To think we've made a mistake with DS big present?

It’s so refreshing to read about all the little kids who can manage their screen time so well, dipping in and out between playing in the garden and reading. Really amazing 🙄🙄🙄

So much useless parenting on this thread. One OP was at least honest about the fact her kid having an iPad gives her some peace. Sad.

Yup. And IPad wins hands down. Wonderful tablet.

I think it maybe depends what kind of kid you have. Mine are not obsessed with them, they don't tantrum if we say it's time to turn them off, they wouldn't scroll like zombies for hours. Nevertheless, we have set a time limit, so if they have been on them for a set amount of time they automatically lock until the next day. It's rare that they reach that limit.

Honestly, for a 6 year old I would stick with the fire. My kids had them and loved them although I agree with the parent app being confusing and it took me ages to work out how to update etc.

They are pretty much indestructible as my kids aren't careful and they have not broken at all. Still work as well as they did 2 years ago.

One side of our family live 5 hours drive away, when we visit he watches it in the car for some of the journey, same when we travel by air which is fairly often. Our kids don’t actually use tablets daily but they do have their place occasionally and having one each saves arguing! They don’t have YouTube kids as I hate that rabbit hole but they do watch Disney+ or play games. That’s why we bought the cheap ones, more expensive would have been a waste. We didn’t give they for Christmas btw but honestly it’s nothing to do with anyone else. We go out daily, lots of walking, crafting, baking, games etc.

Good for you. We chose differently. Keep judging if you like but I have a bright, happy child who knows how to use a screen and doesn't tantrum when it's taken away. She can also ride a balance bike, a scooter, identify different kinds of birds, build with Lego, draw, paint, glue things, use scissors. Her vocabulary is cracking. She sleeps well, eats properly. I could go on. But that screen is a tiny tiny part of our lives and her life. The fact you wouldn't do it is entirely your own decision and doesn't make any one else wrong.

Write a letter to Santa explaining the problem. Get a reply with permission to exchange.

Oh I see … I guess “both sides of the paper” should have given it away 😂

Never buy android. It’s incredibly unsafe for kids and any blockers you put in they will get around.

get an iPad. It’s rock solid and you can lock it down so tight it squeaks. Send the android back.

I just don’t see why out of all of the toys, crafts and things a 3 year old can be given, anyone would think I know, I’ll buy them a tablet as a present. I would have put it away and not given it to them.

They don't need one. Doesn't mean it can't be useful. She doesn't need 10 dolls either but she was bought several sets by family members and enjoys them.

MIL bought it as a Christmas present, she set it up and wrapped it up, we didn't know. DD opened it and therefore knew it was there. So instead of going mad about it or getting up in arms like so many people seem to be, we just put rules in place that we enforce.

Some people obviously think they do as they buy them one!

Mine (11 and 9) have tablets but they’re never been allowed access to YouTube.

Don’t get me started on how hard it is to connect headphones. Best decision we made last year was to throw it in the bin and get an iPad instead.

Agree. Utterly depressing.

Weve just updated ds tablet from a kids fire to an ipad (like his brother). He got on fine with the fire tablet but I remember his brother got one briefly and couldn't run anything he wanted.
Controls are being installed today to limit time and access.

We've never introduced YouTube. Don't plan to. If she asks and we don't want her to have the tablet, we say no. It's out when she's allowed it and in a high cupboard the rest of the time.

It is that easy.

We had Amazon fires when boys were 3/4 years old for flights and they just watched stuff on Netflix / played basic games. I hated them!! So difficult to use. Return and get a refurbed iPad on blackmarket. We have refurbished iPads for them which cost around £120 and they are brilliant

They don't need it. They actually have lots and lots of things that they don't need.

I have a 6 year old. She has a tablet which she's allowed to use pretty much only when taking long journeys. Do you know when she's at her most focussed and creative? When she's given absolutely no external stimulation from technology or her parents. I'm not saying she should be left to her own devices all the time but I think it is vital that children are allowed this space for some of the time. It's vital for them to really experience true 'boredom' so that they can learn to use their own creativity and their own initiative. Not only are tablets addictive but they foster an entitlement to instant gratification. I'm not saying tablets are evil but we can't ask them to babysit our young children then wonder why they're growing up obnoxious, entitled and lacking any drive or attention span. I don't think people are wrong to point out that they're damaging any more than it's wrong to point out that smoking is damaging.

I don't think YABU to want to return it- tell DS santa messaged you to say there is a fault with them so he's calling them all back to workshop and sending something to replace it. I'm surprised so many are very anti Kindle fires though. We have just bought a second so kids have one each for long drives (we have a few europe driving trips in 2025) and we've found our DD's one great but we do only use it for the white noise app nightly and watching pre downloaded stuff from Netflix in the car or for school homework apps like timetable rockstars and Ed shed spelling. She isn't allowed to browse web or go on YouTube and has shown no interest either in doing that. We have it pin locked so she can't get into it at night when it is playing white noise. I guess when she's older we might need something better based on what people are saying here.

It really isn’t that easy. If it was, we’d all be fine.

look, tech isn’t “bad” but screen addiction is real and it’s hard to take screens back once they’re introduced.

My dc have switches and I gave them an old iPad when they were 6 and 8. Removed it after a month (it “broke”) because no matter how much I monitored it and supervised, they were obsessed with it. The oldest now has a school device but it’s so locked down that they really can only do school work on it.

What was a nightmare for my dc was YouTube. Utterly addictive for them. They would scroll and watch for hours and hours if I let them, which is why I have removed it from our lives (it’s blocked on the WiFi).

Why does a 3 year old need their own tablet???! Insane.

Ive never commented on this site before but a 6 year old having a tablet is insanity. Highly recommend you read glow kids. Tablets (even when used for educational purposes at school) are so detrimental to their development and wellbeing.

You can Google how to add playstore to an Amazon pad. I've done it several times.