iPad for toddlers Pros and Cons

[Bamasmama]

I've got a 6 year old daughter who is autistic. The iPad has given her a whole new way of communicating her feelings to us that she hasn't been able to verbalise before now, thanks to apps that have different animated faces for each emotion. She has a great time tending to her animals on the various things she has downloaded, and FaceTime is a great way of her checking in with us whenever she feels nervous without having to draw too much attention to it.

[csgohan4]

That's great to know, any particular apps you highly recommend to other parents with kids?

[CarrierPigeon]

While iPad or whatever other high-tech stuff out there do give toddlers a better chance and environment to learn, however, exposing these stuff to little kids just set the high benchmark for their later life. Also, there is radiation (although it's kept really really really low it's still there) to consider, and the damage to the eyes from these devices. Although I guess 15 minutes per day should be fine. Just my opinion though.

[g8ina]

I wouldn't have responded to this thread some months ago, but now my granddaughter is one (tomorrow actually) she is taking a very keen interest in her mom's phone. She already knows that to get it to light up you press the button at the bottom, and yesterday she had my phone for the first time, and pressed my phone's button on the bottom, making mine light up Whilst not normally an applefanboi, I'd certainly be interested to see what she made of one !

[nalaing]

We are planning to buy our 2 year old an iPad, I think its a great learning tool with parent participation obcourse.

[Shooty*]

My son is 6. My daugther is 3. They are allowed iPad time on weekend mornings. He likes Angry Birds, plants v zombies, cut the rope and Busters Lost Moshlings.
She likes Hello Kitty dress up stuff, the Sticker Dollie Dressing (which is the same as the paper ones you can buy), Disney Princess stuff, Thomas the Tank engine puzzles, colouring, and co-operates with him on Moshlings.

THey both like watching me do Temple Run. If I'm going anywhere with them on a long train journey, I'll load it up with Peppa Pig or Clone Wars videos and watch it with them.

They're strictly not allowed it during the week. What has surprised me is my daughters ability to grasp the fundamentals of app navigation (back, forward, OK, cancel) and touch interface controls in games.

I was bought a C16, then a Spectrum +2, then an Amiga, etc, from an early age. I don't see it as any different. I taught myself stuff and became familiar through exposure at an early age, and got to understand machines to a degree. I'd rather my kids are like that, rather than being like some of my colleagues who, even after a decade of using computers at work, have absolutely no idea how to do anything with them.

[Sputnik]

When I was on Holiday, There was a little Russian kid in a pushchair playing 'gas tycoon' everyday at breakfast. His mother said it was the only way she could get time from him to eat her breakfast.

He seemed pretty good at it too.

[Bluecube]

I don't think I've posted to this topic but I recall saying my three year old was using my iPad some time ago. She's now four and she's a bit of a wizard with it now. Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, interactive books and Youtube are her favourites and it's quite amazing to see her navigating through Youtube watching Simon's Cat, some Russian cartoon series and now Tom and Jerry. There's also the drawing apps she likes. She's supervised (especially when on Youtube) and time is limited but overall I don't think it's much different from watching TV and playing games.

[tallship]

I've been hearing that there are many experts that are against giving toddlers and iPad to play with.

Oh that's just hogwash! Anything made by Apple is great for helping their teething, although they could make those iPads a little more chewey

[Preacher]

The fisher price apps are great! The sooner we introduce them to technology the more comfortable they will be with it. It's going to be even more important in the world they grow up in so there no harm in giving them a head start.

Just remember to use airplane mode. Only problem is my son goes through my contacts, recognises his uncles, aunties and grandparents and rings them! It's too easy to disable airplane mode on iOS!

[harryj1995]

Don't put any credit card details in though. I read somewhere that a ten year old spent £1000 on add-ons for a kids game

[Preacher]

Don't put any credit card details in though. I read somewhere that a ten year old spent £1000 on add-ons for a kids game

Nah that's only if you have put your password in within the last 10 minutes and you can disable in app purchases under restrictions in the settings.

It has happened though, I think apple should look at all "free" apps that allow you to buy 10,000 magic beans for 60 odd quid! That's just aimed at tricking kids. You only have to look at the top grossing apps to see it works..

[graemeakerby]

Let them experience the real world before they become a brainwashed iZombie... no seriously my niece first used a smartphone at age 2 and now she's 6 and worse than most 15 year olds you see on the bus. I'm 22 and I like smartphones but I don't think that they have a good influence on kids at such a young age.

[shelley bda]

It really is another way of learning for little ones. Long ago some experts believed that books were detrimental to a child's development, we now know that this isn't true.

9 Month old with ipad.

We watched this video at Uni recently, and it's amazing to see that even at that age he has an idea of what it does and have the co-ordination and manipulative skills to able to use it. He's making connections between what he sees and knows he has to use physical skill to make it happen.

Trouble is Laptops, PDA's and ipads are becoming more and more widespread in classrooms and at home, so like it or not it is the future.

[Larkspeed]

My 5 year old daughter has her own computer in her room (locked down with magic desktop so she can only run approved programs and visit approved websites), she also has an innotab 2 which is a tablet for kids that runs all kinds of games and educational software.

She also regularly uses my Galaxy Tab 2.

And she watches the kids shows on netflix using the laptop we have plugged into the TV as a HTPC.

However we don't let her over do it to the point where she is constantly locked into one gadget or another.

I don't think it is detrimental to her to have access to these types of things, it's giving her a good head start into computers so she is building a decent skill set for later in life.

She also has the advantage that since I do not speak dutch she speaks English to me but dutch to her mother and speaks dutch in school so at 5 years old she can already fluently (as fluent as you would expect from a 5 year old) speak 2 languages.

[tallship]

Aside from the days when some self-professed experts opined, "Any food you cood in a microwave oven is dead..." (I sure hope so, I wouldn't want that chicken to fly away), and automobiles will never replace a horse drawn buggy; not exposing our children to technologies that will be surrounding them for the rest of their lives is tantamount to keeping them locked up in a closet.

Moreover, something that will cripple their development when everyone else in the world uses such technologies in the course of their daily lives.

IMO, pretty much anything that adds to their experience in a way that enriches their experience and piques their learning interests is a good thing.

You are right about the head start and the building of, "...a decent skill set for later in life."

Because of early exposure to technology, my daughter has blossomed into a sort of technological guru and branched into several programming languages - something that she can always draw upon as she enters the professional world in whatever career she chooses.