Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?

Anything to do with games at all.
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Zilnad
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Zilnad » Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:15 pm

Put them together and you've got one thirty year old. Maths :mrgreen:

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Tsunade
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Tsunade » Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:09 pm

Ella started at 7 playing pokemon red on my old GBC . She hasn't looked back since. Now she's really into her games, and loves mario maker, to the point where she wants to get into games design and has done for a few years now.

Ludo is gooseberry fool!
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kerr9000
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by kerr9000 » Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:49 pm

Tsunade wrote:Ella started at 7 playing pokemon red on my old GBC . She hasn't looked back since. Now she's really into her games, and loves mario maker, to the point where she wants to get into games design and has done for a few years now.


My kid wanted to do games design at one point but now she's 19 the thing she's settled on wanting to do is be a teacher, it only seems a blink since she was telling me she was going to make games followed by a game themed amusement park.

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Preezy
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Preezy » Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:02 pm

For her first foray into gaming (other than watching me play Animal Crossing and BotW on Switch) I got my 5 year old a Game & Watch for Christmas and she has absolutely loved it. I figure get her comfortable with basic side-scrolling platformers and then she can go from there.

I have Animal Crossing on the DS ready and waiting for her, but need to get her reading up to a level where she can play it unaided, otherwise I'd be getting nagged every 2 minutes to explain what Tom Nook wants :x

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dmin
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by dmin » Tue Mar 30, 2021 10:53 pm

I started my son aged 5 on the SNES mini, then Wii and 3DS. The Wii was the first success with Pokepark, Ice Age and Madagascar games. Then Pokemon Ultra Sun on 3DS as he was (and still is) big into Pokemon. He has a Switch so we play a lot of co op games on it and my PS4. He's 7 now and is turning into a good gamer; he kicks my ass in Pokken!

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Fade
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Fade » Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:39 pm

Drumstick wrote:
Tomous wrote:Mine is only 6 months and my wife is already laying down the law on when I can introduce him to Mario :slol:

Why?

Our girl sometimes sees me playing Switch and she's very eager to get involved. She's had a go on my wife's Switch Lite, think it was Crash Nitro Kart.

I can understand limiting screen time

It's really creepy what happens to kids when you shove a screen in front of them, they go from playing, socialising and learning to zombies. You can literally subdue 20 toddlers by playing a YouTube video of wheels on the bus.

We've had kids at work who are speech delayed because they've had too much screen time and not enough interpersonal interaction.

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Jenuall
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Jenuall » Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:42 pm

Fade wrote:
Drumstick wrote:
Tomous wrote:Mine is only 6 months and my wife is already laying down the law on when I can introduce him to Mario :slol:

Why?

Our girl sometimes sees me playing Switch and she's very eager to get involved. She's had a go on my wife's Switch Lite, think it was Crash Nitro Kart.

I can understand limiting screen time

It's really creepy what happens to kids when you shove a screen in front of them, they go from playing, socialising and learning to zombies. You can literally subdue 20 toddlers by playing a YouTube video of wheels on the bus.

We've had kids at work who are speech delayed because they've had too much screen time and not enough interpersonal interaction.

Yeah there is definitely a need to monitor and limit screen time, just like there is a need to control the amount of kids' time spent doing or being exposed to all sorts of things.

It's all part of a healthy balance - unlimited access to screens and games is not going to be a good idea, just as complete lockdown and denying them access to these things is also not the smartest move.

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Fade
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Fade » Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:55 pm

Jenuall wrote:
Fade wrote:
Drumstick wrote:
Tomous wrote:Mine is only 6 months and my wife is already laying down the law on when I can introduce him to Mario :slol:

Why?

Our girl sometimes sees me playing Switch and she's very eager to get involved. She's had a go on my wife's Switch Lite, think it was Crash Nitro Kart.

I can understand limiting screen time

It's really creepy what happens to kids when you shove a screen in front of them, they go from playing, socialising and learning to zombies. You can literally subdue 20 toddlers by playing a YouTube video of wheels on the bus.

We've had kids at work who are speech delayed because they've had too much screen time and not enough interpersonal interaction.

Yeah there is definitely a need to monitor and limit screen time, just like there is a need to control the amount of kids' time spent doing or being exposed to all sorts of things.

It's all part of a healthy balance - unlimited access to screens and games is not going to be a good idea, just as complete lockdown and denying them access to these things is also not the smartest move.

Sure. But it doesn't really benefit children at all before they can understand the basics of numbers, letters and story structure. They're just distracted by the colours and sounds, they don't attach any meaning to them.

We don't let any kids use tablets until they're 3 because of that.

I can't really think of another entertainment resource that pre-schoolers use that is as damaging as screens. Pretty much everything else involves social interaction which is the most important thing.

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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Jenuall » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:08 pm

Fade wrote:
Jenuall wrote:
Fade wrote:
Drumstick wrote:
Tomous wrote:Mine is only 6 months and my wife is already laying down the law on when I can introduce him to Mario :slol:

Why?

Our girl sometimes sees me playing Switch and she's very eager to get involved. She's had a go on my wife's Switch Lite, think it was Crash Nitro Kart.

I can understand limiting screen time

It's really creepy what happens to kids when you shove a screen in front of them, they go from playing, socialising and learning to zombies. You can literally subdue 20 toddlers by playing a YouTube video of wheels on the bus.

We've had kids at work who are speech delayed because they've had too much screen time and not enough interpersonal interaction.

Yeah there is definitely a need to monitor and limit screen time, just like there is a need to control the amount of kids' time spent doing or being exposed to all sorts of things.

