nor in mine and dp's!

purpleduckUnderTheMistletoe · 29/12/2009 18:22

hotdiggitydawg...

why not accept your sil's request so that you can have a look at her wall etc every now and again? Perhaps to look after her a bit?

purpleduckUnderTheMistletoe · 29/12/2009 18:24

got slightly confused with all the dawg stuff. The above was for LittleWhiteWolf

poinsettydawg · 29/12/2009 20:31

no one can resist anything to do with hot dogs. Tis a fact

islandofsodor · 29/12/2009 21:58

With regards to the point about using a docking station and headphones. I am so annoyed that the new shuffle has no docking station compatible. Ds had set his heart on one for xmas like his sister so he can listen to Thomas the Tank songs and We Will Rock You and I cannot afford to buy us a nano, never mind him.

Why mess with something that was fine before?

Hulababy · 30/12/2009 12:48

Massive difference in a DS and a mobile IMO; not comparable at all as far as I am concerned.

DS - games console. Limited to the games we select. After initial purchase I don't have to buy anything more (bar games if I wish).

Mobile - who would she phone or text (can understand in split families where may be necessary)? I'd have to pay for it? Can be a target for crime outside, and mobile more likely to be carried about/used outside in view of others compared to a games console.

As I sais before though technology doesn't concern me. I like technology, so have no problem with DD using it to an extent, and within certain parameters.

I certainly don't buy the idea that if a child has technology it means they don't do other stuff. The whole idea that it is either DS or play outside, etc always makes me LOL. As if children don't do both, pklus a whole range of other stuff.

thirdname · 30/12/2009 15:07

dh got a bit of a shock though when ds and I told him we had just bought a DS game for ONLY £15....

Suppose I'm just a bit mean. Both DH and I have a laptop each and we have a desktop for use for everyone. But I feel it is too expensive to buy dc one [wink}

JingleAllTheWay · 30/12/2009 17:02

The diggity dawg thing is from disneys playhouse thing. The characters like mickey and donald sing it!

FrameyMcFrame · 01/01/2010 17:43

I also have an 8 year old girl. What you're describing sound pretty normal to me op.
My dd and all her friends have just got ipods for xmas this year but none have mobiles or are on facebook or anything else.

I resist any screens in bedroom and that includes ds, ipod and laptop. Just because I want to know what's going on.

tide · 01/01/2010 17:59

i have an 8yr old nearly nine who has none of these things: DS, Wii etc. Mainly because I'm overwhelmed by the amount of other stuff they all already have: books, games etc.

There's also the eco side of it: yet more electronic, power guzzling stuff with a short shelf life.

BUt it's mainly that gagdets seem to be a v expensive way of amusing them. He and his brother petitioned for months to get a gameboy, saved up and bought one on ebay, but only played with it for about 2 weeks.

He can still have more fun making origami birds (as he has been doing since christmas).

I'm happy. Save all that tat for secondary school.

PSHe's at a state school where most of his friends have all the usual gadgets and many have tvs in their rooms, he enters competitions to win Wiis and the like.

But he (and his friends) seem to accept that we don't have those things, but are quite happy for him to play with them at their houses.

GothDetective · 01/01/2010 18:00

I have a nearly 9yo. She is allowed to play on my DS, does not have an ipod. Isn't bothered about Mily Cyrus and has never seen HSM.

She does however have a FaceBook account, I set one up for her 'cos her close friend moved to America and they can keep in touch on there. I don't see the harm, she talks to her friend and plays Farmville. I have her password and keep a close eye on her, she's not allowed friends who I don't know (some of my friends have added her so she can have more Farmville neighbours).

She only watches Kid's TV programmes and stuff like Top Gear. Not allowed to watch Eastenders, etc.

Butkin · 01/01/2010 23:36

DD (7 in Feb) has had a DS for 2 years. This Christmas she got a wii as her main present and an ipod touch from her GPs.

The wii has been a massive success.

The ipod has also been great. I've loaded all her favourite CDs (HSM, Billy Joel etc) and bought her a few of her special request such as Miley, Take That, The Feeling and Lady Gaga.

We've also loaded all the family photos on to it and a few cheap apps such as Connect 4 for her to play in the car.

We don't plan for her to get a TV in her room in the immediate future and she doesn't need a mobile phone.

I suppose the good thing about being only 6 is that the Ipod only goes out with us so we have some control over it. I guess when she gets to 9 and does her own things it may get more tricky.

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