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Oct 27, 2017
20,789
Just use parental controls. Kids will probably learn about that balance at any age, if anything helping her learn how to balance it now will help her earlier. It's a new thing, Of course she'll use it a lot. She will get bored at some point and then she can learn about seeing the value of going back to a product you already have. Do what you gotta do but it's literally been a couple days and I assume she's not in school so these aren't exactly normal situations you're in
 

Tatsu91

Banned
Apr 7, 2019
3,147
Why don't you just supervise her while she plays her Switch Life? Why would you return it and make her sad?
bingo just supervise her and set limits in some ways that can be considered mentally abusive 'here is this new thing i bought you even though you did nothing wrong i am gonna take it away and return it punishing you'
 

b00_thegh0st

Member
Nov 6, 2017
1,023
Screens are useless to children up to 6. I'm not saying they're systematically detrimental at that age but they bring nothing that helps the children develop on the physical and psychological sides. And because I know this statement is not particularly popular around some gamers I want to add that I'm a pediatric nurse.
 

Tatsu91

Banned
Apr 7, 2019
3,147
If you get into a pattern of taking it away then giving it back the next day she'll eventually stop.
That would be the correct way to take it away temporarily 4 year olds get mad at electronics punishing them for not fully getting it is not good because that can create them making their own abusive habits as they grow
 

Gnorman

Banned
Jan 14, 2018
2,945
It sounds like you're failing as a parent and blaming the Switch Lite instead. Before giving to her you should have a conversation and established rules. Furthermore, Nintendo has since day-one Parent Controls as an app. An electronic device, even more a gaming-focused one will make kids overblown their attention and make their spend less and less time with "analogic" toys. You making the one-sided decision of returning the Switch will make more harm than good and even make her sad(And probably be a little rebellious against you).
Did you completely miss the bit about his daughter having autism? It's not that fucking easy.
 

MadeULook

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
2,170
Washington State
Don't return it as the Switch has likely become part of her routine at this point and it'll likely set her off if you do return it. I would consult a psychologist who specializes in kids on the spectrum as every kid with autism is different and anything could set them off. I also wouldn't guarantee she'll get bored with it. Autistic kids can become hyper fixated on something for a while if they really get into it.

May I ask where she is on the spectrum if you don't mind sharing? I was diagnosed with high-functioning autism myself when I was four.
 

III-V

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,827
My son is about to turn six. I have let him play the switch. He gets 1-2 hr a day if he did well at school (green face) and has done an hour of physical activity. He can trade the switch time for other electronics time (YouTube kids) if he chooses.
 

Dash Kappei

Member
Nov 1, 2017
4,878
I don't get parents like this. It's a new toy, she's enjoying it because it's new and everyone's stuck in the house. If she's still doing homework and other mandatory activities, then let her spend free time however she wants. I'm so happy my parents were never this controlling. Spent hours upon hours playing on the GameCube and GBA and I still had other interests and hobbies and a social life.

She's 5. Five. Her homework and chores amount at best what, 3 hours? Should she be allowed free reign over playing 8 or 10 hours with videogames a day?
 

lorddarkflare

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,324
Do what you think is best for your Daughter. No input we can provide here can match you being with her day-to-day.
 

DragonKeeper

Member
Nov 14, 2017
1,626
This thread is full of shitty advice and shitty hot takes. I'd consult with a behaviorist who understands autism, not a bunch of forum chuckleheads.
I even created a thread praising the Switch Lite.

www.resetera.com

The Switch Lite is an extremely good portable console

I have a regular Switch. I truly like the console and I use it mainly in undocked mode (around 70% undocked and 30% docked). I never had any real complains about using it as a portable device (well, maybe the ergonomics are not very good for prolonged use, but I use a Skull & Co grip and haven't...

But I think she is playing a lot. She is not playing with her toys for example. She is about turn 5 in a few months. Sure, she is doing her homework and helping when with some chores (she has autism and speech delay problems), but I'm afraid that having her own system is going to affect her development progress.

I think the Switch Lite is going to be returned, and if she want to play, she can play on my Switch with supervision.

This thread is full of shitty advice and shitty hot takes. I'd consult with a behaviorist who understands autism, not a bunch of forum chuckleheads.
 
