mindee's bring their ds's every day and wont do anything else.....

[mrs robbie williams]

have a 6yr and 4yr old mindees (sisters) apparantly all they do at home is play on their ds's (the point that the mum text me at 7am this morning panicking because they had left their charger at my house )
its fine (and very quiet and peacefull ) but i cannot get them to do anything else. Yesterday when they were at school i set up painting, stickers, arts and crafts etc and wanted to put their bits they did in the their lj's plus try and do an obs on the 4yr old but cant them off the damn ds's should i tell mum to 'accidently forget to bring them some days', take them off them and limit the time on them, or just let them get on with it ???? any advice would be appreciated

[Toothfairy]

I have limited my Mindees to only bringing them on a Friday. They moaned at first but after a couple of weeks it just became the norm.

[mrs robbie williams]

thanks for replying from what i can make out the parents encourage them to sit and play on them all the time - dad even asked me this morning if i had a spare charger in case they lose their one

[The Juggler]

mine can bring them but I limit the amount of time they use them - they can choose when and how to use the time limit though

[mummyof3]

Problem with this is you have to respect the child's wishes and the parents wishes but to play them ALL the time does seem a bit silly.

Could you maybe tell parents they can only bring on certain days as you are worried the other children could damage them??

Very sad that the parents think this is normal to allow them to play them for such lengths of time.

[Ripeberry]

Did they get them for Xmas? They will soon get bored by the end for February

[Hebs]

i have a strict "no games consoles from home" rule in my setting, i dont want the resposnibility of replacing them if they broke in my home

[mufftie]

sometimes they are a godsend with older children especially the over 8's but with children so young id limit the time to an hour in the am then another in the afternoon if they have behaved , i hate computors etc and i limit my own children so it wouldnt be fair to let others bend the rules

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I would let them bring them but sit down and explain that they are only for use at quiet time whilst the rest are watching tv. I would use this whilst they are waiting for their parents to collect.

It could be that they had them for xmas and it is a novelty

I wouldn't be charging them though, they have to do that at home

Finally, I would write to mum and state that although the children are welcome to bring them under no circumstances are you resonsible and you won't be liable for loss or damage

[Hebs]

my son got his first nintendo hand held (SP console) when he was 4, he still loves hand held games 7 years on so i dont think they'll tire of them just yet

[crazyhazy]

I have a 9y who brings hers with her but she's usually pretty good and only really plays it in the morning before school which is fine cos she arrives at 7am so it means it's nice and quiet lol. I would probably limit them to no more than an hour at a time and for a 4y I think even that's prob too much but maybe by gradually reducing it they won;t notice.

[mushpea]

I dont let them play consoles or have tv on before school,, generaly things like that go on when they start to get bored in the holidays or after school when they are tired but even then they are limited to how long they have,, I have 5 schoolies so they can have half hour each of the wii or tv and if they bring their ds they can have them on for half hour then thats it as there is plenty to do,, they may sit there and be bored to start with but if you stick to your guns then they will soon fine somthing else to do,, i would imagine the parents encorage the use of them as its easier than entertaining the children themselves.

[rickysmiths]

i have a strict "no games consoles from home" rule in my setting, i dont want the resposnibility of replacing them if they broke in my home

This what I do. Also stops arguements with those that don't have them. Result they are never brought to the house.

[onceinabluemoon]

I have a strict 'no electronic games' rule too.

I had a child bring a nintendo in once before i wrote this rule and he spent the whole day shouting about getting killed or killing people - he was 5...

Hence the no DS (etc) rule

[youarewhatyoueat]

I wouldn't let them bring them from home but I do have a box with a couple of old game boys and the older ds's and the leapfrog leapsters and a large selection of games, its just part of what I put out as a choice of actvities. The games boys can be picked up with loads of games on ebay really cheaply. I'm not bothered if they get broken and they actually enjoy playing different games, it ticks my ICT box and to be honest another few weeks and they will be playing outside after school.

[juejue]

2 of my mindees bring them some days, But they only play them in the morning between 7.30 till 8 before breakfast and at quiet time before home time.
They may play with them while I am doing nappies and Some times they have them in the car.
The parents said they are on them all day at home . The know they are not allowed that here and are ok with it.

[Bridey]

We have one day a week in which the children can bring their DS - these 8 & 9 year olds who come after school. There is no way I would allow a 4 year old to sit and play one all day in my house.

[xdirtydancerx]

DS's aren't allowed in my setting since a mindee played on my dds game (on her own ds) and stole it. We know she did as she eventually admitted it. Now mine and my dds ds's and games stay in the safe while mindees are here and it's in my policy that no ds's are to be bought into my setting

[loocyloo]

its never crossed my mind that mindees might want to bring them!

DS has one, and once, and once only has he brought it down to play on, and then it was shared very nicely.
we have a wii and that is very very very rarely played with when mindees are here, usually its an 'inset' day treat!

i see other children's parents handing over DS's to childminders in the playground, or know that they take them to their CM, but i don't want them in my house, and were a parent to ask, i would say that we don't play with them!

i would also be concerned if 'all' the children had them, then there is an onus on parents to get one for their child as they got older, or so they didn't feel left out, and i don't feel that is fair.

[Pipsqueak]

IF any of mine bring anything like that the time is limited and its not every day. After that they get put up to one side safely till home time.

End of