Nintendo DS for a five year old

[caz_hills]

I never thought I'd even consider buying something like this for my five year old - but here is my question.

My sons friends all seem to have a Nintendo DS. My son loves watching them play on them and said he wants one for his fifth birthday.

I was adamant that he shouldn't have something like this until he is much older - mainly out of ignorance as I thought it was suitable for kids much older say 8-10.

What's everyone's views on these? I know games have age appropriate ranges on them but I'm concerned about screen time too. I limit his screen time to an hour a day in the week, more at weekends. But I love how active he is (currently playing football with daddy in the garden!) and don't want more distractions.

Am I being a meany?!

Thanks x

 

[CaptainMummy]

Paige has one of them, she got it for her 5th Birthday and we also got another one (from family, didnt buy it.)
She loves to play multiplayer, mainly mario kart, but doesn't play it all the time. Maybe for about 45mins at a time. She was a bit obsessed for the first week but the novelty has sort of worn off and she doesnt want to play as often these days.
I dont have a problem with it, as she isnt constantly on it.. But its a personal choice and if you don't want your son to have one, then you dont need to

Ps. Mario Kart is awesome! I love it haha

 

[sabby52]

Declan got a 3ds when he was 5, he loved it for about 2-3 weeks then the novelty wore off, it lay in his bedroom for 2 years and just recently he traded it in Game to get some money. He played it for about 15-30 minutes at a time but seemed to get bored with it very quickly although that could be because he prefers his xbox lol

Declan is very active and loves being outside, he has all sorts of gaming stuff and loves playing them but giving the choice to sit in his room playing games or be outside paying with friends, outside would win all the time, so dont worry if you son loves being outside then hopefully the DS shouldnt change that

 

[pandacub]

My boy uses my ds and plays Mario kart and angry birds on it. He doesn't actually play on it that much any more, he much prefers playing with his friends or me!
Like pp said, he was pretty obsessed for a week once I let him play on it, but that's passed

 

[Cjayne]

We're geeks in our house. My LO has a DS, We have xboxes/computers of our own that he sees. He has a tablet.. SS has a laptop.

However, their time on them all is limited, and they're mainly used for while we're driving. They're all confiscated at night too. x

 

[vaniilla]

DS doesn't have one, he has a kindle and he goes on my ipad but I wouldn't buy him a games console just yet.

 

[AP]

Tori got a 2DS for xmas (I'm not happy about the idea of 3D but you can turn it off on a 3DS)

She plays Mario Kart, Team Umizoomi and Build A Bear Workshop just now. They have been good little puzzle type problem solving games

 

[jd83]

I've been considering getting one for Jaxon, too, since a good amount of his friends have one and he has asked a few times about getting one like they have. I think as far as screen time, you just lump tablet, game systems, etc together, and they choose which ones they want to play, but total time allowed for playing on them for the day is the same amount no matter which they choose. We have an iPad that they play learning games on, and they get around 1 hour of play time total a day if they want to play on it. They don't ask to play it every day. It would be the same if we got them a gaming type system, like a DS.