Any parents out there NOT giving kids games consoles yet? Advice please!

selfbuildache

As a parent to an 8&10 year old, they're looking for a console again this year. I'm still uncomfortable with the idea of giving in to screens yet. (They have limited access to my phone&iPad and some TV at weekends.)
Am I the only one left out there? I'm beginning to buckle .... I would love to hear if there are any other parents out there who don't do screens and how you handle Santy and xmas.

adam240610

Most consoles come with parental controls and limits to how long you can use them for.

Bitches Be Trypsin

Honestly I don't support what you are doing. What seems to be a great idea to focus on your kids development and imagination and whatnot, in reality you are isolating them. How do you think they feel in school when the other kids have Xbox, PlayStation etc. And they don't?

lonestargirl

I have a reasonably high spec laptop so I just got FIFA for PC and an Xbox controller for my son (he’s had it since the summer when he was 6.5). He doesn’t know the password to my laptop so I can control access. He plays it in the sitting room with it connected to the TV so I can see what’s going on. I think that’s a reasonable solution for a younger child.

mohawk

8 year old in this house who wants a PlayStation. He has a Nintendo DS and there is a wii in the house. Neither get much use so I am not really sure about forking out for a PlayStation.

LastLagoon

Bitches Be Trypsin wrote: »

Honestly I don't support what you are doing. What seems to be a great idea to focus on your kids development and imagination and whatnot, in reality you are isolating them. How do you think they feel in school when the other kids have Xbox, PlayStation etc. And they don't?

Who cares how they feel? Time for a lesson in reality,you don’t just get handed stuff. It will stand to them down the line when the might develop an actual talent instead of sitting inside on increasingly fat arses.
Honestly parents who just cave in and buy consoles for kids under 10 should be Reported to TUSLA

perry stanley

ALREADY you are on an uphill struggle. For every reply of agreement you may receive, you will have far more suggesting at least you are standing in your childs way. This is your choice and as your children grow those choices will not get easier. There will always be 'spectators on the sideline' with another opinion. You will not get it all right, but together you will all make it on the choices you made at the time. At times they will no doubt come home saying Johnny or Mary has this or that. You will not be able to keep up so somewhere sometimes the choice to say no will have to be made.
Again this is your move, have a chat with them. Children do make incredible conversationalists.
If you do go 'down' that road do try to keep use to a minimum. Before you know it they are 18 and.... its not for you to say.

Sleeper12

LastLagoon wrote:

Who cares how they feel? Time for a lesson in reality,you don’t just get handed stuff. It will stand to them down the line when the might develop an actual talent instead of sitting inside on increasingly fat arses. Honestly parents who just cave in and buy consoles for kids under 10 should be Reported to TUSLA

Get down off that fence and tell us what you really think!

Dravokivich

My only concern is if the controller is too big, as I'd expect a kid to be frustrated by not being able to handle it properly.

When I was a kid, we didn't really have consoles due to the cost of them.

I'm looking forward to watching my son run over some Hari krishnas in GTA.

uck51js9zml2yt

My eldest is 7. He wants a tablet. He's not getting it.
I took the my wife's phone off him and locked it this summer. He had more access to hers than mine, and i blocked you tube on the TV to stop him watching Minecraft commentaries.
He can watch cartoons with his brother on TV but when I want the TV control on my arrival home from work I get it. .. no arguments.
My kids now spend more time playing and reading and are much happier for it.

Dravokivich

LastLagoon wrote: »

Who cares how they feel? Time for a lesson in reality,you don’t just get handed stuff. It will stand to them down the line when the might develop an actual talent instead of sitting inside on increasingly fat arses.
Honestly parents who just cave in and buy consoles for kids under 10 should be Reported to TUSLA

Getting them a console isnt giving in. If there's an opportunity for some luxury, allow it. My son knows me as the one who says no to him. But im not always like that.

Dravokivich

Bitches Be Trypsin wrote: »

Honestly I don't support what you are doing. What seems to be a great idea to focus on your kids development and imagination and whatnot, in reality you are isolating them. How do you think they feel in school when the other kids have Xbox, PlayStation etc. And they don't?

Why does it matter what other kids have?

Romantic Rose

I'm so glad I was basically reared outside as a free range child who barely saw a screen. My mother didn't let us near the telly unless there was a hurricane coming and our lives were at risk from going outside! I thank her now for giving me that discipline.

Children turn into complete zombies with these screens. Once they have them once, they want all the time.

Go with what you want as a parent and don't succumb to outside pressure.

I'm hearing of 7 and 8 year olds with IPhone 8s now. What the fook!

