Things that your kids don't or are not going to have

If you're a parent or plan to be one someday, what things are they not going to have, or rather that you are not going to get for them?


Cellphones
blackberries
anything they can text on
Video games/consoles
iPads
i-anything
basically anything that is popular and every kid just HAS to have it currently or you're a bad parent if you don't give it to them, they ain't going to be getting any of it from me.

I don't think a kid needs an iPad. Beyond that everything else on that list can be given to them in time.

I'm getting my kids a cell phone soon, because my daughter went to a sleepover once and I couldn't get a hold of her for 3 hours and it stressed me out. I figured she was fine, but I wanted to KNOW that she was fine. It'll be like a 3rd "family" line though, not a line just for one of them.

They love texting though and I think it's good for their reading fluency personally so I let them use my phone to text their friends.


IDK, before I had kids there were a lot of things that I thought they wouldn't have, but now they have their own feelings and wants and I don't really remember why I didn't want them to have them.

Things like a Nintendo DSi...I didn't think that I should spend 150 bucks on something for a 9 year old. But then we always spend about 100 bucks on each child's birthday so we started telling them that if they would rather not have a party, they can have the money to buy what they want...So my daughter did that and earned the other 50 bucks. My son did the same thing with this giant Lego Castle. I think 100 bucks for lego's is ridiculous but if he wants it that bad, that he's willing to give up his birthday party and not get any present...I guess I don't really care.


I'm trying to think of something that I just wont let them have...Toys with strong magnets in them, but that's because of the twins, not them.

I don't have kids. I would be ok with my kids having certain electronics when the appropiate age comes around. But when it comes to cellphones or smartphones, I wouldn't let my kids have them until they are 12 or 13. With video game consoles, I would give them to my kids but I would limit their play time and such.

jennab85 wrote:I don't have kids. I would be ok with my kids having certain electronics when the appropiate age comes around. But when it comes to cellphones or smartphones, I wouldn't let my kids have them until they are 12 or 13. With video game consoles, I would give them to my kids but I would limit their play time and such.

That's what we do. We talked with the pediatrician about it at their checkups and all agreed that 30 minutes of "screen time" a day is the amount they should be able to play vg's or watch tv/get online. For smartphones...I don't even own one yet.

My son won't ever have a pc in his room and we will not have a web cam in the house. Oh, and no blue highlights.

thepossiblepolice wrote:

jennab85 wrote:I don't have kids. I would be ok with my kids having certain electronics when the appropiate age comes around. But when it comes to cellphones or smartphones, I wouldn't let my kids have them until they are 12 or 13. With video game consoles, I would give them to my kids but I would limit their play time and such.

That's what we do. We talked with the pediatrician about it at their checkups and all agreed that 30 minutes of "screen time" a day is the amount they should be able to play vg's or watch tv/get online. For smartphones...I don't even own one yet.

I know a few parents who do the 30 minute limit and sometimes they bend the rules on the weekends, vacations or the summer time and they let the kids play video games for a few hours at time. When I was growing, my family had a few video game consoles but the rules that my parents had were different. My parents had the "homework and chores first rule", if we didn't have anything to do, we could do watch TV, or play video games as much as we wanted. I wasn't a daily gamer. I tended to play video games more on the weekends or during times when I wasn't involved with sports or dance.

I just got my first smartphone a few phones back. I decided to get an iPhone, when my cell company contract needed to be renewed. I love it but at the same time I couldn't really see a little kid having one.

I wouldn't get my child a laptop, and that's largely because I think that the whole thing has gotten ridiculously common. He or she would have to settle on trying to use the web space on their rinky dink cellphone if portable Internet is what they crave.

When my kids are old enough, they can have cellphones (right now it's just a matter of them not being mature enough to keep up with and/or not break one) and I see nothing wrong with video game systems. What would stop them from having one would be cost. I agree though with Red about no computers in the bedrooms, or webcams.

jennab85 wrote:

thepossiblepolice wrote:

That's what we do. We talked with the pediatrician about it at their checkups and all agreed that 30 minutes of "screen time" a day is the amount they should be able to play vg's or watch tv/get online. For smartphones...I don't even own one yet.

I know a few parents who do the 30 minute limit and sometimes they bend the rules on the weekends, vacations or the summer time and they let the kids play video games for a few hours at time. When I was growing, my family had a few video game consoles but the rules that my parents had were different. My parents had the "homework and chores first rule", if we didn't have anything to do, we could do watch TV, or play video games as much as we wanted. I wasn't a daily gamer. I tended to play video games more on the weekends or during times when I wasn't involved with sports or dance.

I just got my first smartphone a few phones back. I decided to get an iPhone, when my cell company contract needed to be renewed. I love it but at the same time I couldn't really see a little kid having one.

My kids aren't really daily gamers either, mainly because there are 7 of us in the house and they aren't allowed to have them in their room either, so there's not that many opportunities where it's appropriate for them to have their turn. I don't like them playing wii when the babies are out their because they might bonk them with the remote, and I don't like the tv on that much when the babies are out their either. I encourage them to go outside and play most of the time because I want them to be healthy physically. I hadn't thought about the webcam thing, but I don't think we'll have one either, now that I have.