SNES & pen knife as presents for an 8 year old boy.

[Catladyagain]

My son is turning 8. We have promised to bring a games console into the house but I have said no to the new generation because of Online dangers and mainly because of the way modern gaming is now designed to be extremely addictive. He tried Roblox and the meltdowns were unreal. Hubs is broadly on side but feels son will be very disappointed by the appearance of the wires / clearly older piece of kit. Admittedly I've tried to sell in the benefits of 2nd hand / pre-loved & failed after several clothes items and toys broke or looked rough - so this could be an underlying issue.

Has anyone successfully given their child a SNES when they've played Switch at friends?

Also has anyone given their 8 year old a pen knife? I'm super keen to do this too. Hubs is terrified of the idea and thinks its very dangerous. We have a very cautious child who has wittled at forest school & has great dexterity from lego play, so with some initial set up and supervision I am totally unconcerned. Thanks!

No to a games console but yes to a knife? wtf 😂

He takes the knife into school to show his friends !

I think you’ll find that an older games console is just as addictive as online gaming… and I’m not convinced that a one knife is a good idea either.

DD(9) enjoyed using a knife at forest school and is a very sensible child, but I wouldn’t dream of giving her a knife.

Have you considered something like a BBC Microbit and a bit bot? I know it’s not the same as a games console, but it’s also less likely to be addictive!

Are you mad? If he takes his knife into school, he could be excluded.

Listen to your dh, and buy him.a switch instead.

Also has anyone given their 8 year old a pen knife? I'm super keen to do this too.

WTF??

We had an old Atari during the 90s and early 00s (given it by a family friend when I was about 9). My brother had a Mega Drive as well but we loved the retro charm of the Atari. I imagine a SNES would be similar now!

I think a knife is fine. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I have an 8 year old. He uses a knife, also wood carving tools under supervision. He knows to put it safely away and that it’s not a toy. My teen had a pen knife at probably younger than that.

I’m not a huge fan of gaming. We do have a switch, which my 8 year old does play Minecraft and a few farming simulator games on. It is not connected to the internet. It belongs to my teen though. I don’t think I’d buy a gaming console for an 8 year old. Neither of mine are allowed to play Roblox or any games that connect to the internet or allow any sort of interaction with other people.

My son is turning 8 soon and we have a Sega megadrive from the early 90s that he is allowed to use in a very limited way. It wasn’t a gift to him, though, and it doesn’t belong to him. He’s happy with it but very aware that it’s the only option open to him at home now.
My brothers had very small pocket knives at that age and I would trust my son now to have one for supervised use if he wanted it. He cooks dinner using much bigger knives once a week.

I got my first pen knife at that age. My children got better/updated Swiss army knives at significant birthdays. Not allowed to take them to school, though.

A whittling kit would be better than a pen knife I think.

How did you end up at the decision to go for SNES? N64 didn’t go online and I’m pretty sure that lots of GameCube games didn’t either. Why wouldn’t you get a Switch but not allow online games?

Why do you assume that older games aren’t as addictive as newer ones?

I think that your son is going to be disappointed when he can’t play game that his peers are talking about eg Minecraft. You wouldn’t be unreasonable to say no to online games like Roblox or high rated games like Fortnite but you need to make it clear before you introduce a games console to your house because your son wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that he would be able to play the same games as his peers.

I've not got a clue about gaming consoles, but personally I'm against them for all different reasons.

As far as a knife is concerned, why do you want to give him one. How big a knife and what will he be doing with it.

I had my first knife bought for me at roughly that age.

But

I've always been an outdoors guy. Growing up I always fished, I was in the scouts where I learned how to respect the knife, and it only ever came out of I really needed it.
I think forestry school is a brilliant idea that all children should do. In that type of scenario a knife has many purposes, from whittling, cooking, making cooking utensils etc. if you think your boy has common sense, then go for it. You could keep it in a safe place, but then give it to him when he needs (not wants) it, on the premise that he gives it you back when finished for safety keeping. Victorinox do a wonderful my first knife, that has a rounded end instead of a point, which makes it a lot safer.

I also had my first penknife at that age, as did my siblings. I feel you can't properly teach responsible use of potentially dangerous tools without actually giving them one. Big veto on taking it to school or people's houses, obviously. Might be best to insist on permission before taking it out the house (we didn't have this, but times have changed). And dob him in if he breaks the rules.

A similar principle should apply to gaming. Children may be too suggestible to control their own device use - hell, I don't control mine very well, and I'm no child! But you can negotiate a schedule with rules, etc, which may go a long way to building skills for self-management as he grows. I don't see the age of the device will make any difference to the issues, so get him what his friends have if the price is affordable.

Lucky kid! I hope you all enjoy his birthday.

Finnish schools use real tools from age 7.

My kids have a Switch and lots of games, but they don’t play online at all - it’s very possible to manage if that’s your preference.

I wouldn’t have an issue with a Swiss Army knife either, if properly supervised.

A switch is a perfectly reasonable and safe option at this age. It is not really for online gaming.

We have a switch. It has a decent parent app and they are not connected to game chat or anything like that.

The best thing we bought for the switch was an emulator pack with old game cube and N64 games. It was £60 which felt a lot but they play Zelda Ocarina of time, Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie from the 90s and they prefer those games to the few new Switch 2 releases they have! They are also wholesome and puzzle-based.

You can use a Switch without having access to anyone else online. Mine have parental controls on

Have you seen the new (modern) mini SNES, I presume you don't mean the actual vintage one? The new one is awesome! Lots and lots of games all preloaded onto it, and it's very small. The Game and Watch handheld Nintendo games are also really good.

And a knife is fine. Mine got a Swiss army knife at that age, and air rifles. Teaching proper safety rigorously, they are just tools.

If you get a Switch, you can have the Nintendo membership and this gives you access to loads of NES, SNES, Mega Drive games.

I have the mini SNES, didn’t think they were still available? I also have the mini Mega Drive but the AT games one where you can play the old cartridges in it, can get old games pretty cheap on eBay.

Do you have a link to this emulator? Id be interested!

A knife? I may be excessively cautious as I started self harming at 12 but that seems ridiculously unsafe and thats without the concerns of taking it out when inappropriate/showing off with friends. If you like the idea of forest school/cubs activities then I think thats fair enough as it's done in a monitored and group manner. A young child owning their own knife feels very far from that to me.

I wouldn't have an issue with an SNES/other older generation console though.

And DD2's Nursery had them using hammers, nails, files, screwdrivers and saws from age 2.5.

Doesn't mean I'd give her a knife that she'd innocently take to school (or she'd tell everybody for it to be inflated into 'Minimoon has a ZOMBIE KNIFE, AIBU to demand that this animal is excluded?).

yes to a whittling knife.

yes to a Switch.

At that age we had a Wii console. DS had a knife for scouts at 10, kept in a locked cupboard unless he needed it for scouts.

I gave my DS a whittling knife when he was about 8, a design for children that stops them closing it on their fingers. He uses it under supervision and obviously he can't take it to school!

I regret giving him acess to gaming at that age though. I'm a gamer and think games can be great for kids,, but once you've taken that step you can't go back. If I could do it again I'd wait, modern or vintage.

You can switch off the online things on a switch. It also has a few really good family games. We all play as a 4 quite a lot on ours.