LastLagoon

Romantic Rose wrote: »

I'm so glad I was basically reared outside as a free range child who barely saw a screen. My mother didn't let us near the telly unless there was a hurricane coming and our lives were risk from going outside! I thank her now for giving me that discipline.

Children turn into complete zombies with these screens. Once they have them once, they want all the time.

Go with what you want as a parent and don't succumb to outside pressure.

I'm hearing of 7 and 8 year olds with IPhone 8s now. What the fook!

There’s a reason a lot of high earners in Silicon Valley drastically limit screen time for their kids,they know the story

Mr.H

It's ironic hearing parents give out that their kids are spending too much time watching TV...... and not letting the parents watch it instead.

This whole go play outside rubbish is rubbish. Bill Gates didn't play outside. Zuckerberg played a lot of computer games. I even have to laugh at these YouTube commentaries that you give out about...... do you know a lot of these commentators are a lot more money than most here.

Socialising is important but so is using your imagination (yes by playing computer games).

My advice to all parents is buy their kids computers and send them to coder dojo. Yes at a young age. The younger the better. Techphobes are the future unemployed. The better you are with tech the more likely you will be to get a good job 10-20 years from now.

Even if it's playing FIFA or gta at least they are improving their hand eye coordination.

jlm29

Mr.H wrote: »

It's ironic hearing parents give out that their kids are spending too much time watching TV...... and not letting the parents watch it instead.

This whole go play outside rubbish is rubbish. Bill Gates didn't play outside. Zuckerberg played a lot of computer games. I even have to laugh at these YouTube commentaries that you give out about...... do you know a lot of these commentators are a lot more money than most here.

Socialising is important but so is using your imagination (yes by playing computer games).

My advice to all parents is buy their kids computers and send them to coder dojo. Yes at a young age. The younger the better. Techphobes are the future unemployed. The better you are with tech the more likely you will be to get a good job 10-20 years from now.

Even if it's playing FIFA or gta at least they are improving their hand eye coordination.

I’d be the first to say that kids need to have some exposure to technology because it’s a major part of the world we live in, and they need to know about it, but I don’t agree with a lot of your post.
There’s a difference between teaching kids how to be computer literate, and buying them a games console and leaving them have unrestricted access to it. Very very few people will make a living from gaming, while computers will feature in many peoples work.
A friend of mine teaches in a local secondary school, and would say that a huge proportion of students have NO computer skills. They can play games consoles, and they can use an iPad, but they have no ability whatsoever to use a PC. Most of them have no access to a pc- she realised recently that a lot of the class were doing PowerPoint presentations and projects etc on their phones.

pwurple

How much is a playstation these days? They were saucy enough the last time I looked.

Mine are slightly younger, so not even a whisper of it. but consoles would be rare enough in this area anyway for some reason. I don’t know a single family around here with one tbh, I guess we are in a bit of a brunch-eating sugar-free gluten-intolerant twilight zone.

I would lean towards Pc games more than console myeslf. Gamification of typing for example, very handy. It’s how I learnt myself. Getting some mouse skills would be good too.

Bitches Be Trypsin

LastLagoon wrote: »

Who cares how they feel? Time for a lesson in reality,you don’t just get handed stuff. It will stand to them down the line when the might develop an actual talent instead of sitting inside on increasingly fat arses.
Honestly parents who just cave in and buy consoles for kids under 10 should be Reported to TUSLA

I care about how children feel!

I don't agree with a console hindering the ability to develop talents. My brother and I grew up with many consoles, and we both stayed up to date with schoolwork and have talents outside gaming.

And for the record, none of our arses are fat.

georgewickstaff

Moderation please..banning kids from consoles in the name of "good parenting"? Must be wonderful to feel so smug and superior. Congratulations.

I know a family with a couple of kids banned from owning consoles. Their parents regularly brag about it. The kids only outlet or way of coping is to watch walk throughs of games on YouTube for hours on end. They study these things in depth in order to be able to have something in common with their mates. Meanwhile Rupert and Maud are high fiving each other about how great they are for not caving in to the kids demands.

I have nothing but pity and contempt for them.

jimmycrackcorm

LastLagoon wrote:

Honestly parents who just cave in and buy consoles for kids under 10 should be Reported to TUSLA

I think letting kids play games like Minecraft is very positive for their development. I see the interesting stuff, ideas and concepts that my young nephew does on his.

It reminded me when I was young and there wasn't no such thing as consoles and we did the exact same with Lego and Plastercine.

Thankfully my parents didn't get reported to Tusla.

selfbuildache

Whew! I guess the previous posts pretty sum up what's out there in terms of opinions. And families.
We're already in the 'different' camp (not from the rural area we live in and with a few different choices to the crowd/norm (although they refuse to eat granola;)) so yes, I'm concerned about making them even more different / isolated.

