I have two small boys aged 3 and 4. I am thinking of buying a games console for the first time. Something deep inside me says it's probably not a good idea to have one in a house with such young kids.

Will it be just another thing to stop the kids from reading books and playing sports? Or are there games that can actually help the kids develop?

Thanks

 

i have 2 girls aged 3 and 9 and my youngest plays on the kinect and she gets more exercise off that than she would going on a 2 hour jog
she dives about jumps and runs on the spot at the end of it she is still doing it and im on the floor knackered

the 9 year old has an xbox in her room and plays whatever games she wants i dont mind but she still prefers to go on bike rides etc in summer

 

I think it's fine in moderation - our 5 year old plays with his Wii every second day (i.e. one day play, one day rest) and he only gets to play for 20 mins. He can add 5 mins (or lose 5 mins) depending on behaviour and doing his chores (bringing his plate through after dinner, etc). My three year old isn't interested in it.

Re the post above - Let's Dance for Kids for the Wii is great exercise too and my boy loves it.

 

everything in moderation and of course content that is appropriate to their ages

 

+1

 

only 20mins and +/- 5mins sounds a bit draconian Give the lad at least an hour

 

+1

 

Never had a games console as a kid, but wish I had done. Some of those boring afternoons when its raining and there is nothing to do could of have been made much more interesting.

If it were me, I'd wait untill they are 10 / 11 that way they know how to have fun / can make their own, without the need for a games console.

 

This is one I've been deliberating over for some time. I'm a gamer - have been for years. Hand helds, PC's, consoles, a LANer etc. So for me it's a great past time. However I play FPS's, driving, RTS/RPS games mainly and some (FEAR? GTA) are voilent or scarey. So I want to make sure my 9 and 6 year old use them responsibly (PC, 2 x DS's, WII and X360 in the house).

We've settled on a format that works well for us, generally they do not play any on system for more than 1 hour a day and not every day. Being able to play is a reward as well, so bad behaviour and they miss out.

A lot of the WII games we have a "party" style (with a balance board, mic's and dance mat), and this is great for getting the whole family playing together and having fun together. I cannot find fault in that.

However my oldest lad is coming home with stories of school mates playing by themselves (in any format) games that are clearly too old for them. In particular the CoD series. Now the issue I have is that I play them and they are in my house, so he knows we own them. But we've gradually educated him to look at the age sticker. He's pretty good at knowing that 15/16 and 18 games are completely out. We also have all systems in "communal" area's, rather than their bedrooms.

My issue is that some of his mates parents have actually brought these 15/18 games for the child. They are not gamers and when questioned have responded with "well what's wrong with it?". I've not pushed it further but know they haven't a clue what's in the game. I know because I play (and complete) them. It's easy to watch a film and know what's in it, but I bet some of these parents would struggle to switch on the console, let alone know WASD or Look Inversion.

So I'd say it's not a bad thing for primary aged kids, but moderate their time and the content.

Oh and I found that at 3/4 my two were barely able to understand the some children's console games as sometimes there is a bit or reading/understanding required to play (even if they are rated for ages 3 or 7). Some DS games are better in this aspect as they lead the player through the game.

 

Thanks to everybody.

I think I might just wait another year before I get one. My 4 year old is quite mature for his age but my 3 year old isn't.

Shame, because I really fancied one for myself!

 

I don't see it as much of an issue at that age, and to be honest they won't be full on into it anyway, as at that age they want to be doing something new every 20 minutes. Somethimes its good to encourage them to sit and do something for a little bit longer, but not to the extreme.

My two age 3 and 4 have just had a mobigo, the games are educational which I like, and they are not too long, so they don't spend too long doing it.

Like has been said, everything in moderation is fine.

 

Ding - you can get console such a Leapster targeted at kids of that age. They help with co-ordination, basic number, letter and colour recognition - and are fun.

My five year old still enjoys his and hasn't yet asked for a DS which his mates have started to get.

He also plays on the Wii a little - but prefers his Leapster as he can manage it better.

