thoughts on nintendo ds

[Tanza]

My 6-year old is desperate for one of these for Xmas. I gulped at the price and he said I wasn't to worry because he'd ask Father Xmas for one. Mmmm. My question is are these worth the money? Are they more trouble than they are worth (do you find you are having to restrict their use?) or are they, a bit like TV, something that unless a kid is glued to it from morning to night is basically ok and some of it is even educational? Does anyone actually regret introducing these into family life?

[Fuschia]

Our son has one. since he was 6. Very useful for car journeys, wiating for appontments etc. He doesn't play with it much at other times. But we do also have cable TV, he has a PC and we have a wii (rarely used)

He reads a lot

It's all about moderation imo

[The Nappy Lady]

We have one for DD1 who turned 6 in July. She got it for her 5th birthday, but her reading wasn't good enough at that point to actually use it.

This summer it was brilliant though - on the plane to Spain, and when out for meals she could use it which allowed us all to be happy. If you get an R4 chip for it you can convert DVDs to a format that can then be put on the chip so they can even watch films on it - very useful. Macs do it more easily than PC's, but possible with either machine subject to a bit of googling to find out how.

I don't find she goes on it very much most of the time. This morning we all slept in until after 8am (yay - big progress on the part of our very nearly 2 year old), and when I got up DD1 was watching a film on her DS in her bedroom, but to be honest I don't have an issue with that. Once we were all up she put it down and joined in with what we were doing.

Agree with Fuschia, moderation in all things.

p.s. re cost - we shared the cost of ours with Granny and Auntie - rather 1 big present than lots of little ones...maybe you could do similar if you have other family members who may be wondering what to get?

Edited as got myself mixed up with DS and DD's and changed daughter into a son there for a minute!

[Tanza]

That's reassuring that your son still reads a lot despite the distractions of high tech gadgets. Thanks Fuschia.

[Fuschia]

Tanza Wrote:

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> That's reassuring that your son still reads a lot

> despite the distractions of high tech gadgets.

> Thanks Fuschia.

Total bookworm, rather bucks the trend for boys!

I put it down to: dad read him bedtime story for YEARS

Lots of books in our house and we do read

Good teaching of phonics in reception so he started to read within a few weeks

Me ordering books form the librray, starting him on sets by one author...

Story CDs in the car

The main thing is opportunity I think... read good books with them then give them easy good books to read. A friend ehose little girl same age wasn't reading only had books aimed at 3-5... once she bought an Enid Blyton box set, her DD was off and away!