To think that IPads/laptops for younger children are just ridiculous

[MummyGalore]

I don't know if this has been covered before as not on here often so sorry if so.
But AIBU to be getting increasingly riled/concerned with the amount of mums who are talking about getting their children (I'm talking under 10s but some i know are buying them for children as young as 4!!!) Ipads and laptops for christmas. It riles me as i think that they are starving their children of their opportunity to learn through imaginative play. Simple toys are the best at that age, surely ipads are not a good option especially at 4.
What do others think?

For most NT children, iPads and the like are about as useful as those crappy "educational" electronic toys that have been around for years, the ones that fill page after page of the Argos catalogue, and contribute as much to their development as Mario Kart (love it as I do).

Tech is piss easy to use these days. I'm not suggesting that it would be the right thing to do, but you could keep a child off computers until they were 16 and they'd pick it up quickly enough. Claiming that you're giving your toddler an advantage by spending £100s on an iPad (yet not taking a family holiday ffs - I can't quite believe I read that!) is delusional.

My baby has been using an iPad since birth and yes I have seen him swipe toys to make them work, but equally he can press buttons or turn handles or any other skills he needs. My nearly 4 year old has taught herself her numbers up to 100, herself to form letters correctly, to spell, do basic maths and to read! All on here own in the peaceful hour we get on a morning when she first wakes up. This is her iPad time. It's bliss!!!

As with anything, as the adults we control what is put on the iPad (we have two and an itouch) and so she cant do or access anything that we don't approve of. There are no games as such apart from one Peppa Pig one. Everything is educational or she can draw freely and we print the pictures out.

The ipad has done wonders for our youngest to help his concentration, tracking etc. They all have protective cases and get dropped several times a day and so far have survived.

Technology is the future and we embrace it. However we also have a house full of toys and we sit and play with the children for the other 11 hours that they are awake and talking!! I would rather have an iPad than a Nintendo or similar game system. The choice of what you can put on one is amazing and what goes on is your, the adults, choice.

have not read whole thread but would like to point out that an iPad is a fantastic device for many learning disabled and autistic children (my son is autistic), even when they are very young.

I know a six year old who's addicted to his iPad. I couldn't afford to buy myself one, nevermind children. YANBU

My DSs are 12 and 8 and I would love to get them their own laptops, but can't afford it ATM. They need to access the internet to research stuff for homework and, yes, they do play games online but it's mainly Minecraft which is a very creative one. My laptop (which I use for business) is gradually being taken over and clogged up with downloaded games and their stuff!

I wouldn't have got them one when they were very young- it was only a few years ago but even in that short period of time things have changed and I know quite a few 3 or 4 year olds who use the iPad for learning games, just like my kids' generation had leap pads and the like.

"Their value is completely dependent on how they are used."

Well quite! Computers are an amazingly powerful tool, and if they are used creatively and as an educational tool - as well as for fun - then how can they fail to benefit children? The access to information is mind-bogglingly staggering!

How about this for example "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19291258 US teen invents advanced cancer test using Google". This kind of stuff wouldn't be possible just a few years back.

Or, for another, less exceptional, example, a friend of mine really got into computer graphics as a child, and by the time he got to uni he knew more about the subject than most of the tutors on his Computer Graphics course. He set up a graphics company straight out of uni, employing his fellow ex-students and many years later is very successful indeed, doing something he loves. And this is despite being dyslexic and not getting the support or encouragement he needed from school.

Why wouldn't I want my DS to get a head start in using such an amazing tool?

I would love DS to have his own ipad!

Oops! That link again

US teen invents advanced cancer test using Google

My son is nearly 3, and he loves my iPad. He is very careful with it, and knows how to respect it. He has lots of games, some educational and some just for fun. He has already used it to learn his numbers, and thanks to this thread I have just downloaded a phonics game for him too!

But he also plays out a lot, cooks, draws, goes to pre school play group and has plenty of other play time. Everything needs to be in balance.

I grew up with computers, we had access to good computers very early on, and my whole (very sucessful) career has been based around being able to use the latest technology fluently and expertly. I want my son to be ahead of the pack (like I was) by having access to the latest technology too. We are a very tech driven family, with myself and my husband working in web, graphic design and system and web development.

Being a big geek in no way adversly affected other areas of my life.

I think my sons use of my iPad at nearly 3 is just the start of him learning to integrate technology into his learning. When he's old enough I will teach him to use photoshop and illustrator fluently, his dad will teach him how to design iPhone apps and if he has an idea, and wants to create it, he will have all the tools to hand.

On the other hand, if he wants to dabble in the kitchen, and create some recipes of his own, well I'm teaching him how to do that too. He's already brilliant with watercolour as I am an artist as well as a geek, and he makes a lovely Spanish omelette.

It's not exclusive, it's just another thing to learn. We will get him a laptop or tablet when he is ready.

Jenai building and programming computers isn't piss easy,quite the reverse.As a nation we're in danger of rapidly falling behind as regards tech.Kids just seem to concentrate on packages already done for them in school.If they were pushed more into building and programming alongside having an Ipad etc at home they could do amazing things.

