What is the right age for a child to have a Nintendo DS or the equivalent?

MuPpItJoCkEy

My 5 year old wanted to get a Nintendo DS for Xmas and he got one. Now I can say I really wanted to get him one but his mother felt it was okay as other kids in his class had one so I gave in.

I do feel that it's okay if the time he's spending on it is limited and all that but I also feel that it's taking time away from other creative activities he could be doing but I feel in todays age, it seems this to be quiet acceptable.

What do you feel is the right age for a child to have such a device?

Would you feel that it 5 is old enough (considering some games say from 3 upwards which is quiet scarey if you ask me)?

Pigletlover

MuPpItJoCkEy wrote: »

My 5 year old wanted to get a Nintendo DS for Xmas and he got one. Now I can say I really wanted to get him one but his mother felt it was okay as other kids in his class had one so I gave in.

I do feel that it's okay if the time he's spending on it is limited and all that but I also feel that it's taking time away from other creative activities he could be doing but I feel in todays age, it seems this to be quiet acceptable.

What do you feel is the right age for a child to have such a device?

Would you feel that it 5 is old enough (considering some games say from 3 upwards which is quiet scarey if you ask me)?

I don't think there's a 'right' age, but I don't see anything wrong with a 5 year old having a DS as long as the games they were playing were suited to their age. There is even a lot of educational games available which may even be advantageous to a child's development. Just because a child plays computer games doesn't mean that they can't spend time on creative activities also. It's all about balance, it's not fair to force a child to only spend time on 'creative' activities.

Triangle

My son has one too (5) and his young brother now has one as well (3).

It was unfair to the youngest to have him see his older brother playing and him not having one..... at the same time we would never have allowed our oldest to have one at 3.....seems wrong, but that's the way it is.

We've noticed a deteroriation in the eldest's behavour after playing for an hour (he gets awful cranky with everyone after his hour is up which is unlike him)

Also, alot of games say 3+, but you have to remember the age recommendations are done by the game manufacturer and are generally not worth a damn.

Oryx

My 5 yo doesnt have one, and Im trying to keep him off video games for as long as possible. Its not that I disagree with them per se, (theyre probably more stimulating than say, cartoons) but Id just prefer if he does his current outdoorsy things like digging holes with grandad, and hurling, and gets into books and reading first before getting heavily into games. To me it just seems better to give him a taste for other stuff first.

Pigletlover

Oryx wrote: »

My 5 yo doesnt have one, and Im trying to keep him off video games for as long as possible. Its not that I disagree with them per se, (theyre probably more stimulating than say, cartoons) but Id just prefer if he does his current outdoorsy things like digging holes with grandad, and hurling, and gets into books and reading first before getting heavily into games. To me it just seems better to give him a taste for other stuff first.

That's a fair enough view, but as long as children don't become too absorbed in playing computer games then I don't see the problem with them.

Dizzyblonde

We started out with a Sega Megadrive when our daughters were 5 and 8 and have had various console since (they're grown up now) and I can say that they benefitted from it. As long as the games are age-appropriate and the playing of them fits in with playing outside, socialising with other children etc then I see no problem. We also played the games a lot as a family so there was sharing and interaction at the same time.
My children still played with other toys and their friends - the games console wouldn't keep them in on a nice day. I've seen more problems with children who are never allowed to play such games - when they actually get near one it has to be prised out of their hands while they're kicking and screaming.
In my opinion they're a very good thing when used properly and excellent for hand/eye co-ordination, not to mention puzzle-solving.

deisemum

Dizzyblonde I agree with you. It's all down to having balance.

They are very good for fine tuning hand/eye co-ordination, so much so that some teaching hospitals get trainee surgeons to use them to enhance their hand/eye co-ordination.

My boys only use their consoles on wet days or if friends are over or if they've just gotten a new game but more often than not they want to be outside kicking a ball etc.

nesf

I'd echo the views of both posters above. It's down to balance really. The problems come when there's unsupervised constant access and/or unsuitable content rather than games being bad in and of themselves. As with most things in a child's life, like junk food and TV, the parent's role isn't to shield their child from these things but to help them learn to moderate their viewing/eating of them. You can never start early enough with getting a child used to moderation I think.


Personally I think a 5 or 3 year old getting a DS is truly harmless. It's not like they can go and buy unsuitable games behind your back or anything like that. With 12/13 year olds it's a lot more complicated I'd say.

TequilaMockingBird

We've it all ahead of us lads. :eek:

I think with each child and with each age he/she reaches, the goal posts move. What I would have imagined I would do with my child, before I had a child, is like a fairytail now.

We all do our best, and thats all we can do.

deisemum

sueme wrote: »

We've it all ahead of us lads. :eek:

I think with each child and with each age he/she reaches, the goal posts move. What I would have imagined I would do with my child, before I had a child, is like a fairytail now.

We all do our best, and thats all we can do.

That's for sure and what may have worked with your first child may not work with your second or subsequent children.

