Nintendo DS - too young?? OH objecting and being tight!

Dormouse

Oh dear, I must be mean too.

Firstly, OP said that the kids will get other pressies too, not just the room. I think, as long as they have some other nice things to unwrap, the room would be ok.

It's a different matter whether you want all the hassle of decorating just before Christmas though, especially with a baby on the way! Although as long as DH does all the hard work himself, why not humour him.

As for DSs and stuff, my DS1 is 5 and doesn't have one and I have no intention of getting one any time soon. He's happy as it is, and the time will come when he'll be demanding all sorts of stuff, so I'll try and avoid this for as long as I can.

There are some things I want to avoid for as long as possible - DS1 has never had a fizzy drink yet, or doesn't have a TV in his room. Some might say this is mean but this is the way I'm happy doing things. :cool:

Carmina_Piranha_3

roxie - last year I told my mum that i'd only bought a few things for the kids. she was horrified that they didn't have a massive towering pile of presents, so she gave me most of the stuff she'd bought for them to add to the santa pile, and she just gave them a couple of things at her house. They still had too much, but at least it got around the problem of santa only leaving a couple of presents - I know I would have bought more in a last minute rush just to make the pile bigger

I tried to declutter my eldest's things last week, in an attempt to make a work space for him to do his high school homework. I found 2 bags full of chistmas presents that he hadn't even looked at! they had been opened, but then were put into a bag on christmas day and he has so much stuff that he's never even looked at last year's christmas bags. they were well hidden under the piles of other stuff that he can't find room for. kids get too much stuff nowadays, especially off grandparents.


Perhaps your husband thinks that the DS is a present for older children. Some kids are glued to them all the time and become very isolated, ignorant and bad tempered. I looked after my nephews last week and they play on theirs a lot. When I raised my voice to make them finally listen to me I got snarls and murderous looks for interrupting them on their DSs :rolleyes:

Is there something they can play on the PS3? or even a computer game?

RoxieW

All the grandparents etc pressies are opened at our house anyway so they dont know whats from who really. We do tell them but in the excitment of xmas and all that they dont remember. I do agree - there are only certain things that mine play with (both boys btw) which is another reason to down scale. Thats why I was set on the ds - small, dont take up much room but hopefully they'd get alot of use out of them.
However, hubby seems set on the bedroom idea. To be fair to him he is making it fun by getting them bed sets/pictures etc in their favourite characters.
He's not being tight. We're taking them to center parcs the weekend before christmas to do the 'winter wonderland' experience and we will get them other pressies - but he just seems dead set against a ds. It doesnt help that they both have leappads that never got played with and DS1 had a vsmile that he didnt play with (but he was only 3 at the time so too young really).
Anyway - he's researching bedroom ideas as i type so cant see me winning this one. Boooooooo

Carmina_Piranha_3

favourite characters in the bedrooms is nice though, more of a present than just a nice colour scheme.

If yours have had the kid consoles and not played with them i wonder if it would be the same with a DS?

what about remote control cars?

RoxieW

Have had about 20 in the past from various family members and never got played with.
Have got ideas for the older one - meccano,screwball scramble - but the youngest always poses a problem. The only thing he ever wants is power rangers stuff but he has a massive box of them already.

RoxieW

ps - i'm not sure he'd be happy with them playing on his ps3 - they both love playing on cbeebies etc on the mac but will look into what else we could do with it.
Sent them both upstairs to get their leappads and if they're not interested then they're going on ebay!

pulliptears

Its annoying when all parents are tarred with the same brush. Most parents dont buy their children DS's so they sit in a corner prone for hours on end, most buy them to keep their children entertained for short periods of time whilst enforcing sensible limits on their game play.

As for being too young, again I dont think its something any of us posting here can say. You know your children and you know if they could use and enjoy a DS. There are some very educational games out there that can stimulate young minds and be used as an educational tool to aid their learning.

The attitude that "oooh its a computer game therefore it must be feared/banned until a child is older" is long outdated.

mrcow

pulliptears wrote: »

Its annoying when all parents are tarred with the same brush. Most parents dont buy their children DS's so they sit in a corner prone for hours on end, most buy them to keep their children entertained for short periods of time whilst enforcing sensible limits on their game play.

We bought our PSP for plane journeys and long car journeys for when we go up to Northumberland. The children love it, but they don't really play it much of the rest of the time unless they remember about it.

The XBox on the other hand is played regularly. I had to limit it to Saturdays only though as I think there is a risk for it to be wasting an hour or so a day just playing the same games.

IMO there's nothing wrong with children playing computer games. I played them myself and still managed to get my degree and all associated qualifications. I remember being particularly addicted to Monkey Island 1 and Theme Park, but I played them when it was good to do so....not so that it was interfering with my social life, family, school work or friends. Most normal people play in moderation.

shazrobo

i dont think the children are too young for a ds, as others have said, so long as you are careful in which games you choose. we have a wii, and to be honest it hardly gets used, as my kids are not good at sharing. the ds on the other hand they have one each, take up hardly any space, are brilliant for long car journeys, and also there are lots of educational stuff out there, as well as appealing to all ages, even i have one now :T

moggylover

My own youngest son got his gameboy at around 4 - and I only pick "age appropriate" games as in - not adult themes. He loves it - and is an amazing reader because of it. All that rubbish about them not having games that need reading - if the child wants to play the game you will be amazed how fast he learns to both read AND (more importantly) comprehend in order to do so! Mind, it can be wearisome at first helping them with words they do not know - but after a while mine seemed to not only be able to just "read" them but also work out what they meant.

Older boy also has a Gameboy (which he got after the youngest because he was not interested in sitting still in those days) but tbh does not play with it as much.

We have a Playstation 2 which they have to share (and are not too good at sharing:mad: ) as well, and they are also allowed to use the computers for games some of the time.

What looks complicated to us adults - does not to a child these days, my youngest worked out how to use our new video recorder faster than I could (and without the instructions:eek: ) at the age of 3! He has also mastered the new Sky+ box (which I still have not!) in a matter of one evening!

Technology comes easier to them than to my generation and I think it is valuable to encourage this within limits of how much time they allocate to these things.

As to decorating their bedroom for Christmas! I find that entire idea absolutely deadful! I think it is something that some teenagers might appreciate - but that would rightly be a huge and hurtful dissapointment to a child! I'm flamin old fashioned (and old) and do not believe in spoiling, but even in my day when there was not a lot of dosh about at all, my parents would not have considered this to be a present. Shame on your OH!

I'm going to be blunt and say that if your OH thinks it is acceptable for HIM to play games on a console - but bedgrudges the actual children of the house the same pleasure, then he is not only mean - but selfish!