 

To be honest he only has 20 mins free per day anyway, between having to sweep the chimneys and working in my wife's factory packing biscuits.

 

i got a megadrive for my 3rd birthday and its never done me any harm.

 

lol

 

i got the same answer in game on boxing day ,we went in a guy came over and i asked if he had gta4 on the xbox 360 "he said thats an old one "to which i replied "i already have it its for my 9 year old daughter "to which he replied "oooookkkkk then is she not a little to young "i replied no not really she has played san andreas on the ps2 "
she actually doesnt play the game but runs about looking to get to the beach then swims in it so i bought it for her so i could go online with her and generally drive about ,she is however good at tombraider

 

You should be ok aslong they stay off COD online..It can really get heated at times,the amount of arguments and language is a lot.The place is full of Yanks and it has the old British v American Rivalry..But it is a laugh at times to listen too.Even Battlefield Bad company is a more online friendly atmosphere..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx0Zo...eature=related

 

My 4 year old son has a wii and his reading has come on leaps and bounds since we bought him pokepark.

 

Then they definitely aren't going to get one

 

Sounds like the sort of place George Michael hangs out

 

I had one when I was six or seven, a 'posh' Grandstand one with several games including a motorcycle jumping game with a special controller. I got hooked and have had consoles and games ever since.

It probably did stop me venturing out into the real world a little bit and am not sorry that my daughters are not that interested (despite having an Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and DSi). They do play, but get bored quite quickly.

Steve

 

My daughter as a PS2 upstairs and Wii downstairs. Neither really get that much use and mostly she plays the singing and dance games. When I had a PS3 she liked playing Little Big Planet. She does play her DS a fair bit though but they are all cutesy type games.

To be honest though, she's not much of a gamer. She'd rather be out on her bike or down the beach. She knows that games can be scary because my gaming PC is in the living room and she's seen some of the games. Again, not really interested.

 

Probably as I don't have kids I just don't know the whole facts but my opinion at the moment would be that I wouldn't want my *own* kids to have games consoles at a young age. This is for no other reason than my friends that had consoles at a young age were always a bit unsocial whereas myself and my other friends who had ActionMan etc as our sidekicks had great fun with our imaginations pretending we were soldiers building damns and huts and well plotting wars against other gangs of kids.

I had a fantastic childhood with loads of epic tales which I don't think you can get sitting playing a computer. When I got a bit older 13/14 computers and wanking really took hold though.

 

I would say get a Wii and let them play the active games on there. As already said dont let them near COD games because the language is awful and they are far too young anyway.

 

PMSL

 

I think i'm playing the wrong games on COD, I've played Modern Warfare 2 for around 6 months and Blackops since it's release and have never had any matches like those on Youtube, I think i'm missing out!!

 

I think you are right in the way you feel, too easy for them to get hooked to the exclusion of everything else they could be doing.

Les

 

Try playing search and destroy, plenty of kids on there threatening to burn your house down and kill your family over the mic.

 

I got a megadrive for xmas around that age IIRC. Plenty of good memories of playing streets of rage and golden axe with my Dad. So it doesn't have to be a bad thing. They would only let me play it for about half an hour at a time anyway. Any longer than that and I was told to get outside and do something. I guess you could take a similar approach?

 

I'm not worried about addiction or playing too much with younger kids, mine are good about playing all sorts of board games, standard action toys, etc. More about the content. In particular higher rated content that some seem to feel is ok for younger kids to view (even on this thread!). Ratings that they are years away from, I'm not talking about a 14 year old being exposed to plenty of swearing (15 game) or a 17 year old viewing 18 rated killings.

Even if you don't play the Multiplayer parts there are plenty of single player games that are just violent or scary. Not just Call of Duty (that just happens to be an easy target because of it's popularity). Games where you have to act out the violence, stabbing people in the throat, wandering around dark forbidding hall ways. Bioshock, Dead Space, Resident Evil, etc.

We get plenty of threads on here about the way feral kids are let loose on communities, but not enough about the causes of their ferality (SP?). It's disappointing that I appear to be in a minority when pointing out that some games are simply not for young kids.