DS for 3 yr old?

[pyrxtc]

I am in the no pile for the DS for a 3 yr old. My DD13 has one that her father bought her. because of that, I ended up buying my boys a gameboy Advance. I don't like that they want to bring them everywhere. Children really need to learn to entertain themselves and not have something doing it for them all the time. I don't let my kids bring them most places, they are almost a waste at this house but I got them really cheap.

 

[Gwendolyn]

I think that the prices for DS games are really steap. So we purchased our 3 year old an iPod touch. Most games are free or less than 3 euro's. And got a higher repeat value than most DS games.

We allow him to play on this iPod touch for no more than 30 minutes a day, most of the times its about 10 minutes.

The reason he got an iPod touch is that we wanted to reward him for getting potty trained.

 

[loveysbydesign]

I think that the prices for DS games are really steap. So we purchased our 3 year old an iPod touch. Most games are free or less than 3 euro's. And got a higher repeat value than most DS games.

We allow him to play on this iPod touch for no more than 30 minutes a day, most of the times its about 10 minutes.

The reason he got an iPod touch is that we wanted to reward him for getting potty trained.

My 2 y.o. got a scooter as his reward for potty-training!

 

[iheartdisney]

My 2 y.o. got a scooter as his reward for potty-training!

wow, am i cheap! A scooter, a ipod touch. All three of my kids just got a dinner at Check E cheese for potty training.
I must be the worst mother ever!

 

[julluvsdisney]

I am in the same group as PPs stating 3 is too young to have ds. My 8 yr DS just got a ds for his bday and wii for xmas and both are only to be used on non school days and only in the house (unless we are taking a trip) the reason for this is My 2 BILs had all games systems growing up and barely left the house. Both were basically friendless until prob 10th or 11th grade. Both were extremely over wt and have a lack of social skills. To this day they lack social skills and are both heavy. My DH on the other hand and my DSIL never had video games and both are very social outgoing people. I have known my in laws since they were kids. I saw how much video gaming affected who they are as adults. I also see kids at the mall or out to dinner that ignore their parents or anyone around them and just go into this anti social world with their ds or their ipods and I think its really sad. These kids are going to end up very unsocial. plus not to mention a young child using earbuds so early could end up with hearing issues. I am not trying to be mean I just think sticking to the leapster for a couple of years maybe helpful in his development.

 

[julluvsdisney]

wow, am i cheap! A scooter, a ipod touch. All three of my kids just got a dinner at Check E cheese for potty training.
I must be the worst mother ever!

I must be worse! My DS got new big boy undies! He was soo happy with that!!!

 

[julluvsdisney]

wow, am i cheap! A scooter, a ipod touch. All three of my kids just got a dinner at Check E cheese for potty training.
I must be the worst mother ever!

I must be worse!! My DS got new big boy undies!!!! And he potty trained in a week so maybe he shoulda got the chuck E cheese dinner! He shoulda held out

 

[bigmama67]

I must be worse!! My DS got new big boy undies!!!! And he potty trained in a week so maybe he shoulda got the chuck E cheese dinner! He shoulda held out

IIRC, my parents gave me some $ to get something special for DS when he potty trained, and I got him a Cranky the Crane (he was a Thomas freak for SOOO long!) It was $67 or something like that. Wouldn't have done it with OUR $...but he loved that thing!

 

[loveysbydesign]

wow, am i cheap! A scooter, a ipod touch. All three of my kids just got a dinner at Check E cheese for potty training.
I must be the worst mother ever!

It was actually a hand-me-down scooter from his older brother!!!

 

[summerrluvv]

Wow, an Ipod for potty training! My DD got a hershey kiss

 

[ShanPooh]

I must be worse! My DS got new big boy undies! He was soo happy with that!!!

Right with you! DD got Disney Princess underwear for being toilet trained.

 

[ShanPooh]

Children really need to learn to entertain themselves and not have something doing it for them all the time.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

Right with you! DD got Disney Princess underwear for being toilet trained.

My 3 year old daughter got to return her two unopened packages of Pull-Ups and use the money to buy a toy when she was staying dry through the night (we already had lots of underpants she was wearing during the day). She has a "big girl" bucket of Legos instead (and they are regular Legos, not Duplos--she's past putting stuff in her mouth).

 

[Gwendolyn]

Well we've tried everything. Rewarding him with a cookie after each succesfull visit to the toilet, we praised him, hugged him, told him that we were really proud. We told him that he could wear big boy undies, reward him with a sticker everytime he had a succesfull toilet visit. But it didnt work. He kept doing his things in his pants. And he didnt tell us either.

So now he is allowed to play on his iPod for 5 minutes every time he succesfully visited the toilet. And it finally works.

He has to share his iPod touch with his brother though. And they are not allowed to play with it all the time. No more than a total of 30 minutes a day. Most of the times it is less.

So normally I am totally against giving such expensive gifts to kids too. His pre-school doesnt change nappies, so often I found a full nappy which obviously was full for hours. Besides that he is nearly 4 and it was about time. . I would have never given an iPhone touch to him if I wasnt desperately trying to get him potty trained.

 

[hannahsmom7]

Thanks everyone for your input. I don't have an issue with the age alone because my kids use them in moderation, they have to ask first, and they don't bring them out of the house unless we're going on vacation or I have to take one to a doctors appt and the other has to wait, etc. He's very capable and does fine on it, and also plays fine with non-electronics for most of the day! Though if I gave him my iPhone and a DSi I'm sure he'd happily entertain himself for an hour . We are an electronics family, we have iPhones (with many kids apps--electronic books, etc), a Wii, 2 computers, my dd has an MP3 player (not an Ipod), etc.

I have decided to wait though for a couple reasons. Going into the warmer weather I know we'll be much busier and he won't have the time to want to play very often. And as it gets nicer I won't let them play very often, so as a pp pointed out, I'll be getting more asking if he can play than I want until its newness fades! Also, $$ is a good reason! He most likely will get one for Christmas if that is what he continues to ask for. I definitely will keep in mind that GameStop will probably have more DSi's (he wants a blue one!) now that the XL is out. The other thing is his birthday and Christmas are fairly close together, so I'm often running out of ideas as all the family is asking what to get him as well.

I will keep an eye on Ebay to see if I can pick up a used Mario game for our GBA though, since i believe this is the real draw of the DSi for him. He loves Mario, we have Wii nights w/friends of ours from time to time and all have a blast playing it. We bought him a new bed last week and are breaking him from cosleeping and last night for the first time he didn't come to our bed at all, he was so proud of himself this morning and said he thought he needed a special treat--I was all ready for him to say DSi, but he just asked for a Hershey Kiss , whew! LOL! We'll be onto potty training next!