I know I've the will power for supervision, restriction and 'balance', so that's not an issue. I'm leaning towards compromise.

pwurple: I'm interested in what you said "I would lean towards Pc games more than console myeslf. Gamification of typing for example, very handy. It’s how I learnt myself. Getting some mouse skills would be good too.
Can you give me some examples?

Thanks for the replies. I hear the 'Why I SHOULD' give them more screen time all the time and had run out of any real-life support as to why I shouldn't....

_Brian

I think the consoles are fine, it’s the agreements you strike afterwards that count.

Our daughter got a DS at aged 7, but Santa left a note explaining it wasn’t to be overused and mum & dad had to be listened to. It worked a treat.

Cantona's Collars

I stumbled across this thread on the main page. I've played games since the days of 8 bit consoles.
I handed down my PS3 to my young lad and last year he got an Xbox one from Santa. His time on it is restricted. Games such as Minecraft and Lego World's promote skills such as problem solving,team work etc. I see no problems with giving kids access to gaming so long as the time on them isn't limitless just to keep them quiet.
Some parents will harp on about not letting kids have consoles yet allow kids vegetate in front of cartoons with zero interaction except stare at at a screen.
The likes of FIFA or PES actually helps get kids into football as they can play as their heroes and then go outside and replicate that in real life.

seamus

The whole "destroys their imagination", "turns them into zombies", "makes them lazy" stuff is nonsense. That all went out in the 90s.

Video games on particular are proven to improve focus and fine motor skills, problem solving, mathematical and language comprehension and critical thinking.

ADHD kids can benefit from video games as they tend to "punish" impulsive behaviour and reward careful behaviour.

Balance is important. As with any skill, downtime is important. In the same way that a kid who spends all their time running around outside benefits from taking it easy and sitting on their arse for a few hours, a kid who spends a lot of time playing games will benefit from getting out for a family walk or even just a run around a field.

My girl is just gone five and has been playing the Wii for about six months. Loves Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart and Brain Training. Her motor control and patience has improved immensely in that time. Though when you're coming from "none" anything is an improvement

Any modern console doesn't require internet access all the time. So if thats what concerns you, then simply don't do it.

eviltwin

I've an autistic child. Playing Minecraft has been a huge benefit to him. He's now designing his own computer games. Consoles have their place and can be beneficial to children like mine. You can limit the content and time spent on them. I wouldn't let my son play computer games for hours on end but I wouldn't let him do anything for hours on end.

mikeysmith

It's not just the console obviously

A decision has to be made about connectivity and chat on some of these devices.

Apparently kids are being targetted by adults in the chat sections

PLL

This whole primary school kids having an iPad, a phone, consoles is ridiculous.

Mine will get a phone when they graduate sixth class. I'll consider consoles and iPads as gifts as they get older. I'm not going to budge on this. They have the rest of their lives to be consumed by technology.

Edit to add: My six year old has a child's leapfrog tablet which has a daily limit. No issue with her playing with that for a bit, it's educational. Not a hope would she be using a standard tablet watching shíte on YouTube.

mikeysmith

Once kids hit second level they need fones and data or they're going to be isolated

That's the reality now whether parents like it or not

PLL

mikeysmith wrote: »

Once kids hit second level they need fones and data or they're going to be isolated

That's the reality now whether parents like it or not

I consider myself strict enough not giving mine a phone until 6th class. Sending a teen to secondary without a phone is sending them into a den of ridicule.

SusieBlue

I see absolutely no problem with kids that age having controlled access to consoles.
No one here is advocating a free for all where the kids spend day and night glued to them, but a few hours a week, particularly at the weekend, will do no harm and will be of benefit to them.
You could always implement a rewards system where they only get access via doing chores/jobs around the house.
I appreciate your position in not wanting to give in, but in a blink of an eye they will be teenagers.
Better to start them with limited, controlled access now so that they're used to it by the time they're older. It won't be so hard for you to stay in control with phone and iPods etc in the future if you do so from a young age with consoles.
Best of luck

drunkmonkey

My 2 & 3 yr old had great fun playing as Mario and Cappy the other day, no idea what there doing, like a few other posters I grew up with consoles and computers, I see no harm in it unless they won't budge off the TV, it's only another distraction for them.
It's the games you let them play is the issue not the consoles, big difference between a bit of fifa or mario compared to gears of war and vice city.
I think one of you needs to play with them though and not be detached from the experience. My dad used to play with myself and brother and that's over 30yrs ago.