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Children and Tablets

ScandaLeX

Wasn't Me
I just had the most irritating thought. We spend these ridiculous amounts of money for our tablets to entertain ourselves yet they seem to end up in the kids possession.

This is supposed to be nap time for him yet I'm posting from my phone. Life ain't fair. :p

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As long as they leave me alone ill but each one a tablet :p

My a100 has pretty much been my daughter's tablet for months now.
 
This is one of those topics that starts w/ we as parents. If we tell them no or never let them have it in the beginning the issue never presents itself.

Example : My daughter knows that she is not allowed to play w/ my ( daddy's ) phone. I told her I just don't think kids & smartphones / tablets go hand in hand.

On the other hand my wife does let her play w/ her iPad & my mom lets her play on her Kindle Fire when she stays w/ her. Those are their devices, so therefore it's their decision as is mine.

Sometimes we as parents are the root of the problems we face w/ our children & we don't even see it. Maybe if we as parents didn't buy high sugar drinks & snacks we wouldn't have the childhood obesity & diabetes problems that our society is currently facing. My point is if you nip the problem at the root you never allow it to grow.
 
This is one of those topics that starts w/ we as parents. If we tell them no or never let them have it in the beginning the issue never presents itself.

Example : My daughter knows that she is not allowed to play w/ my ( daddy's ) phone. I told her I just don't think kids & smartphones / tablets go hand in hand.

On the other hand my wife does let her play w/ her iPad & my mom lets her play on her Kindle Fire when she stays w/ her. Those are their devices, so therefore it's their decision as is mine.

Sometimes we as parents are the root of the problems we face w/ our children & we don't even see it. Maybe if we as parents didn't buy high sugar drinks & snacks we wouldn't have the childhood obesity & diabetes problems that our society is currently facing. My point is if you nip the problem at the root you never allow it to grow.

And I say, children should play outside, on tire swings and bikes. They should stub their toes every now and again. They should curl up on the couch with a ole fashioned book or learn how to bake a cake. My oldest son 20~ just got his first smart phone. Why because he bought it. He paid for it and the plan it came on. I refuse to commit 2 years of a phone contract for a child. They get a basic phone until such time they can afford more.

The problem, Treb is us. It is easier to let the kids play on a tablet, than to interact with them. But who is getting the short end.... We all are. We as a society have given our children a sense of entitlement that is beyond any other generation. Sad to say.... but oh so true.

PS. This is my opinion, not in anyway meant to offend anyone here, as we all raise our children in different manners.
 
Things are a lot different than when we were children. That long ago we read books and interacted with our friends. We didn't have FB or Twitter. We colored; not Instagramed.

Children today have access to smartphones, tablets and all makes of handheld gadgets (DX, Vitas, iTouches). We've entered the age where fun is being done electronically.

That 3 yr old in the picture I'm outside with right now playing ball. He's the youngest member of the household surrounded by Samsung and Apple devices and knows how to pull up his programs and use them.

Having that kind of access does not take away from time at the park, being read too, or just playing hide 'n seek. Can't do that electronically. :D
 
Things are a lot different than when we were children. That long ago we read books and interacted with our friends. We didn't have FB or Twitter. We colored; not Instagramed.

Children today have access to smartphones, tablets and all makes of handheld gadgets (DX, Vitas, iTouches). We've entered the age where fun is being done electronically.

That 3 yr old in the picture I'm outside with right now playing ball. He's the youngest member of the household surrounded by Samsung and Apple devices and knows how to pull up his programs and use them.

Having that kind of access does not take away from time at the park, being read too, or just playing hide 'n seek. Can't do that electronically. :D

True, but a lot of kids just "can't do that"

Bring on the age of the parental power cut, and see how much havoc that causes the kids of today's world and they might actually discover things like board games, nature etc and that they have a family who can actually (heaven forbid) be fun to be with, instead of just being fleeting avatars in the same physical space.