Dp designs and writes code which he is beginning to pass onto our oldest 8.I couldn't do half of what my dtwins 8 are doing.

I think the point is he's would not be really getting a head start by using an ipad now. Children with engaged, literate parents have a headstart. Ipads are neither here nor there. There are some great videos on you tube of stop motion Lego animations, often made by children. However the skills that you need to make these are of planning, imagination, design, concentration etc and they don't neeeeed a computer at 3 to build these foundations. The computer related skills you need to make the animations could be learnt in hours.

My dh is in his mid 40's and works in a techie creative industry. However the fact that he grew up without computers/missed out on the trends in IT education of the 80's, 90's and 00's has not disadvantaged him in any way, he just picks skills up as he needs them. He couldn't make his own computer, but he can use any software he needs - its designed that way.

When I say tech, I'm referring to its use rather than its development.

Navigating an iPad, or even using Word, doesn't teach children how to programme. There are some applications out there (Scratch for example) that are great for introducung the concepts, but messing about with a Pepper Pig app won't.

If we want our children to have a better grasp of computing than most adults do today, we need them to understand databases, to grasp algebra and so on. As I understand it IT education in schools is indeed moving towards proper computer science as opposed to the use of office software, which is clearly a Good Thing.

Essentially, being able to use an iPad at 3 will have absolutley no bearing on that child's ability to exploit technology when they're 15.

I'm an OK-ish programmer btw, with a novice's grasp of a few languages. I leave the hardware side to other people

haven't read all the thread, but I already know I'm a Luddite in this area. Am quite anti all the XBox, Nintendo, PlayStation, iPad stuff that kids play with...

We're not totally anti technology in this house, in face DP works in an IT field, but we just feel that at 4, we'd rather DS was not exposed to all this stuff, educational though some of it may be.

Of course in the future he'll need to get to grips with whatever the technology of the day may be. But at 4? No thanks.

prairieflower I agree - I think the problem is people confuse being able to use software with understanding computers. Software can be good or bad. Knowing how to use some kinds of software is 'being good at computers' in the same way that knowing how to operate a microwave is 'being good at cooking'.

(and completely agree with what jenai said)

But merrymouse, to quote you "Their value is completely dependent on how they are used."

That's absolutely right IMO!

The possibilities are endless (even with an easy-to-use ipad) and well used, are very valuable indeed and can't fail to benefit DCs IMO.

But, for instance, computers have failed to benefit children where schools have invested loads of money on hardware and then just loaded up pointless software that is less beneficial than helping auditory skills by singing songs or playing with sand and water.

Some of the science stuff for infants is painfully awful. ("drag the object to the correct box - is fur hard or soft?" - or maybe you could feel some objects with your hands and communicate with a human being?)

Some of the

(ignore that "some of the")

Ours have been using interactive learning tools since three. Its done them a power of good they are learning and having fun.

All the developmental stuff aside, i think i just find it a little obscene that children as young as 3 are bought £400 comodities and that it now seems to be fairly commonplace for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses. Whatever happened to teaching children the value of money? I predict a generation of people paralysed by debt in the pursuit of material things and with an inability to stand on their own two feet, expecting that the world owes them a favour. I am no luddite. I like technology and it achieves great things. To be IT literate is essential in today's society. But really, a £400 ipad for a 3 year old??! By all means let a toddler use/ break your own ipad, but don't pretend that to buy them their own is money well spent or that you're doing them any favours in encouraging personal responsibility.

Matana - I really think you have to look at it as whether it's cost effective.

My DS has had an IPAD since he was 3. My daughter before she was 2.

My DS has his because of SN, and the IPAD really helps with that. My DD has one because she wanted what her brother has.

I really have far too many problems to worry about to worry about whether you feel I should not have purchased IPADS for my children. My DS NEVER asks for a toy in a toy shop. Never looks at an advert and thinks 'I want that'. His brain isn't like yours.

So the fact that YOU think he shouldn't have an IPAD is, quite honestly, utterly irrelevant to him.

maybe you could feel some objects with your hands

yy merry.

I like technology. Computers are ace and they can contribute to education at all stages, if used well.

Tech is also fun; I see no problem in allowing children to use it for that purpose. Just lets not pretend that a 3yo needs an iPad if they're not going to get left behind, and don't pretend that they're not used as electronic pacifiers.

I'm intrigued to know exactly what it is that people think their pre-schoolers have learnt from their iPads that makes them so valuable.

YABU.

Computer literacy is as important as reading, writing and arithmetic, these days. Holding off until the age of 10 is just plain bizarre.

Being able to navigate to Angry Birds does not make a child computer literate, ouryve.

merrymouse yes, those are examples of technology employed badly.

Just buying some hardware and uploading "pointless software" at the expense of singing sings or playing with sand would be a complete waste of time and money of course. But are you assuming this is the only way in which computers are used?

I will again quote your previous comment, which I agree with absolutely
"Their value is completely dependent on how they are used."

If used well, they can be very valuable indeed.

Jenai, actually within the industry, Angry Birds is used as an example of a game through which many people first got to grips with the (then) new Apple operating system. Of course what is was teaching was limited, but it is an example of a game which was in fact educational for many.

Just saying.