Oct 27, 2017
2,660
You are the parent though. I limit my kids to gaming for 2-3 hours a day. That's plenty. That said, you may have to engage more.
 

night814

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 29, 2017
15,074
Pennsylvania
I don't get parents like this. It's a new toy, she's enjoying it because it's new and everyone's stuck in the house. If she's still doing homework and other mandatory activities, then let her spend free time however she wants. I'm so happy my parents were never this controlling. Spent hours upon hours playing on the GameCube and GBA and I still had other interests and hobbies and a social life.
Yeah I think taking it away complete even with her having autism would be a poor move to say the least, I have a son and daughter and I don't think I could bring myself to fully taking back something they were really into.
 

Dash Kappei

Member
Nov 1, 2017
4,878
Just Mario Kart and Mario Odyssey. She is playing like 6 hours per day.

My fiancee is a social worker dealing with kids and adults affected by severe autism (low functioning, barely speaking, end of the spectrum) but also with high-functioning kids (tho not very high functioning or Asperger's), I was talking with her and we agreed that is frankly impossible to give advice on how you should deal with her taking into consideration her autistim because there are just too many variables that we don't know. So we can't say if you should return it or if you should use the parental app add or anything else, but that as a rule of thumb 6 hours of videogames are not good for any 5 years old, autistic or not.
 
OP
OP
FernandoRocker
Oct 25, 2017
7,987
México
Don't return it as the Switch has likely become part of her routine at this point and it'll likely set her off if you do return it. I would consult a psychologist who specializes in kids on the spectrum as every kid with autism is different and anything could set them off. I also wouldn't guarantee she'll get bored with it. Autistic kids can become hyper fixated on something for a while if they really get into it.

May I ask where she is on the spectrum if you don't mind sharing? I was diagnosed with high-functioning autism myself when I was four.
She was diagnosed as Level 1 non-verbal. She is in speech therapy and it has helped a lot.

She can say a few small sentences now, but she can't seem to understand most of the things people say to her.
 
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Nolbertos

Member
Dec 9, 2017
3,348
I don't know how severe her autism is, but I had a friend that had an autistic daughter and I got her a DS for her 5th Birthday with Nintendogs and she was so thrilled to be playing that but her mom made sure to let her play several hours a day and eventually she understood. Nowadays that little girl is able speak clearly after getting autism classes and still plays videogames. Don't return it, use the parental app and also play with her or do activities with her, so she understands better than Gaming is only for a certain duration.
 

Inugami

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,995
She was diagnosed as Level 1 non-verbal. She is in speech therapy and it was helped a lot.

She can say a few small sentences now, but she can't seem to understand most of the things people say to her.
My brother was in a similar situation, though at 35 he's still mostly non verbal to this day. I can give advice if you'd like, but it may be better to put it in DMs if you do... This thread is already turning kind of gross (people saying "failed as a parent" who aren't even parents let alone having any real experience with mentally disabled individuals is absolutely disgusting).

Short version though: It's probably not good for her to have something she's grown attached to simply and suddenly disappear. It can cause some emotional withdrawal. I'd suggest setting a specific time of day to let her play (say 4pm to 5pm).
 

werezompire

Zeboyd Games
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
11,561
I'm a game developer & a parent of 6 children. I would not outright give a child that young their own game system. I would definitely not give them unfettered use.

We've found weekly visual calendars work well. Designate one of the days of the week like Saturday as videogame day and put a picture representing that next to the day - we've used stuff like game controllers & video game characters they recognize (like Mario). And they might be able to play at other times for special occasions or as a reward, but that's the day that they can play games by default. Timers can also be useful - set a timer for how long they can play in one setting and then when the timer goes up, their time is up and they have to do something else for a bit.

Knowing when they're allowed to play and when they have to stop helps a lot in this situation, we've found.
 

Deleted member 9840

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
158
I haven't studied autism in relation to game design, but games can help children develop their ability to learn and increase the speed of processing new information, as well as improve their spatial thinking, psychomotor, verbal, memory, awareness and problem solving skills.
 
Oct 27, 2017
6,348
I'm in no position to judge this situation but I can't help but feel pity for the child.

Aren't autistic people highly dependant on set schedules and recurring routines and such? I don't see why the parental controls wouldn't help with that.
 

