DS wants a Wii for his 6th birthday. Are wii's OK - should I get something else or wait till he is older?

[TooMuchCaffeine]

He's been playing on one occasionally at after school club, as well as Playstation, and he has also played on the x box, etc at friends or cousins house. His preference seems to be a wii though.

I have always been against these games because I think that children can spend too much time on them at the expense of doing something else - but my attitude towards them is softening - there are games for his age group - children are more hi-tech these days - it is not that different from watching TV, in fact it is less passive than TV - and I can exercise parental control and ration its use, as I do with the TV. Neither DH or I are remotely interested in gaming.

DS does activities all week (taekwondo, swimming, music school), in addtion to school. He is a very able child at school. He has lots of books and other toys.

However I still don't know whether to wait or not - this time last year he was after a roboraptor for his birthday - we got him one and he hardly plays with it - I'm reluctant to spend £200 on something that will just sit there gathering dust.

So does anyone with a young child own a wii and do they play with them or has the novelty worn off? Is the wii the best gaming console for that age group (I know PS3 and xbox are for older kids)

Personally I'd only get him one if the whole family will play on it together.

get him the Wii

he will love it, and the whole family can play, it can be very sociable (not like the hand-held Nintendo DS-type stuff))

we have had one since ds was 7 (2 yrs), and we still use it lots

he puts it in a bag and takes it with him when he is having a sleepover at grannie's etc

As I said we don't do gaming - but if he was playing something we would join in like we do with his other games that he plays.

He's growing up (sob) I've just taken pics of some of his toys to put on eBay. The proceeds of the eBay were going towards the wii or whatever.

ds is 7 and we got a family wii at Christmas

TBH he plays it for about 30-45 mins each day.

Star wars lego/Fifa 09 are his favorites.
Mario cart is great for all the family (you don't really need a special wheel) DS got a bit obsessed with it at one point and has now completed and won every track

I did get the wii fit (and buggered my back doing the yoga) so that was a bit of a waste.

And none of us see the point of the Sims.. its not really grabbed any of us.

Wii play is worth getting (good basic
games plus an extra handset (most wii's only come with one .. a face I didn't realise on Christmas day!)

Yes he loves Mario Kart. He is a child who doesn't sit still for very long which is why he probably likes the wii becaus he can still move around a lot.

We don't have Sky TV, only Freeview because we wouldn't really watch it so I guess having a wii is a way of having a different form of entertainment that is interactive and fun, but in addition to the other stuff he does outside the house.

my dh wants to get dd(3) a wii for xmas , i think she is far too young for 1 , ds (10) had a wii but broke it last year ,
at 6 i think your ds will love it .

The Wii is great fun, my DDs got one a couple of years ago, everyone can join in.

Overwhelmingly in favour of the wii then. Will probably get it for him for his birthday in October then. At least that means Christmas presents will be simple - more games for the wii!

I love playing on the Wii with my 6 year old ds, it's fantastic fun.

We got him Sports Resort for his birthday and it's fab!

(also, we play on the Wii loads when ds isn't even there...)

we have one, DD1 (5) loves playing Diego adventure on it and Build a bear. Much better standing up waving the control around jumping up and down than sitting squinting at a screen playing console games imo.
Get a timer though and limit time on it from the beginning as the games never seem to have a natural end iykwim.

I am like you and against consoles, particularly for younger children. I always said DS1 would need to wait until he was at least 8 until he got something.

However he had his 6th birthday last week and we got him a Wii. The reason was DH said he was being so good about waiting so he wanted to get him something. The only console I would consider is the wii as it is more acitve than the others.

He loves it. Mario Kart is a favourite as is the new sports resort and original sports games.

Hi my son is 5 and has had his wii for a long time, he loves it...but he does plays with his nintendo ds more.