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Parenting

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Original poster

Is my DS the only 6 yr old without a ...

186 replies

pipo · 30/01/2011 12:36

DS?
He has asked for one for his 6th birhtday next month. he assures me that EVERYONE in his class has got one. is anyone else's dc as deprived as mine? i'm not even sure why i'm not keen for him to have one - it just seems a grown-up sort of toy when i want him to play with lego, go to the park and be bored enough to make up his own little games still. has anyone else successfully got away with not getting one?

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growing3rdbump · 30/01/2011 14:58

My DD got a DSi for Christmas at age 7. DS loves playing on the wii and enjoys playing with DD's DSi, but he wont be getting one until he's 6/7yrs also.

vagolaJahooli · 30/01/2011 15:15

DS1 is 5 and doesn't know what a DS is, he is in a class of 4-6 year olds and none of them have one. I'm not really that bothered that there seem to be other MNers whose kids and their friends have them, but a bit baffled why its not a big thing here. We live in the Netherlands and I have to say I've not seen much marketing on the kids channels for any sort of handheld gaming. I agree they would be great for car trips and long waits, but we just look up episodes of shows they like on YouTube. We do have a Wii and tend to play it together.

traceybath · 30/01/2011 15:20

DS1 had one for his 6th birthday and you know he's surrounded by middle-class children and also still plays outside and with lego

Good for long car journeys and fine in moderation in my opinion.

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traceybath · 30/01/2011 15:21

But I do take with a large pinch of salt what they say about other children - DS is convinced he's the only 6 year old without his own laptop/ipad etc

ChasingSquirrels · 30/01/2011 15:23

my 8yo and 5yo haven't got one.
8yo does want one now and is saving for a 3DS, I have told him I will go halves on it for his 9th birthday.
5yo also wants one - he isn't getting one.
We have a Wii and a PC that they both use.

mamalovesmojitos · 30/01/2011 15:25

Dd got one for sixth birthday. I'm quite strict on not too much telly, reading plenty, outside play etc but decided to buy it nonetheless. I'm glad I did, she was thrilled. I really recommend them, just as others have said she doesn't play it often, maybe goes a couple of weeks without looking at it, but it is a godsend at times.

preghead · 30/01/2011 15:28

My ds recently turned 6 and TBH I can't think of one other kid same age who hasnt got one now. Most got recently for 6th birthdays. even the die hard anti gaming luddite types seem to be getting them now, including one family I know who refuse to have TVs in the house, but bought a DS at duty free midway through a trip to Australia as they just couldn't stand it any longer !!!

I do understand your sentiments though - you have to control usage so they still play with lego etc. If you can hold out til 7 I will applaud and admire you.

throckenholt · 30/01/2011 15:30

Mine are 8 and 9 - and don't have a DS.

duckyfuzz · 30/01/2011 15:38

DTs got them for their 6th birthday, not used apart from car journeys until recently (now just turned 7) but max 2 hours a week

luvsgonzo · 30/01/2011 15:40

my 2 older ds's are 6 and 7 and both got theirs for their 6th birthday but we have rules with them

they are allowed to play for an hour but then must have 2 hours away from it

if they misbehave then its the 1st privilege to go

they are not allowed to have fighting or shooting games

they both had trouble with their hand and eye co ordination so thought it might help and it has

ChasingSquirrels · 30/01/2011 15:43

oh, and if I go through 8yo ds's friends that I know do or don't have them (there are obviously some I have no idea about, but I could name a lot who either have or don't have) then I would say it was pretty much half and half.
That's DS specific.
For some sort of console I only know of 1 who definitely doesn't have a console of some form in the house.

Cadmum · 30/01/2011 15:53

Far from it. There will never be one in our house but I don't suppose that this is the answer you want to hear?

Too many of our dc's friends own them and use them to the exclusion of all else. I cannot tell you how many times we have been invited round to 'play' with friends only to discover that this entails watching said friends play their dss. They do give our dcs a go but this lasts a few brief moments since they are new to the experience and then it is passed straight back to the owner who continues the endless session.

I fully understand that I am the parent and can limit their use but I don't really need something else to battle about. I also think that real life experiences are better than virtual ones but then I am old-fashioned.

(Mine are 13, 11, 8, 4 so I have heard ALL of the arguments for hand-held video game devices for years.)

We did relent and allow my parents to buy a Wii last year for Christmas but I see this as a compromise because most of the games are social and involve some movement on the players' parts.

MuddlingMackem · 30/01/2011 16:03

Our ds got a DSi for Christmas just gone, he's 7. DD wants one of her own, but she's only 4 and will not get one before she's 5. Ideally, I'd like to wait until she's also 7 as I don't think it's fair to ds that she gets one younger than he did. In the meantime she gets to borrow dh's DS or my DS Lite, so it's not like she has to go without. And both kids have their Leapsters, which we've found a really good alternative to consoles for when they're younger.

