To get my 4 yr old a ipad or DS?

[lisaleelu]

My 4 year old loves going on the cbeebies gameson my lap top. But he does struggle a bit with the mouse. I was thinking of getting him and ipad or Nintendo Ds for Christmas.

I dont want any lectures on kids using computers. I have weighed that one up myself. His use will be monitored and limited.

We are going to visit family in Australia at Christmas and I thought an ipad might be worth investing in (obviously the whole family would use it) as I think you can watch DVD on it - so good for the long flight as would games to play.

I am quite an old mum - 44 so out of touch with computer games and stuff - but I have heard people talkign about DS's get the impression they are small hand held games things. Realise much cheaper than ipad but not as only for games- are the games educational - can you get the cbeebies games - dont want him to play games that invovle shooting people if you get what i mean.

Will a 4 year old likely break an ipad - do they break easy? He is not the gentelest of kids.

Any other ideas - the journey to oz and keeping him occupied is a big part of the decision.

My dh think £400ish to spend on a 4 yr old is obscene but I am think we would all use it i think.

What do you think?

Agree with the iPad as a family item. My 3yo uses mine and is a whizz on it but I wouldn't buy her one of her own. But it's way better than a dsi, don't waste your time or money with that. Buy a family iPad and let her use it.

Don't a lot of long haul airlines have sockets now?

Genuine question. Why do people in general buy ds' s so young? A lot of my dds friends have them and she's four, plus some kids at preschool

Oh by the way - the battery on an ipad/itouch won't last more than 3 or four hours playing games/watching videos, so it will get you through the hanging around in the airport and about as far as Spain before it packs up

Pagwatch and Silverfrog I'm between you - never, I hope, on a plane.

There is something much less irritating about a real human voice singing, in an imperfect voice, probably not the same thing over and over again, with the child joining in, and sensing when it is time to stop and do something else, than about some mechanically perfect voice singing the same damned thing ad nauseam.

The point is that flying with a small child is full-time work and that except while the child is asleep one or other of the adults in the party must expect to keep up the flow of interest and entertainment. I know children have to learn to amuse themselves but there is a time and a place for everything and a long-haul flight is not the time or the place to teach children that lesson.

And I have done it myself - with and without DW - and been driven mad by other people's children, and also enjoyed them being around when they were kept happy and interested. I once taught somebody else's eight-year-old how to do logic problems and gave him my book - hours of peace!

Ooh do they GML? I didn't know that :)

X-post, Pag!

Many lines only have sockets in premium classes - and they don't always work - don't every rely on it.

fair enough, pagwatch.

tbh, dd1 would mostly either watch a makaton dvd (sound low), or do spelling/writing apps, in which case sound OFF.

I tend to look at it like this: if I can still hear the god-awful tedious business conference going on in the next row over the top of whatever she is watching, then it is ok

Look at the leapfrog leapad tablet. They are touch screen like iPad or iPhone, lots of games & educational ones! Around £70.

We have a DS that was given to us. My DC are 3 and 4, they can both play Mario, it's the only game we have for it. I find it quite intuitive (they can't read yet). They aren't allowed to play it all the time but is good for journeys and is sometime they can play quietly. You can get reconditioned ones on EBay. I think an iPad would be too much responsibility for a 4 yr old but having a 'family' one is a good idea.

I used to be a regular on the same flight on a Monday morning where there were four blokes from different companies who had set up a conversational-French class. Their accent was dire (one in particular) and they were a bit loud but it was impressive that they had done it.

x-opsts andrew.

I can see your point, but in our case (dd1 has severe ASD) there would be no snesing the time to stop, lots of very over-enthusiastic joining in from her if I was singing (what do yuo mean my imperfect voice ), and less so if she can watch the dvd through once, knows it ends, and then move on to an app.

totally agree re: app commentary though, and sound is firmly off for those. who wants to listen to "awesome!" "great!" "yaaaaaaaaaaay!" over and over and over?!

