What do your 6yo boys do?!?!?

[Topsy1980]

My son is 6 (almost 7) and I’m really concerned that he doesn’t do anything! Obviously they’ve been off school for ages now and he’s going back in a week so there’ll be a routine in place again soon but I’ve realised since we stopped home schooling (back in June) that left to his own devices all he does is play on the Xbox or on his Switch or on the iPad or watch TV. I try to get him to do crafts, play board games etc and his sister (8yo) loves these things and will happily put her laptop down to do other things but my son literally just plays on tech all day long. He loves football but won’t play out on his own without me or his dad. He loves to go on his bike but again won’t do it without us. He has loads of cars, Lego etc but if left to play on his own then he literally will just stare at a screen. I’m just wondering what other boys this age do?

It will never be a better option than playing with toys, imaginative play, outside play or creative activities

All of which he does!

We already had the console in the house before he was born, it also serves as our DVD player. Games can involve maths, language, problem solving, imagination and all the rest of the good stuff. Oddly enough he's not playing Grand Theft Auto until midnight. It's a part of his development, one he loves and thrives on.

There's a massive snobbery around games consoles (and screens in general but specifically games consoles) on MN.

@formerbabe

I find it quite sad hearing about these six year olds spending so much time on screens

I agree. I'm no perfect parent but I think it's shocking that 5/6 year olds have games consoles. It's completely bizarre to me that parents buy them for their young children then moan that they are on them too long. What did you think would happen. Children that young should be playing with toys or running round outside.

I can't answer for others but my 7 year old has an older sibling who got a PS4 for their birthday. I wouldn't be able to let my eldest to play on it and tell my youngest no as that isn't fair at all. That is the reason he had access to it to begin with, however most of his friends have access to them too so he would probably be asking for one by now if we didn't already have it.

He also plays a lot of football and will happily go out and play with other things if he has someone to play with. He's a very happy and loving child who is academically above his age.
Some days he has no screen time at all and others he has a fair bit due to me having to work from home. He links up with some of his friends from school and they can play and talk to each other which has been nice during lockdown when he hasn't been able to see them