Now that ds has his own DS, we've pinched a fab idea I read somewhere on here, and during term-time he's allowed one charge a week. He gets to charge it up when he comes home from school on Friday so that he has it for the weekend, and when it's flat it's tough. He just has to wait until Friday. It's working so far and he's never complained. We issued the rule on Christmas day and he just accepted it. He also has dh's old gameboy color to play, and we haven't needed to place many restrictions on that.

JustcallmeMummyPig · 30/01/2011 16:05

DD is 5 and has one and it does have time limits... Weekdays it's about 20mins between dinner and bath.

Weekends i allow slightly longer..

Have to say it certainly doesn't get played that much as lots of days it's forgotten about totally. When friends are over it doesn't come out at all, as i too have had experiences in friends houses like cadmum.

I can't see the problem as long as you and they are sensible.

SoMuchToBits · 30/01/2011 16:07

My ds is 10 and still doesn't have one, as he doesn't want one. I would say at 6, not all his friends had them, but most did by the time they were 8.

GrimmaTheNome · 30/01/2011 16:20

My DD (nearly 12) doesn't have one - I have offered it as an option on previous birthdays (thought it would be good for the car at least), but she wasn't interested.

Lovecat · 30/01/2011 16:30

DD is about to turn 6 and desperately wants one - "all" her friends have got them (2, so far as I know, but unfortunately those 2 are her closest friends...)

We got a Wii at Christmas for much the same reason that Cadmum did - movement, more 'family' oriented. However, DD's behaviour has definitely worsened as a consequence of being on the Wii for long periods - by that I mean more than 20 minutes, which will happen if her and DH are playing Super Mario Twats (or whatever the fuck it's called) as they're quite far up the game levels - shouty, angry, refuses to come off it, ignores everything around her - and having seen her cousin behave similarly and worse with his DS (practically glued to it!), I am refusing to get her one.

My excuse to her is that she needs to be able to read without help before she can have one, in order to play the games properly. I have the feeling that if I give in on this one, I'm going to end up with an illiterate child...(her reading is appalling, btw, she can do it if she applies herself, she just can't be arsed to concentrate and look properly at what she's reading - all fine in school, gets glowing comments in her reading book, comes home and claims she can't read a word...but that's a whole other thread!)

Funnily enough, her aunt asked her this morning what she wanted for her birthday and she looked at me and said 'well, I don't think I'm getting what I really want, because I can't read yet', and then asked for zhu zhu hamster stuff...

She's getting a bike without stabilisers from us for her main present [stoutly old-fashioned smiley]

Meggles76 · 30/01/2011 17:09

DD and DD have a DSi each. We bought them when they each turned 6. DS told me that he was the only boy at school not to have one at this age. Whilst this was a slight exaggeration, I found out that all his closest friends had them.

I was worried about excessive time being spent on them but it hasn't happened. They both play with them a few times a week and DS is still lego mad.

LilyBolero · 30/01/2011 17:13

nope - none of mine have one, and they are 9,7,4 and 8mths,

said · 30/01/2011 17:13

Lots of 5 year olds I know do have one. Some have fallen for the "educational" advertising. I don't intend getting one for my youngest when she's 6 soon. But she does play game on an iphone so I am a hypocrite about it.

tjacksonpfc · 30/01/2011 17:57

My ds 5 and dd 6 have just been given my handme down ds lite as ive now got a dsixl.

The deal with them is they only use it in the car on journeys to amuse them and when we are away at taekwondo comps as they drag on forever.

We have said that if they can prove to us they can share it and use it responsibly we may buy them one each in the summer before we go away on holiday. For the journey there.

OgreTripletsAreSoCute · 30/01/2011 18:09

DS who is 7 this week hasn't got one and isn't getting one for the foreseeable. He would like one but isn't desperate for it. We bought a Wii a few months ago and he would play it all day every day if we let him, it has to be strictly regulated, so I suspect the tailing off after a few days wouldn't happen. He has access to games on an Ipad which we take out occasionally if there is going to be a lot of waiting around somewhere.

I think quite a lot of his friends still don't have them.

mrsgetonwithit · 30/01/2011 18:09

My son [9] has had one for two years.There are lots of educational stuff....he loves ''are you smarter than a ten year old''lol

Also maths and spelling games

as well as the glorious super mario.....

TitsalinaBumSquash · 30/01/2011 18:11

My ds is 6 and has one, so does my 4 year old.

calaminecovered · 30/01/2011 18:14

My dc aged 8 and 6 don't have one, they keep feeding me the same line! Although dd was 8 last week and when asked what she wanted said she didn't know (and still doesn't!) So she can' t want one too much!

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