What kinds of things WON'T you let your kids have?
 

Just curious....if you have kids what kinds of toys/books/whatever won't you let them have and for what reason?

When I was growing up, my parents wouldn't let me have anything like a "gun". So of course that's what I wanted most. There was a gun that shot ping pong balls and I wasn't allowed to have it. Finally, I guess around 7 y.o. I was allowed some kinda wood replica of a gun a friend gave me. I guess they were worried I would turn out violent or something. They ultimately relaxed the rule and I had a massive collection of GI Joes later on. :)

Playstation games rated M. My son is 8 and you'd be suprised how many of his peers have/play those games in their homes. We stick to MTX vs ATV, Gran Turismo, Harry Potter, and the Incredibles.

My little girl is 5 and we have no video games at all. Oh I also don't let her use drugs/alcohol or have a boyfriend until she is at least 6.:D

My daughter, age 5, is not old enough yet to want something we don't approve of. In a couple years I can see makeup and possibly a horse as potential battlegrounds. :)

Don't know why but most girls don't get into video games much, must be a maturity thing :) Our daughter hates PS2 because it takes away her favorite playmate.

My 8yo Daughter rarely uses her Playstation. She does want a cell phone but won't get one for some time. I'd prefer to start her out on a prepaid one that will only make calls to predetermined numbers.

Makeup kind of scares me. However, she will occasionally use a little lip gloss. My wife and I figure if we ban her from using it she'll rebel in a few years and end up looking like a clown. Want her to feel less is good and natural beauty is a good thing.

No kids, but I was not allowed to have cokes, candy bars, and limited to very small amounts of sugar. I could only have them after sports activities, hence joining every team I could. Saturday morings were nice, a heaping pile of sugar over cheerios, and a splash of milk, folks weren't up yet. The best though, was when our garage was loaded with umpteen hundred boxes of chocolate bars, which were to be distributed to the players in the city baseball association to raise money. Ooooh man. Hyperactivity, wish I still had it.:(

Our daughter got a Barbie knock off and a Bratz doll from classmates for her 5th birthday party. My wife took took them to ToysRUs for an exchange. Little Andrea picked out a battery operated shark for the pool... and asked her mommy to paint her nails the next day.

It's funny. She has a large doll house with an entire family, furniture, minivan, etc. The doll house is more likely to be inhabited by little plastic toy dogs, bugs, etc than the family that came with it.

My daughters are 15 and 16 so I am kinda thinking babies are a big no no right now!

Oh you poor bastard. Hopefully they're homely:) j/k

I find out in a couple weeks what sex our second is going to be. A girl will force me to forget that all us men are animals, well either that or become an expert marksman:)

Same here...except it's our third. I'm hoping for another boy (have two already)...we'd dominate everywhere we go ;)

I try to keep the candy consumption to a minimum...unfortunately the wifey has a bit of a sweet tooth. No video games, except the educational variety.

Oh, and no guns until their at least 8 years old.

A couple years ago they rode motocross, shot their .22's, flew their model airplanes, fished and swam in the pond, etc etc.

Now they just seem to want to talk to their friends about boys or go shopping. Our only common interests nowadays are P-cars & Bimmers
(although they only get excited about new ones). The joys of teenage girls!

(kinda funny, they must have talked about guns to their friends when they were younger, that their "boyfriends" are afraid of me now!)

Kudos to you for being a responsible parent.

You have no idea how important it is for parents to pay attention to the ratings on video games.

The industry gets a bad rap for creating violent games for kids.

Video games ARE NOT a kids exclusive industry.

Fact of the matter is the core demographic is males 16-40 years old.

As in ANY other entertainment related industry we create product that is appropriate for a specific audience.

We can not be held accountable for parents that do not pay attention to what their kids buy. Or worse the parents that buy it for the kid and do not pay attention to the ratings.

Scott

Tim, how old were your girls when you got them started in dirt bikes? I really want to get my little girl into dirt bikes so we can continue to do something together as she gets older.

Oh, and I almost forgot. She also picked out a Wookie from ROTS! She was just feeding it some of her carrots at lunch!

I restored a Honda QA50 and a MR50 for them for Xmas when they were 8 & 9. A couple years later picked up a KX60 and the next year
modern 80cc race bikes. I bought abike again for myself and I let them try racing a couple times. They didn't ride very agressive and the racing idea fizzled (now that I think about it, I think they just enjoyed telling their friends at school that they raced), but they continued for the next year or so to ride on the small track in the side yard that they had begged for a few years prior.

Now the junmps on the track are just a place for weeds to grow and I think their bikes and the track may end up going bye bye soon.

It was fun while it lasted!

If this thread is still active later this weekend I'll scan and post a couple of photo's of them with their bikes to inspire you!

the rules for my kids...
 

My son is 13 and my daughter is 9, here are a few rules at our house:

- no game consoles (each child has their own PC)
- no PC in the bedroom (they are all in the den)
- no TV in the bedroom (we have 1 family TV in the family room)
- no cellphones (until they can pay for their own)
- no pay for chores, cash may be earned by doing extra work
- eat what's on the table
- clean your own rooms, take care of your own stuff
- no friends in the house while we're gone
- no RAP (Hip-Hop, whatever) in the house
- no cursing or disrespect in any way will be tolerated
- no missing dinner with the family
- no problems at school will be tolerated
- no whining

That being said, my kids are great and are two of the most polite, loving kids you will ever meet.

that wouldn't happen to be daddy, would it? ;)

Oh, that was one that my daughter sprung on us last night, the PC/internet in her room. I told her she could have the laptop but no internet. She can use the kitchen workstation when mom or I are around.

My most important internet rule: DO NOT enter ANY information about yourself or your family on any site. I basically explained that the people who asked for info on any site are usually a business AND someone she doesn't know. Not some kid friendly cartoon experience.

My little girl is about to turn ten. I went to an army surplus store, and was going to get her a grenade launcher, but now I'm having second thoughts.

All seriousnes aside, she doesn't have an X-box or PS, and no computer all her own. She has a bunny, and likes lip gloss.

She will be a grown-up a long time. I'm going to let her be a little girl as long as she wants.