Fatoy

Member
Mar 13, 2019
7,271
I'm a game developer & a parent of 6 children. I would not outright give a child that young their own game system. I would definitely not give them unfettered use.
This is how I feel. My eldest will be 6 in October, and she's only recently started expressing an interest in playing games. She's picking them up fast, though.

We bought Animal Crossing New Horizons for my Switch (which is docked by the main TV in the lounge) intending to play it as my character with her helping, but she quickly got the hang of it, so she now has a child's account and her own character on the island. She can basically everything you need to do in-game, from interacting with the shop to managing her inventory, but she gets turned off by the large volumes of text in some interactions. To be fair, so do I. Some of those Blathers conversations are ludicrously long.

She asks to play it a lot now, but my wife and I don't let her play unless we're also in the room with her. She has an old laptop she uses for school work, but again, she's not allowed to use it alone.

But here's the rub: she's a neurotypical child with a few quirks, and she's typically well behaved, but even she finds it difficult to understand why she can't just play Animal Crossing all the time. She likes it. She thinks she's being productive weeding and collecting shells to sell to Tom Nook. And that's a hard thing to "get" as a kid. Hell, it's a hard thing for adults. I'm nearly 40 and I still drink more than I should sometimes, don't have the best diet etc. I think we've done a decent job of managing it so far, but I can tell there's a day coming where she's going to try and stand up to me or my wife and say she wants to keep playing after her 45 minutes or so is up.

I can't imagine how difficult it is to convey all that to a child on the autism spectrum.

So yeah, I'm afraid I don't have any advice, but the OP has my sympathy.
 

SimonSimon

Alt Account
Member
Mar 26, 2020
658
This reminds me of a conversation I had recently with my Mom. She's never liked video games, but somehow fell in love with Pokemon. She just thinks they're so cute. If it wasn't for that, I probably would have never gotten a Gameboy with Pokemon Gold as a gift when I was a kid.

Now she's a grandma, and she was thinking about showing Pokemon to my nephew. But she called me to ask if that's a good idea, and if it will just end up getting him hooked on video games, like happened to me. I told her straight up that if she doesn't want him playing video games, she probably should not get him interested in Pokemon. It's a slippery slope, for sure.
 
Apr 30, 2019
1,185
I would say she's too young to play video games unsupervised. If you can't bring yourself to limit her use of the switch, I'd reccommend taking it back and sharing yours with her.
 

touchfuzzy

Banned
Jul 27, 2019
1,706
I have a 4 year old (well in a few days) what can kids these young even play?

If you want a great first game for a kid, Kirby: Star Allies. My son was playing this when he had just turned 3. All of the tutorial stuff is all visual, no reading, you get lots of help from AI allies, it's quite slow paced.

Mario Odyssey was an obsession when he was 3.5. He mastered the controls before he even turned 4, it was crazy to watch him play.

He's 5 now and plays LEGO games and Goat Simulator and Dreams, and we do lots of co-op games together. He's my little gamer buddy. My next youngest kid is almost 3 and hasn't shown much interest in them at all yet.
 

MadeULook

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
2,170
Washington State
She was diagnosed as Level 1 non-verbal. She is in speech therapy and it was helped a lot.

She can say a few small sentences now, but she can't seem to understand most of the things people say to her.
Be as clear as you can and be patient. My dad had to repeat and explain things many, many times to me when I was younger before I fully understood what he meant. Especially since autistic kids are slower to develop than normal and can have difficulty processing words said to them. I'm not an expert though and if a therapist says something different, forget this but it helped my dad out with me.

My advice still is to do some research and reach out to a child psychologist who specializes in kids on the spectrum. Helped my dad out a ton when he raised me.
 
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Cipher

Member
Oct 27, 2017
47
I def get coming here to vent and get advice, but given the situation, we aren't the people you should be getting advice from on this. I would talk to you doctor whether through email or phone given everything going on and map out a plan.
 

Bradford

terminus est
Member
Aug 12, 2018
5,423
Games are really valuable learning tools for children suffering speech issues. especially games with a lot of talking.

Maybe consider getting her a game that might pique her interest enough to require understanding to progress.

In the linguistic community games are a hot topic due to how children fixate on them and become motivated to learn to read/speak as a result.



chin up, op.
 
