What age for a tablet?

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What age did you give your child(ren) a tablet?

DD is 4.5 and a lot of kids we know her age have one.

I'm very against the idea of her having one but at the same time, a lot of things seem to be done on tablets/computers so do worry it could potentially hold her back?

What have been your pros and cons?

What things does a four year old have to do on a tablet? The Ocado? Book a dental appointment? Check the weather?

I teach EYFS and I promise you that any child who has never used an iPad becomes fully proficient mere minutes as they are so instinctive to use. They are definitely not behind in IT because they haven’t been using an iPad since they were four.

6 i would say. Although, as long as you can hold off for is best I think. My son is 8 and almost on a daily basis I wish I hadn’t let him one, when I did. It causes so many problems!

• have one

I would say as late as possible. Why would they need one. What would they use it for.

What are you thinking they’d use it for?
I have a 6 year old and can’t think what she’d use one for - I don’t allow YouTube, and don’t want her watching things on a tablet (I prefer any tv she watches to be on the main tv in the living room), she doesn’t need it for admin obviously, and I’d rather she played games in person than on a screen - she likes reading, and jigsaws, and drawing. So what purpose would a tablet have? I’m not anti screens, she watches Netflix and iPlayer. But I’m anti her having her own personal (expensive!) screen for no reason other than to have one.

I think it depends on the kid's temperament really. Gave mine to my ND boys at age 4 and no regrets, they are 6 and 8 now. They're not addicted to them, they get bored of them after a little while. They enjoy the logic puzzles, it's been useful to help regulate my younger one with ADHD. As long as you're able to manage the turning off of it and line up a new activity then they generally happy to let them go. I have had to teach them to look out for a suitable stopping point. Like any of us adults doing something on a device, they're not going to be happy with it taken away suddenly when they're half way through something. When I want to take them away i just sit with them, see what they're doing and say 'ok at the end of this level (or episode or whatever) we need to turn it off'...and they generally do. If they're problematic about it, they know they don't get it again the next day etc. as long as you're not abandoning them with it for long periods, then I think it's fine.

Well I’m 46 and I haven’t got one yet.

You’ve said you are against it so trust yourself.

If you're worried about education, don't...they will get this when they're older.

Pros:
Get some uninterrupted time to do things
Placates at restaurants, waiting rooms etc
They enjoy the puzzles, many of the games are very creative and engaging BUT they are not made equal some of them are shite.
Some games are educational, I think it does also help with fine motor skills but then so does other activities.
Opportunity (when older) to teach about in game purchasing scams etc
Can be a tool to help regulate ND kids

Cons:
Other activities can be less appealing
Frustration about games and puzzles they can't do
Set up of parental settings etc is super complicated...this is my experience with iPad and Amazon Fire.
Another thing to charge
The tension around taking it away, but this can and should be managed and taught.

We gave DD a Kids Fire last Christmas when she was nearly 7. She didn’t use it much at first but we’ve added Mathletics and TTRS for school which she loves and she also has a few daft apps for fun. She can access Disney+ and iPlayer but rarely uses these.

I teach 7-8 year olds and the worst behaviour and lowest attainment almost always correlates with heavy phone/tablet use.

Useless imo
Any TV can be watched on a TV (and I'm not anti TV in playroom/bedroom)
Reading on a kids kindle or books
Stories on a Yoto - will be a much better present
Games on the TV on Internet or a games console like the Nintendo switch
YouTube is full of rubbish and really only an issue when they're older 6-8 they ask about it

I was a bit old school and had an old laptop plugged into the TV via HDMI - we used that to play games on BBC bitesize or timestablesrockstars etc.. never an issue. Used an USB mouse and keyboard. My kids were one of the few who actually could move a mouse and type once they started using computers at school (and i know they were blessed to even have desktops and not chrome books).. quite sad really the state of computer literacy with the young ones these days !

Tablets are so hyper intuitive that you don't need to worry about them missing out.. they see you on your phone and use them at school. They know how to press and click and they're so addictive... stay away!

I think they’re a godsend on plane journeys or long car journeys and when they got older there are some good educational apps school might expect them to use e.g. TTRS but they’re certainly not something a 4.5YO needs to have regularly.

We haven’t bothered getting one