Understood silverfrog and of course you know what is best for your DC and for the people around. You are obviously not one of those who do not give a damn for anyone except themselves - who were my real target.

I would buy the iPad as you can purchase educational applications, watch films, play games and put books on it. Ideal for long haul travel. My ds had one for his 11th birthday and dd (5) is allowed to use mine.

My 11 year olds have Ipads but I wouldn't let my (almost) 4 year old play with them as they don't seem that sturdy (maybe being a bit precious about them though).

I have just ordered her a DS though for her 4th birthday. Her cousin has had one since he was 3 and he really enjoys playing with it. I've ordered her the peppa pig game and a drawing game that were recommended to me. Also have pre ordered the moshi monsters game as she likes going on moshi monsters on my laptop. My eldest 2 had DS's since they were 5. My daughter was never really that interested but my son always loved his.

They're great for long trips, holidays etc. Some of the games are educational and my son is unbeleivable with IT now. Loads, loads better than me.

they are expensive so you are setting yourself to reach this standard every year. can you buy it for the family not for him and see how it goes. good for you as well to learn. supervise his use of it from what he is browsing to how he handles it.

Personally I would only let a 4 year old near my ipad under very, very close supervision (and I'd still be uneasy.....)

What about getting a first generation 2nd hand DS off ebay - they are very cheap now as there have been so many subsequent versions - so you won't have to worry too much about breakages. You could probably get a bundle with a few games to start. When DS (now nearly 11) was smaller I bought the Gameboy Advance which at that time would have been considered a bit out of date by an older child - but DS was too young to care. When he finished with it & graduated to a Nintendo DS a few years later - I re-sold it on Ebay at pretty much the same price.

Our children use our iPads and love them. Our youngest is 3 and has dropped and thrown all the ipads at times. We have our iPad1 in an Otterbox, which I'd recommend, but the 2's aren't in a case. They are thinner and probably more fragile so I think we've been lucky.
I agree with the posters who say the iPads should be for the family though, unless you and your DH already have one each.
We do have DS's too but they very rarely use them. The iPads are just much easier to load up with what you want.

Headphones if you like but even then keep them down and personal!

No YANBU for considering this. I bought my DS an iPod touch for his 2nd birthday as he enjoyed playing the toddler games on my iPhone. I wanted to encourage this (within reason obviously) but didn't want my £400+ phone to be broken, bought the iPod touch as an alternative with the 'anything happens' cover incase it got damaged. Funnily enough, the only time it had to be replaced was when I stood on it...

People will always judge but it's up to you and your child's development. You can buy child-friendly alternatives these days but it depends whether you want access to the Internet (you mention cbeebies so I'm assuming you would) and whether your willing to risk potential damage to an expensive item. I would NOT recommend the DS, particularly the 3D version - extremely damaging to the child's eyes, not many parents realise (or care I suppose) that it's only recommended for 10 mins use at a time for 'health reasons' - not good!

I'm a Childminder and have an iPad, my ds is 22 months and him and all the kids (aged 2-11) all love it, we have loads of educational apps, their favourites are a handwriting one and animal noises one, if you get one just get accidental damage cover or something, I have but have never needed it as they are always supervised and also are taught that it sits on the floor/knee/table and they are not to walk round with it.

We've just cone back from hol with a 5.5 hr flight and it was a lifesaver as ds1 aged 6 could watch films etc (he has an iPod too).

Maybe just get one for you as a family, bet you find you use it quite a lot, I watch iplayer etc on mine as its just hSndy to take wherever I am.

iPad all the way. DS age 3 loves it. And the whole family can use it, unlike a DS. We have a case and has been dropped upteen times, not broken yet.

They also do silicone cases which are ooh at protecting them.

iPad all the way. We have one and two Nintendos and the iPad gets used far more. I download films on to it, they use it watch episodes of tv shows, the apps are great. Far more versatile.