(ok a generalisation but there ya go)
 
I allow my children to use my phone or tablet on occasion. I have some book apps that we will read together at bedtime, and when it is quiet time, but not quite bedtime, I will allow them to play games for a little while (They love angry birds :)) Also it can be a lifesaver when you are in a location that they need to be calm and quiet, for example I will let them watch a kids video on netflix, or play a game while waiting in a dr. office, or for dinner at the restaurant.
 
I allow my children to use my phone or tablet on occasion. I have some book apps that we will read together at bedtime, and when it is quiet time, but not quite bedtime, I will allow them to play games for a little while (They love angry birds :)) Also it can be a lifesaver when you are in a location that they need to be calm and quiet, for example I will let them watch a kids video on netflix, or play a game while waiting in a dr. office, or for dinner at the restaurant.

Completely understand.
Tablets aren't a bad thing and have there place. I've bought plenty of interactive story books we read together.
Look at the number of people who travel with the portable DVD player for the kids. Having a tablet is no different.

As a child when I had to do essays for school, we had at home encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesaurus. Now they have Google.
 
My kids have a basic phone. all 3 have ipod touches, which they bought 75% of their own money. they have to pay for their own apps and music.
my daughter just turned 16 and is going to get a smartphone. i will pay for the phone but she has to pay for the data fees.
if they get bad grades they loose the ipods for the whole grading period till the new report card comes out.
we have a family game night about once every 2 weeks. we go camping. boys play sports. they go outside and play.
they know if they do wrong they will loose the electronics.
 
I allow my children to use my phone or tablet on occasion. I have some book apps that we will read together at bedtime, and when it is quiet time, but not quite bedtime, I will allow them to play games for a little while (They love angry birds :)) Also it can be a lifesaver when you are in a location that they need to be calm and quiet, for example I will let them watch a kids video on netflix, or play a game while waiting in a dr. office, or for dinner at the restaurant.


Lifesaver is an understatement. Its like, here you go you lil @/$?#@/.........wait till we get home............................


I do find time for reading books to mine though. Daughter has a whole trunk of books, English and Spanish, loves to take her bike when we go walk the dogs.... My mom gave me the latest gadgets (sort of) and i see no reason not to do the same. It isn't causing any harm. Cant complain when shes doing some light learning on certain apps either.
 
I started giving my nieces iPod Touches when they were about 12 yrs old. As I change devices they get better stuff passed on to them and they give their previous items to family or friends without.

My sister was so delighted her girls now 15 and 18 pay it forward.
 
I've noticed that special dedicated educational Android tablets are becoming quite popular now, especially Readboy and Malata. These are low cost devices intended children and come pre-loaded with a variety of educational software for learning Chinese, English, Maths, Science, Politics, etc. These don't have a browser though or any way of side loading additional third-party software.
 
I got my first smartphone last summer for my birthday going from Verizon to boost (the agreement was I found a cheaper plan then vzw and I got a smartphone. And I did. Then I went from boost to cricket back to boost virgin metro finiailly virgin for the last time.

A month ago I got my first tablet a nexus 7 because m blind in 1 eye and my dad noticed I couldn't see things too well on my phone (font size maxed out) so he said find a GOOD cheap tablet and I'll get it as your birthday gift. So my first idea was a kindle fire. Root put cm9 on it. Done. Then my dad saw the gtab2 7.0 then Google unveiled the Nexus 7 and I was in love

I will be upgrading my HTC wildfire S to a kyrocea rise this weekend as it comes out Friday

(I am 16 just saying)
 
I've noticed that special dedicated educational Android tablets are becoming quite popular now, especially Readboy and Malata. These are low cost devices intended children and come pre-loaded with a variety of educational software for learning Chinese, English, Maths, Science, Politics, etc. These don't have a browser though or any way of side loading additional third-party software.

Until someone takes it home and roots it :)
 
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