My older boy will be going to his first disco the week after next (6th class supervised disco) and he's becoming very aware of girls, the girls are no longer pains but are alright since they went into 6th class. Poor naive boy if he thinks his days of girls being a pain are over

Dizzyblonde

sueme wrote: »

We all do our best, and thats all we can do.

That's it in a nutshell, really - and talking to your children about what's going on, whether in a game or on TV is so important too. That's what helps them to differentiate between real violence and what they see on the screen.(I'm not advocating giving children violent games but there is an element of fighting in a lot of games)

I honestly believe that if you refuse things outright or switch off the telly then you're going to have problems. If your kids see you as shockable or overly-censorious then they'll tell you nothing as they get older. The trouble is, kids nowadays are exposed to a lot more than we were, and they need help to rationalise it all.

Dizzyblonde

deisemum wrote: »

My older boy will be going to his first disco the week after next (6th class supervised disco) and he's becoming very aware of girls, the girls are no longer pains but are alright since they went into 6th class. Poor naive boy if he thinks his days of girls being a pain are over

It starts.
Be strong

nesf

sueme wrote: »

I think with each child and with each age he/she reaches, the goal posts move. What I would have imagined I would do with my child, before I had a child, is like a fairytail now.

If there's one thing having a kid has helped me realise it's how little of it is down to the parents. You're just there to facilitate the kid grow up, you can't really shape them in most ways.

MuPpItJoCkEy

Thanks for some great comments there. It has made me look at things a bit differently I must say.

I suppose I was mainly worried about him not doing other things and being on the DS all day but he's not like that and does enjoy playing with his toys, drawing, painting and the rest really so it's all good.

Someone did mention their own going to first disco. Good luck with that. It'll be a good few years yet before I'm posting "He starting to think the girls aren't a pain anymore, whats next" tread!

TequilaMockingBird

MuPpItJoCkEy wrote: »

Someone did mention their own going to first disco. Good luck with that. It'll be a good few years yet before I'm posting "He starting to think the girls aren't a pain anymore, whats next" tread!

If we start panicking about it now, maybe we'll be prepared for it then... we could have a crack team of spies stationed in every school/community hall in the country...;)

Loopy

I'm not sure what the right age is, but my daughter who is 6 has one. I didn't buy it for her and had big reservations initially.

When she first got it she was addicted but I quickly put a stop to that and now she uses its very little to be honest. It's actually very handy (for me) in ways:

- traffic jams
- flight delays
- any place where you have to 'wait any length of time' and you don't have
to hear Mam, Mam, Mam its ok...

Its finding the balance, once its used in moderation and the child is still communicating with family/friends and is out in the fresh air burning energy I really don't see it as a problem..

di11on

Research does seem to suggest that exposing young children to video games, generally (not just violent games) leads to an increase in aggressive behaviour.

Our oldest is 5 and has asked for one. We haven't yet, but if we do get her one eventually, we'll deal with it the same way as with the TV. We'll limit the time she plays and perhaps link play time to rewards etc.

My opinion is that unsupervised/unregulated exposure to video games, or even TV, is negligent. The research in relation to the effect of video games is at quite an early stage and I suspect we may get a fright in future years when the full impacts are known. I know we will try and play it safe!

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/occ72-compgames.pdf

However, although the evidence is sparse, various studies seem to suggest that the playing or observing of violent games does affect young children negatively as they show increased levels of aggressive behaviour – at least in the short term (Griffiths 1991b). Strong research evidence indicates that children who play a game with an aggressive content exhibit significantly more object aggression and more inter-personal aggression than those who play non-aggressive games. Arousal might be reflected in a child’s attempt to act out the sort of behaviour of characters in the game he or she has just played. However, not all studies are in agreement. Some suggest that computer games have little or no effect on children’s aggressive behaviour, or can even be put to good use in an educational context.

littlebug

sueme wrote: »

We've it all ahead of us lads. :eek:

I think with each child and with each age he/she reaches, the goal posts move. What I would have imagined I would do with my child, before I had a child, is like a fairytail now.

We all do our best, and thats all we can do.

lol very true. I'm a mere shadow of the parent I was in my head before I had children

I decided against nintendos when i walked into the childminders every morning and spoke to the other 2 kids there who were 5 and 4 and they wouldn't even hear me let alone acknowledge me because their heads were stuck in their nintendos. They're probably ok in moderation but that really put me off. My 2 get occasional pc time (Nickjr or cbeebies). I have noticed that the longer they are on the worse their mood is:(

nesf

di11on wrote: »

Research does seem to suggest that exposing young children to video games, generally (not just violent games) leads to an increase in aggressive behaviour.

The paper you linked to says nothing of that kind. It merely notes weak correlations between violent games and violent behaviour and even that correlation is disputed. Simply put, is it the child playing violent games or the family environment that allows very young children to play violent games that is the root cause of the social problems, etc.

Nevyn

My two have asked and I have said no for the simple reason it less easier to control thier use of a handheld and it will let them less interactive with the world around them.

Its up there as something for when they are teens if they earn it.