I assume kids are on phones too?

Global (this was 2 years ago) didn't. They would do movies on half days.

Our center has no screens at all. I would not pay for aftercare if it did.

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this question - Does MCPS Aftercare have Nintendo Switches this year and are they used a lot?

MCPS doesn't run after care, the county has contacts with vendors who rent space in the school. So it is vendor by vendor and even school by school.

Ours has this. I never assumed they didn’t (Kidsco)

I don't ever see any screen time or game console at aftercare. Sometimes, they do organized activities, unorganized activities, playground, eat snack, do homework, gym game, read book or just do nothing sitting around waiting to be picked up.

When I attended MCPS, BAR-T had a TV with a video game console and this was early 2000s, so this doesn't surprise me. There were plenty of other activities that most kids chose to do. If your kid is already screen addicted, they will want to use the switch.

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this question - Does MCPS Aftercare have Nintendo Switches this year and are they used a lot?

Ask about a specific place. Or two.

Bumping this question - Does MCPS Aftercare have Nintendo Switches this year and are they used a lot?

Ours (KAH) has one. I don't see them overdoing it, though. I don't see it most days, though. I do see it on full days off, like during Winter Break, sometimes when it's rainy. Especially having to share it, I didn't find that my kid was playing that much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry if this isn’t the appropriate forum for this question, but DC has started attending before/aftercare at their MCPS ES and they told me that the program has a Nintendo Switch. Is this typical? Part of the appeal of aftercare for me was playtime with no screens. It also sounds like it leads to conflicts among the kids over playing and kids who are good at it making fun of those who aren’t. Anyway, just wondering if video games at aftercare is normal? We otherwise like the program.

Did you assume that aftercare had no screens or did the aftercare tell you they had no screens?

NP- our program (Kids After Hours) got a Nintendo last year, but prior to that, the only "screens" they did was showing movies for the occasional parents night out event. I think some parents were a bit surprised by the change, especially since we learned about it through our kids rather than the director. But FWIW, while initially it was a bit of a novelty (we don't have one at home yet), my DS says he doesn't play it much. It sounds like there is some sort of schedule so at most an individual kid can play once per day (not sure how long for).

Absolutely not normal! Our aftercare (run by Wonders) has no screens.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry if this isn’t the appropriate forum for this question, but DC has started attending before/aftercare at their MCPS ES and they told me that the program has a Nintendo Switch. Is this typical? Part of the appeal of aftercare for me was playtime with no screens. It also sounds like it leads to conflicts among the kids over playing and kids who are good at it making fun of those who aren’t. Anyway, just wondering if video games at aftercare is normal? We otherwise like the program.

Did you assume that aftercare had no screens or did the aftercare tell you they had no screens?

Yeah, normal at our center also.

Sorry if this isn’t the appropriate forum for this question, but DC has started attending before/aftercare at their MCPS ES and they told me that the program has a Nintendo Switch. Is this typical? Part of the appeal of aftercare for me was playtime with no screens. It also sounds like it leads to conflicts among the kids over playing and kids who are good at it making fun of those who aren’t. Anyway, just wondering if video games at aftercare is normal? We otherwise like the program.