How do you keep your ~8 YO having fun

I must admit, recently I have been overwhelmed by my 8 yo son. I usually come up with all kinds of ideas of things to do to have fun, but recently runs tired of these. I guess I need something new. So, I wonder what do you guys who have a child around 8 years old do for fun.
Things we did before and that he doesn

Sounds like a power play Igor. He wants an xbox and will run you ragged until you give in. :slight_smile:

Well, he ain’t getting it. I tried an xbox for a couple of months or so, he got so glued to it you can’t imagine, so I know that ain’t happening again.

Well, he ain’t getting it. I tried an xbox for a couple of months or so, he got so glued to it you can’t imagine, so I know that ain’t happening again.[/quote]

Yeah, I hear you. We don’t won’t have a video game console until our son can pay for it himself with money that doesn’t come from hong bau. :slight_smile:

Does he have any friends his age? What are his interests? Any hobbies that you had when you were a kid that might interest him? If you were ever enthusiastic about something when you were his age, try being even more enthusiatic about it now and get him involved with it.

Yeah, I agree about the video game consols…they will suck him in and devour his imagination. You want to keep him active and not indoors all thetime, but its good to get him to take interest in reading and being creative with his hands. I know when I was his age I loved to tear things apart and rebuild them just for fun…sometimes building them into things I would create. maybe he would too?

You should be able to tell if his lack of interest and boredom is a ploy to con you into getting him an X-Box, I would think.

Igor,

When my boy was eight, he used to love to go to that amusement park over near the Grand Hotel. Its a dinky little place, with only a few rides… but, unless the Taiwanese have suddenly had an injection of common sense and a concern for safety, that place still has what must be the world’s best bumper cars. Those things were lethal, and my boy loved crashing them into other riders. They were unsafe for the unaware… but fine, IMO, for those who knew what they were getting themselves into.

Bumper cars back home are comparitively tame, due to safety concerns… but, those cars at the little park here in Taipei were rocket fast and hit like linebackers. We rode those things a million times.

Afterward, we would go out to have some western food somewhere… maybe up in Tienmu or whereever. From that park you would be not far from the Post Home, where they serve a very decent pizza.

Made for some nice days a few years ago.

Why would that be so? Provide me with some good arguments. I attribute a lot of my imagination to playing video games. By experience the dream worlds of the games I was able to create my own.

Igor, buy the kid an X-Box, I love my father to this day for buying me that NES when I was 8. And it hardly excludes other activities. I played both soccer and basketball at the time. If he likes swimming then encourage that. Enroll him for a swimming club. If he wins some contest, maybe you can give him the X-Box as a price?

Igor, don’t listen to this guy. Didn’t you see in another thread he was asking where to buy Taiwanese female student uniforms? I blame it on X-box. :wink:

Bumper cars!!! :bravo: :rainbow: Now, why didn’t I thought of that?
That’s gotta be something new, I sure going to try those next week end. Thanks TM

Yes derek, I agree with you, I want him to keep his creativness and do things with his hands, like craft or so. He’s just not the type of kid to sit and put beads through threads. But I need to find maybe some stuff about art and craft with plenty of ideas.

The Xbox or similair things our out of question. I found his attitude did change while he was playing the xbox I think last year or so.
I think when it comes to develop imagination there are much better ways than that. The major problem I have with it is you must hit, kill, destroy to win; most of the games are about that and for an 8 yo, he won’t get his imagination from there, or not the right one.

Thanks MM for the heads up. :wink:

Igor, the wife and I were talking about this last night. You are already doing so many things with your son. Are you spoiling him a bit by always trying to come up with great activities?

I totally understand how Taiwan is sucky in the “go play with your friends” department. When I was 8, I spent about 8 hours inside the house…when I was sleeping. Other than that, I was outside playing with my friends or climbing trees. I know this is next to impossible here. But I think maybe you’ll go crazy if YOU personally try to keep your son unbored.

I’m hoping that organised sports will help our son in a couple of years when he keeps telling me he’s bored. “Oops, time for taekwondo, get suited up!”

I don’t think it’s much of spoiling him, rather I’d like him to enjoy new things. i can see his viewpoint, there’s only so much he can do here in Taipei, considering we go out A LOT!!! we quickly go…Done that, yep done that, done that as well, done that, done that, yep done that :sleepy:
Things he never get tired of doing though: swimming and ice skating. Those are my only jokers. :laughing:

Just thought I would add my 2 cents here. First, I don’t live in Taipei but in Taoyuan. A good place to check out here is TaiMall. B2 has a place called the action zone. They have wall climbing, mini golf, basketball, rollerblading, batting cages, and those japanese game show throwing games (you know, the 1-9 thing) and many other things. Thats an easy Sunday filled right there.

On the video game issue. I remember saving my money to buy my first NES and how much I loved to play it. However, regardless of how much I loved playing it there where rules in my house. Sunday night after 7pm until Friday after school there was no TV and hence no video games. Also, an Xbox is kinda a mature system, many of the games are made for 18+ and of course, those are the games your son will play at friends houses. Have you considered a Nintendo Gamecube (or next year the new one comes out, Nintendo Revolution) Nintendo systems are MUCH more child friendly. OF course they still have the 18+ games, but if you watch what he buys (or buy them yourself) many of the games are good honest fun. Then control how many hours he plays… Give him x number a week, or day or whatever works for you.

My wife LOVES playing Mario Party 6 on the Nintendo. It’s basically a board game on the TV. Every round there are mini games which last a very short time 5-30 seconds and the best player wins the points for that round. It’s the most fun in Multi player so your son will always be asking you to play with him. Games like these (there are others) are not so bad. Give them a chance before you catagorically deny your son video games.

On a side note, DON’T buy a Gameboy or PSP because you will never be able to control how much he plays since he can take it with him, and then he will be playing in the car, on the way to school and under the bed sheets at night.

Just my 2 cents. Also, my daughter is only 16 months old, so I haven’t yet been personally faced with these questions. However, my current plan is to do much the same as my parents. No games with guns or violence, and no games durning the week, and you always have to ask me before you play. If not, you’re screwed.

Even though you’re being ironic I would lice to clarify that I was asking where to buy High School tracksuits, there’s a difference…

Have to second on that one. Games like Mario and Zelda are very different from Halo and Doom 3.

But since you’re not into videogames that’s my last try to convince you. Thus my final vote goes to organized sports.

Yeah, I think I am going to push towards sport more than anything else.
Thanks guys for pitching in.
Cheers,

If your son loves swimming but you are not so “into” it, have you looked into some of the swimming classes here? I liked the look of the sessions for kids at the Chungsan MRT sports center, the kids were all having a great time and the coaches seemed really kind. It’s also right by the MRT station. The facility is pretty good, too, there is a gym and badminton courts, dance studio, coffeeshop…

we’ve been swimming there as well, just never noticed any swimming classes, i’ll check it out.
Thanks