Hey, I might be in the wrong here because I am not a parent and won’t have kids.
My nephew turned 6 and I wanted to buy him the new switch whenever it comes out. Brother told me he doesn’t want that and thinks it’s too dangerous and overall screen time is very bad for children. I understand what he means but can’t that be regulated with lets say 1-2 hours per day limits?
What I also don’t understand and this is a personal arguement between my brother and me is following: When I turned 5 years old in 1996 my father bought us a N64 and we were playing golden eye, donkey kong etc. on splitscreen all day and night and had a blast. All our friends were at our place and most people had a N64 or Sega or whatever console.
And yes we went outside and had fun and were creative. We copied a few games like golden eye with our water guns or other games like Super Mario 64. At home when our parents went to bed we sneaked out of our beds to the living room and started playing golden eye and other games all night long.
But I understand him and respect him, I won’t buy it and I will save my money. I just don’t understand why most parents nowadays are so extreme. I am 100% on limiting time and nowdays it’s got to be easier than back then to just set a 1-2 hour limit on consoles. I am no friend of buying phones for kids at age 3 or 4 or sitting them in front of a screen so they are quiet. I understand all that. But I don’t understand all the harsh choices most people make with being strikt and going complete against stuff.
If I had a kid I think I’d give it a Nintendo to because I think it can be good for fine motor skills and in the future we will be in front of screens even more than now. It’s not great and not ideal but it is what it is and I think kids should learn early how to use consoles, phones, etc. in a positive way (limited time, under supervision)
As of now my nephew never touched a phone. This isn’t anything bad but compared to his class mates I think this is weird. Imagine when he is in school and his friends tell him to scroll and he has no idea how to even scroll? Isn’t that weird?
I don’t know what they are doing with my nephew it’s hilarious cause he can’t even hold scissors and he is 6 years old. If he can’t use screens, phones etc. I was expecting atleast him to be able to cut a straight line??
When we were kids we had goldeneye or whatever and that was it barring a weekend rental from Blockbuster. Blockbuster is dead now. Netflix and online gaming killed it. Online gaming and Netflix/Youtube/etc. are like unlimited candy to a little kid. Yeah dad can limit them, or try to anyhow, but try limiting a alcoholic, see how that pans out. Even if they aren’t drinking they’re still gonna be in withdrawal and a pain to deal with. You won’t have to deal with him. Kiddos dad will.
If you want to do something for your nephew, get them an experience. Take them camping, or to a book store, gokarts, the science museum, something he can tell his buddies about later. Dad will appreciate time without them, kiddo experiences a non-teacher non-parent adult, which is rare for them.
My nephew gets books from me on xmas and birthdays, stuff I either read at his age, or that is just age appropriate. Later I’ll take him to a bookstore to let him pick what he wants, then we go get food. Sometimes what he wants, sometimes we go do stuff like get dumplings so he can try something new.