Nintendo ds for 6 year old

[mine24]

Interested to know other peoples views on gettig a nintendo ds for a 6 year old. My ds is desperate for one for christmas, but i am worried he will want to be on it all the time and we will have sulks when we tell him to turn it off.

Well, he probably will, but I just told mine that if they sulked, kicked up a fuss when the time was up, it would stay on the shelf for a day.

I put it on the kitchen timer. and it stays in the sitting room so no playing when I don't know etc.

DD got one when she was six. TBH she lost interest in it pretty quickly and would be pushed to tell you where it was now , We found it really good for long car journeys.

Sounds a good idea JoanHolloway. This sounds pushy mummy but do you think there are any eduactional benefits to them?

Well, hand-eye stuff with the little stick maybe? concentration. Puzzle solving, memory (my ds seems to be able to remember every single attribute of god knows how many pokemon)

And yes, brilliant for when travelling.

Yes. That all does make sense. Beginning to feel swayed.

My DD got a Ds at 5y and we have never had any problems with regards to her usng it too much. She is 8y now and still uses it, esp on long journeys. I have never had to limit her use. She now has an iTouch and again - sensible use.

I think I'm going to go for it for my 6 year old DD this year.
I'm not worried so much about it taking over her life - she's outdoorsy and has many interests.

We have a Wii and have had to be really strict about how often he goes on it/ He does tend to get a bit obsessed with it, talks about it a lot etc. That is why i am a bit concerned about the Ds.

We don't have any other sort of games consoles. But I would imagine that DS time would replace some Wii time, rather than be 'as well as'.

My dd (6) has had a DS for over a year, she is fine with it, sometimes plays a lot, other times doesn't bother. She enjoys playing with her sister (11) - a miracle, as they have consistently failed to co-operate on anything much for the past 6 years!! :o

I am not sure if by limiting his time on the games consoles i make him more obsessed, so turn it into an issue. Maybe if we just let him go on more freely it would work itself out.

Both my DSs had a had a ds around 6. It helped hand/eye coordination and reaction time. I used to limit their time however to half hour a day. They are great for car and plane journeys too. I think some parents are a bit precious about anything related to screens. IMO , it just needs to be regulated so they don't become DS junkies

is it just a coincidence that those people saying on this thread that their dc aren't that bothered with DS's have girls?

Would it be much for a 5 year old do you think? My DD(8) wants one this Christmas and I thought I might get one for DTs (5) as well.
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