Oct 25, 2017
10,796
Toronto, ON
I don't get parents like this. It's a new toy, she's enjoying it because it's new and everyone's stuck in the house. If she's still doing homework and other mandatory activities, then let her spend free time however she wants. I'm so happy my parents were never this controlling. Spent hours upon hours playing on the GameCube and GBA and I still had other interests and hobbies and a social life.

Did you have severe nonverbal autism, or do you have experience with parenting a child with nonverbal autism? Maybe that's why you don't "get" it. Could that be it? Hmm, it's just a mystery, I guess.

It sounds like you're failing as a parent and blaming the Switch Lite instead. Before giving to her you should have a conversation and established rules. Furthermore, Nintendo has since day-one Parent Controls as an app. An electronic device, even more a gaming-focused one will make kids overblown their attention and make their spend less and less time with "analogic" toys. You making the one-sided decision of returning the Switch will make more harm than good and even make her sad(And probably be a little rebellious against you).

This post deserves some love too. Please tell me how great of a parent you'd be to a nonverbal autistic kid, and how you'd know all the right things to do at every turn. Go on, tell us about it. Just gross and infuriating.

You're the worst kind of parents that exist. You're just gonna make her hate you.

Should be a permanent ban for this post, honestly.

FernandoRocker my dude, the ERA galaxy brains aren't going to help you with this one. Go with what think is best or consult a professional.
 
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Astral

Member
Oct 27, 2017
28,383
Autism might make it harder but if she cries, she cries. I think she still has to learn that she can't be using it all the time and needs a routine. Using it a certain of the day, the take a break from it, then maybe again idk. She'll eventually understand how the system you have in place for her works. I think returning it can do more harm than good. Setting limits and explaining them will cause her to fight back more but if you give in she'll learn that she just has to cry or scream to get her toy back. Her difficulty communicating will make it very tough but it's worth a shot.
 

H2intensity

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
926
Not gonna judge you because i don't know your situation well but my nephew also has autism and me and my sister (his mom) encourage him to play video games since 3 years old but with some restrictions.
He is 11 years old now and can finish every zelda game in the series alone and also 2D Mario. He develop some great analytical and great reflex and still playing with his friends in school.
Being parent is not an easy task (parent with 9 and 11 years old) so its okay to be freak out but you always have ways to control your kid.
 

Marble

Banned
Nov 27, 2017
3,819
Don't return it man. She'll be heartbroken. Just make a clear arrangement with her about when, where and how long she plays. I mean, she's a kid, of course she wants to play all day. I have to kick my kids of the PS4 or else they're playing Minecraft from 7 in the morning until 7 in the evening. :-P
 

Starviper

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,431
Minneapolis
Parental control route is the right way to go.. I remember the friends growing up where parents had consoles taken away, they always, ALWAYS, resented their parents.
 
Feb 4, 2018
1,713
I'm sorry OP, that sounds like a really difficult situation. Please don't listen to the rude people acting like you're a bad parent; you're doing the best you can. I imagine you're not alone at all and other parents of young kids with autism have gone through something similar. Perhaps finding and connecting with those parents might help you come up with a plan that works for your child, or at least help you to feel less alone in this!
 

platocplx

2020 Member Elect
Member
Oct 30, 2017
36,084
Like others have said parental controls are great. I'll never forget when my parents took back my regular Nintendo when I was a kid because it wasn't booting up. Then never replaced it. Was upset about it for years. Worst thing you can do unless they are totally misbehaving.
 

Twister

Member
Feb 11, 2019
5,112
She has autism. I am a parent of an autistic child and videogames and other electronics can overstimulate them especially at such a young age. You have to be really careful.
Yeah, I missed that part. I definitely don't know enough about how autism affects development to be able to make any meaningful suggestions in a scenario like this. I think there definitely are benefits to playing games and giving children freedom to do what they enjoy so long as they aren't hurting themselves/anyone else or neglecting other things, but I can also understand how raising a child with autism might make these decisions different as things may affect them differently. Again, I didn't see that initially so I apologize if it seemed unsympathetic, that was not my intent.
 

Valcrist

Tic-Tac-Toe Champion
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,753
I don't think 4-5 is too young to have your own handheld, then again I started gaming when I was 5. Time should be limited perhaps, but I think video games could really help in ways you don't expect. Instead of taking it away, I'd explore it a little instead. I wish you and your daughter the best OP, but I implore you to not take it away completely.