DSi has been a lifesaver for my daycare!
When I told my husband that I was planning to buy Nintendo DSi for the daycare I’ve owned and operated for fifteen years, he said that I was crazy. He told me that it was an “amazingly bad idea” to buy something that pricey for use in a setting where there will be so many kids using it all day long. I took his advice to heart, and bought six instead of one. I looked for where to buy Nintendo DSi at a bulk discount, but I couldn’t find a place. That’s ok, because every penny I spend on toys for the daycare is tax deductible. I did have to come up with a system though, to make sure that none of them are damaged, none of them disappear, and the games don’t get lost (man, are those games tiny!), but it wasn’t hard to figure out a system.
First, I set up a special area of the big room in the back of the day care just for gaming. I’ve got a computer back there, and two TVs, one with a Wii system and one with a vMotion system. The game room is in its own corner, so it’s pretty easy to keep track of the kids coming and going from the room. When I added the Nintendo DSi to the room, I also added a locking cabinet outside the room. The staff member in charge for the day holds onto the key, so she can get into the cabinet when someone wants to play with the Nintendo DSi system or one of the games. All of the game systems and the games are locked up in the cabinet, and we have a check out system so that the kids can check out games on a first come first served basis. It’s usually the middle school boys who get to them first, but we have an hour limit on play time to make it fair to everyone. I made sure to buy Nintendo DSi games enough for everyone to have a big selection.
I think the very best thing about this setup is that it actually prevents a lot of trouble for me at the day care. We have a few kids, boys, who are in middle school, and they’re a little spirited to say the least. Before the game room, those boys were usually picking on the younger ones and having the occasional rumble over a basketball or something. Now, the after school period is quieter, since the hour play time tends to coincide pretty closely with the amount of time before the rowdy boys’ parents pick them up. I think that the increased quiet at the daycare is there because I decided to buy Nintendo DSi. I’m not used to raving about products, and this is actually the first review I’ve done on anything besides regular old word of mouth. But it has been such a wise investment for me, that I felt I had to do a Nintendo DSi review.
Kristie - Richmond, VA
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