Should a toddler be allowed to play with a Nintendo DS?

When my son was just under two years old, I was playing Super Mario Brothers on MY Nintendo DS.  It was never intended for him.  After watching me play the game once, he wanted to give it a try.  I figured that he would get bored with it pretty quickly, so I let him have a try.  My to my amazement, he played the game well from the very start!  I thought it was amusing and amazing!!  So that Christmas, I got him the Leapster.  I figured that it would be a good alternative for him.  Well, the downside is that because he was only two years old, he doesn't know Math or how to read, which is somewhat required for all Leapster games.  Drat!  The Nintendo DS is so much easier because there are plenty of E rated games that do not require reading.  So after my husband got me a new DS for Christmas, I decided to give my old one to our son.

Well, it has snowballed since then.  He is still only three years old now, but he can play Nintendo DS games like a champ.  He plays much better than I do.  (No, I am not jealous.)  But sometimes I wonder if this can be a bad thing.  It certainly has it's ups and downs.

I have noticed that with certain games he can become a bit more aggressive, so I do try to steer clear of those games.  I have tried to steer him toward the Leapster games, but that attempt has failed most of the times.  Sure, he plays his Leapster sometimes, but not as much as that Nintendo DS.  It's good for long car rides and getting him to sit still in a restaurant for longer than five minutes.

I don't allow him to take it to social gatherings, such as a family get-together for the holidays.  But that really doesn't help when most of the bigger kids have brought their DS with them.  I feel like a family gathering is for socializing with people, not for burying your head in a video game, which is what he would do.  But when he sees the other kids with their game systems, the only thing he wants to do is have a turn with it.  And when that kid doesn't want to share their DS (which is totally their call), then all heck breaks loose.  My three year old is being taught to share and now this older kid is not sharing.  Oy-vey!  Now what?

I am not about to give in and let him bring his DS with him.  There is just too much that can go wrong in that scenario.  And I am trying to get him interested in other things so that he doesn't become a video game junkie. 

But I do have to admit that sometimes it is nice to have a long stretch of time to do laundry or something while he's playing a round of Kirby.