It's all part of a healthy balance - unlimited access to screens and games is not going to be a good idea, just as complete lockdown and denying them access to these things is also not the smartest move.

Sure. But it doesn't really benefit children at all before they can understand the basics of numbers, letters and story structure. They're just distracted by the colours and sounds, they don't attach any meaning to them.

We don't let any kids use tablets until they're 3 because of that.

I can't really think of another entertainment resource that pre-schoolers use that is as damaging as screens. Pretty much everything else involves social interaction which is the most important thing.

Absolutely, it's not something we gave any of ours until they were old enough. WAY too many people just use screens as a distraction technique

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Tomous
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Tomous » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:14 pm

Had a catch up with some friends at a pub once and within seconds of 2 of them arriving their 3-4 year old start screaming WHERE'S MY IPHONE! GIVE ME MY IPHONE NOW! Within seconds screen was in his hands and he shut up in a trance like a zombie :dread:

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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Victor Mildew » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:18 pm

It makes me sad when I see people literally shutting their kids up by just shoving a phone under their nose. Two groups of people I know who have small kids, one I've never seen without a phone in his hands watching tv and he'd scream the house down if it got taken off him. The other would arrive with a box of coloured pencils and a colouring book, and just sit on the floor drawing away, showing us pictures.

Hexx wrote:Ad7 is older and balder than I thought.
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Fade
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Fade » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:24 pm

Tomous wrote:Had a catch up with some friends at a pub once and within seconds of 2 of them arriving their 3-4 year old start screaming WHERE'S MY IPHONE! GIVE ME MY IPHONE NOW! Within seconds screen was in his hands and he shut up in a trance like a zombie :dread:

I understand how hard being a parent is but if there's one thing I hate it's parents who give in to tantrums, they're literally just making their lives harder for themselves :lol:

You're basically saying to your child "If you want something just make a scene and you can have it"

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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Jenuall » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:32 pm

Victor Mildew wrote:It makes me sad when I see people literally shutting their kids up by just shoving a phone under their nose. Two groups of people I know who have small kids, one I've never seen without a phone in his hands watching tv and he'd scream the house down if it got taken off him. The other would arrive with a box of coloured pencils and a colouring book, and just sit on the floor drawing away, showing us pictures.

28 years old he was

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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Victor Mildew » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:33 pm

:lol:

Hexx wrote:Ad7 is older and balder than I thought.
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Tomous
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Tomous » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:35 pm

:lol:

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Preezy
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Preezy » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:44 pm

Victor Mildew wrote:It makes me sad when I see people literally shutting their kids up by just shoving a phone under their nose. Two groups of people I know who have small kids, one I've never seen without a phone in his hands watching tv and he'd scream the house down if it got taken off him. The other would arrive with a box of coloured pencils and a colouring book, and just sit on the floor drawing away, showing us pictures.

Yeah we have some friends with kids the same age - not that ours are angels or anything (they are) but they will happily sit and colour/draw or play with toys and use their imaginations etc, whereas these other kids are just gormlessly staring into a tablet or phone, they have no personality.

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Dowbocop
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Dowbocop » Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:06 pm

Mine is three and a half and we've been playing through Super Mario World together. Sometimes he wants a go and sometimes he wants to watch me. He'll also watch me run round time trials on Mario Kart and has played Sonic (which is a little simpler in terms of controls than Mario). He has fun but he can also get a little frustrated because the games don't always conform to what he wants (he always wants a rhino on every level of DKC).

I've actually had a lot of fun playing PC games with him. He likes watching Plants Vs Zombies and giggled like an absolute loon playing Untitled Goose Game (or: The Game With The Goose Who Steals Everyone's Stuff :wub:). I actually logged close to forty hours on Jurassic World earlier this year unlocking all the dinosaurs so I could build him his own dinosaur island we could explore together - he LOVED it!

I think sitting and actively playing (preferably together) is a lot better than just sitting on YouTube. He's currently in this routine where he'll come into our bedroom in the night, then after about 6:15 he can have some tablet time. Getting him off the tablet to go to nursery is a nightmare. The zombie comment is right. What's weird is that he'll watch ten seconds of a video then change, then change, then change. It's like a compulsion! I feel bad that I give him too much screen time on my days off with him but in mine and other current parents' defence we've had no children's groups, no soft play, and largely gooseberry fool weather SO WHAT THE strawberry float DO YOU DO WITH THEM?

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Bertie
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Bertie » Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:27 pm

Yeah. 12 hours a day in a pandemic with a 4 year old is fun, and we need the tablet, it serves a purpose. We sometimes watch on the TV together, he loves his tablet but it’s only short bursts. He does get bored.

The lad plays some of the games on the fire tablet, I help him. Does that count?

I have been using MS flight sim to show him bridges (he loves them!) and teach him about geography. Mummy lived in Sydney for a few years, so we can show him Sydney, try some flying and hand/eye coordination. We had the steering wheel out for forza... that didn’t work too well with a 4 year old!

Everything in moderation. We do craft stuff/gardening/walks/bikes and we need a tablet/tv to be able to look after 18month old and so normal jobs around the home.

As he gets older, I want to play games with him, I want to teach him. I don’t want him playing on his own in his room (like i did).

All in moderation.

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Return_of_the_STAR
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Return_of_the_STAR » Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:01 pm

My son who is now 11 yrs probably started at around 3/4 years old.

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Moggy
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PostRe: Parents: how old were your kids when you introduced gaming?
by Moggy » Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:33 pm

I can't remember how old my boy was, but he's 4 (5 soon) and has been playing for as long as he could hold a controller.

He is chatty and still plays with his other toys and so there's no concern at all about his development. We do limit him to no more than an hour at a time though.


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