Alternatives to video games

[welliwasntexpectingthat]

Son is going to be 8 and we've always avoided all forms of games and gaming etc. He has asked but we have just said no or when older etc and bought goals, bikes etc. I feel a bit mean as he would LOVE something but am scared i'll have opened a door i can't then close. What are the alternatives? I thought maybe a mini handheld thing (Nintendo?) . Are there others? Or are there things i don't know about that he'd be equally chuffed with??

Nintendo 2DS is the handheld you'd probably want to target, but they support huge 40+ hour games so you'll have to deal with the same screen time issues as if you'd got an under-the-telly console.

Nintendo Switch does handheld and TV but is near £300. PS4/Xbox1 are pretty similar, go by which one his friends mostly have so they can (later?) play multiplayer games together.

I don't know why gaming gets such a bad rap. It's less vegetative than sitting on the sofa watching a movie or TV show, I've always considered those to be far more of a waste of time (on average) than gaming.

"PS4/Xbox1 are pretty similar to each other" is what I meant to say. The Switch is a different beast, and despite the price I'd recommend it higher, particularly for an 8th birthday. But remember you'll need to budget anything up to £100 for a couple of games as well, whatever you go for.

Thanks all, i'll give it some more thought.