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?

Re cost for a present...we got DD a piano for her Chrismas gift one year. Was more than cost of an iPad. Somehow I doubt many people would have an issue with that though.

"Just pointing out that not having had access to screens as toddlers puts my dcs at an advantage to yours."

My DS uses his to help with his autism, because yes he is at a disadvantage in comparison to your kids.

*but that is due to his ASD, not looking at a bloody screen.

dowagers you're right. Mine are all 12+
Which is my point. The world has changed, but children's minds haven't. Not at birth anyway, and by letting the under fives engage in a world where the simple rules of physics don't apply, you're playing fast and lose with their learning and behaviour at the most important time in their lives.

lambethill - How on earth can you possible know that your children are at an advantage from having never used an iPad? That is a bizarre statement, sorry but it is. There is no way you can ascertain that!

If you really thing they are - prove it!

I think you have to have boundaries. I wouldn't let my
DDs play on iPad/phone/touch at the dinner table in company in the same way they do not do these things when a friend comes to play. But by the same token I wouldn't let them read at the dinner table either.

I think understanding your child goes a great way to your child not feeling disadvantaged.

How old is Bill Gates, at least 50?
Therefore didn't spend his childhood with Ipads or even Vic20.

I am perfectly aware that ipads/tablets are great for children and adults with special needs.

They are great fun, they are. But not indespensable to a toddler. Theybare also very easy to use, children who hadn't had access to them wont be left out.

DS is getting his own laptop for Christmas, he is eight. Recommended by the school.

DD uses our iPads, and is developing really well. Has great Fine motor skills, is learning all about numbers, shapes, colours, the alphabet, is well spoken and communicates her needs very clearly. She runs around a lot and is very active.

Point is, the tablets are not a problem. How they are used could be. If they are used within moderation, alongside lots of other activities then it's not a disadvantage, it's an advantage.

Parents who use them solely to babysit their children may have issues - but then again these parents would use TVs/consoles or any other method of avoidance parenting wouldn't they?

So it's daft to lump all parents who have iPads in their house/for their children. I think anyone who labels a large demographic of others, probably doesn't have the strongest of arguments in the first place.

Don't panic when they go to school they have interactive screens in nearly every classroom eg a giant iPad!

Lambethllil - what if you have a child who understand the laws of physics perfectly but struggles to understand how to eat a meal in public?

I disagree that our children haven't changed. My son could tell you the differences between a pendalino and The Flying Scotsman (and I bet most of you have to google that)... or the battle of britain. He struggles with busy environments (AKA: SChool). Why should they not be allowed to take advantage of the new opportunities open to them? Maybe the OP feels it might disadvantage HER children in some way... for it is a clear advantage to mine, and that seems to be a motivator for the OP.

Quite Lisad...

Once a child goes to school they will use a computer every day - from the interactive whiteboard to the actual desk top computers in each classroom. Some schools use hand held devices such as a DS or an iPad (more and more schools are using the latter or non Apple versions). Some schools even have class sets of laptops and iPads so they can be used everyone in school.

Anyone with a child still in school now will have had a child using computers very regularly from the age of 5y.

I went to secondary school in the mid 80s and had weekly ICT lessons.
We had computers in middle school before that too - which we used on a rota, so less often - but still around.

Franca you would be amazed.

I had my first computer at the age of 8. It was a ZX81.

I have a feeling Bill got one before me.

Just think of the irony... for those who don't think computers are amazingly important for the future of our children: We are having this argument over the internet. If you disagree so much with computers, may I ask what the hell you are doing on here???????????

Hula
Lots of cross posting here, sorry if I'm repeating myself.
My dcs are teenagers. They have iPads screens etc now. If they had been around when they were toddlers I don't know if I'd have been able to resist them. I consider myself very lucky that they weren't around because they're very attractive and easier for a child to entertain themselves on. I never had to make that call.
None of us had access to touch screen technology as children. We don't know how being able to navigate a narrative with our fingers as opposed to turning a page alters the brain. Maybe it doesn't. But all the evidence- reduced concentration span on school entry, childhood obesity etc. suggests it's not a good influence.

YOu are - everyone of you - staring at a computer screen. For Fun. hahaha.

I am, because I am an adult. My dc are listening to the red hot chili peppers.

A screen I bought for myself from wages earnt reading and writing and interacting with people brought up the same way people have been brought up for millennia.
None of which applies to a toddler on a screen.

I thought childhood obesity levels started rising before tablets became popular for children?

What??? Not Mozart? That's what they listened to back in the Day!

(seriously, love RHCP)

That "evidence" does not say that technology is to blame though. Those things could equally be related to lots of other factors too - more ready meals, processed food and fast food available, increased traffic on roads preventing playing out, more children travelling further to schools so taken in cars, increase in organised activity clubs dictating a child's every minute.....

And yes - all these issues were occurring way before the launch of iPads and other tablets.

Lamb where did I say I sat my DCs down with a screen at a restaurant?

You are projecting all kinds of things here.

And, I would like to point out that my children ARE NOT FAT

Using an IPAD and being obese are not synonymous

It wasn't the iPad or laptop when I was younger, but the sega mega drive or super Nintendo, surely there isn't that much difference between spending your free time looking at apps and spending it looking at sonic on a computer game.

What? Is your problem that the toddler should have somehow paid for the IPAD itself? I really don't get your problem and, you know what, I don't think I care either.

Go think you are some supreme being, what with your advantaged kids and all. Hope it all stays really, really fine for you. Cos it just might not. ANd while I am utterly prepared for it, I have a feeling you are SOOOO not.