I was completely against video games, but my mother broke me down and I finally let her buy them a wii for Christmas when they were 8 which meant my youngest was 6. And OMG did she go hog wild. They did play it that first year but I limited it. My younest had little to no intrest and still doesn't at 8. The trio are 10 now I think it has been turned on once in the past 6 months.

A lot of their friends and cousins had DS/DSi so of course they wanted them too. I wouldn't let them get them. Finally this year I let them spend their own money on a handheld but and Ipod touch not the DSi. It just made more financial sense and there is so much more they can do with them other than games so I feel better about it. Games/apps are less expensive. Buy the games/apps once and they get loaded on ALL FOUR of their touches. No buying $20-$30 cartridges that could be lost and they have to share or buy duplicates. And hell most of the games for the touch they love are free downloads! I load books on tape from the library on them for them to listen to, Ebooks for them to read (they love the ebooks), educational games and tools. and of course all their music. Oh and I don't have a smartphone so I carry one when they are at school. LOL And at $149 for the devise it was close to the cost of the DSi. But in the end has been much cheaper. Always comes back to money with me.

But even still they are extremely limited on use. All homework has to be done, instrument paracticed, books read. Only exception is if they are reading an ebook on the touch. And I have been known to turn off all the games on their touch before giving it to them to ensure they are reading and not playing. But I only have 2 I have think about doing that to. The other two I can trust if they say they are reading they are reading. My son and my younest are the ones I have to watch. I keep them by my chair and they have to ask me for them.

Tasha
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