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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think children under 10. should not have tablets?

118 replies

Hattie11 · 20/11/2012 13:50

Am I missing something here?

It seems everyone I know are buying tablets for their children asvyoung as 4!

To me that is giving children far easier access to the internet, chatrooms, and ghastly things that can come up during an innocent Google search.
I'm all for children learning to use technology in a supervised situation, but do they really need something so portable that they could easily be flicking through inappropriate content, without being noticed.

I'm not suggesting this deliberately done, but I know my own dd has found shocked by accidental finds on Google. Hence me tightening the supervision when she uses our home pc now.

Pleas persuade me otherwise......

OP posts:

plutocrap · 20/11/2012 14:49

wonderingsoul, does that app block the browser as well? DS (4.7) has learned how to get CBeebies on our Android tablet, and I'd like to be able to restrict times for that, just as you can on Mozilla with Leechblock!

monica77798 · 20/11/2012 14:49

There are ways you could allow them to use a tablet without getting access to inappropriate content (for example not let the tablet connect to the internet - easy if it is wifi only). You could look at parental controls too. There are lots of great educational and fun apps for tablets that can be good to use. If you are worried about it, maybe just supervise their use of the tablet?!/

Teafairy · 20/11/2012 15:05

My DH has a Nexus (it was a very generous birthday present from his parents), that DD1(2.5) gets to play on now and then. It has a mode that you can set, so that you can only access certain things and there is no way she can get on the internet, as she gets older and her needs change we will modify her profile. DH is a primary school teacher and aware of the need for children today to be 'tech savvy' for want of a better expression. As long as it is supervised properly, I can't see it being a problem. We don't have the funds for DD to have her own and to be honest, even if we did, she uses it that rarely that we wouldn't bother but i wouldn't raise an eyebrow at anyone who got their child one.

MargeySimpson · 20/11/2012 15:06

My point is nora if you weren't tech savvy, you may not know what twitter is. Flicking through the ipad, it just looks like another app. I'm not saying it come preloaded or anything. It isn't all an ipad does, but some parents don't realise how easy it is so access and may ban internet browsing but allow apps, not realising apps can be dangerous themselves.

I play a game on my tablet that has a chat room built in to talk to other players

Teafairy · 20/11/2012 15:14

Oh and yeah, why can't tradition and technology co-exist? This morning me and DD1 build a den using the table, which she decided was a tent in the antarctic and she was an explorer. She was asking what animals might be there and we looked it up on the internet. At other times we've been to the library to find out the answers to her questions, didn't fancy the walk in the rain with a poorly DD2 today, so used the available technology. My DD loves all the traditional toys and games but also likes to play with newer things too-she has a 12 year old laptop, that has been wiped clean and only has a drawing program on it, she gets to draw in a mess free way-for those times i don't have time to wipe paint, glitter, glue etc up and practice her mouse skills. Win win. Surely it only becomes a problem if it's not supervised, or is the only thing a child does? Technology isn't inherently bad...you wouldn't be on MN without it!

Fluffy1234 · 20/11/2012 15:20

It's to young I think but that's probably because I had to wait until I was 41 before getting an iPad.
My children are teens and early 20's so the whole buying tablets for toddler thing baffles me but I'm sure people 10 or 20 years older than me were saying the same when my boys got game boys etc.

FunnysInLaJardin · 20/11/2012 15:22

my 2 yo got hold of our ipad on Saturday morning and was happlily playing counting games etc when I came down stairs, so for that 10 minutes peace alone YABU

NoraGainesborough · 20/11/2012 15:26

I play a game on my tablet that has a chat room built in to talk to other players

With parental controls you would not be able to download that app or game. That's why dd has one.

I personally think parents should take it upon themselves to know.

Also just because a child you know used something inappropriately, it does not make the device inappropriate.

NoraGainesborough · 20/11/2012 15:28

You also need the internet to download apps.

Viviennemary · 20/11/2012 15:33

I am in . I thought the OP meant medication. I don't even know the difference between an ipad and a tablet. Not sure I want to. I avoid technology when I can.

StaceeJaxx · 20/11/2012 15:33

Actually 6 months ago I would have said YANBU. But in the past few months my dd1 (9) has been using an Ipad in school for her school work. It has helped her so much it's unbelievable! (She has ASD). The change in her work (and her confidence) has been immense. If we had the money I would definitely be buying her a tablet for Christmas, unfortunately I don't have a spare £400 so I can't.

FunnysInLaJardin · 20/11/2012 15:34

oops just realised I have been showing off by mistake, but tis true both DC are very computer literate. Their granny thinks the are geniuses whereas I know they are very normal and most small children are totally aufait with technology

Kafri · 20/11/2012 15:34

YABU!!

Children tend to love technology and given how educational they can be too, its win win surely??

The boys I work with all have severe Autism and benefit no end from using the iPads in school - some have their own as comm aids, some use for the apps!

Technology will always move on and it's kids under 10 who will go on to develop the next generation of tech or the next generation of under 10s so embrace it I say and use it to your advantage.

JenaiMathis · 20/11/2012 15:34

Parental controls really aren't that great. Anyone who relies on these alone is a bit naive.

Nothing wrong with letting a child use an iPad or whatever, but it seems daft to buy them one of their own: iPads and higher-end tablets are way too dear, cheaper ones are unresponsive and must be frustrating for your average 5yo. Still, a fool and their money and all that.

I let 12yo ds play the XBox on his rather nice TV in his room. 16 rated games and all. I'd call myself an utter hypocrite, but I don't rely on certifications and parental controls to keep an unobtrusive, benevolent rein over what he gets up to.

D0oinMeCleanin · 20/11/2012 15:37

ipad vs tablet is the same as Mac vs windows PC or ipod vs mp4 player.

There isn't much difference bar price. They're pretty much the same thing.

I personally wouldn't pay for an ipad even for myself, let alone the children because I believe there are tablets on that market that are equal to or better than the ipad for a fraction of the cost, similarly I've never owned an iphone. I don't have anything against Apple, I just think you pay for their brand name more than anything. You can get better value elsewhere.

NoraGainesborough · 20/11/2012 15:39

jenai firstly our parental controls are part of out anti virus and are Brill.

Also I don't think anyone said that is the only security you need. See the several posts (including my own) that point out the tablet/ computers are only used in family rooms. Also dd would not attempt to download anything without asking us. Because she knows the rules.

If I didn't think I could trust her, I wouldn't have bought it. But she follows the rules we have set.

JenaiMathis · 20/11/2012 15:41

I agree D0oin, but there are some shockingly bad Android tablets out there. I can imagine a lot of sub-£100 or so tablets bringing a lot of disappointment this Christmas.

JenaiMathis · 20/11/2012 15:46

Nora Parental controls are more problematic for older children ime. The levels either block out too much or not enough - they're quite crude.

With ours I can allow or block particular sites but that relies on me being on the ball and not just going "yeah, yeah" and setting the age level too high. I put my hands up and admit that I've done exactly that in the past - not that anything has got past particularly (yet).

frasersmummy · 20/11/2012 15:47

I think a tablet is quite a grown up present.. so if you get it for a child under 10 what do you get them when they grow up some more ..

D0oinMeCleanin · 20/11/2012 15:50

Well like most things you get what you pay for. I wouldn't trust a tablet for under £100.

We are looking at getting dd2 the Blackberry Playbook. I've never compared it to the ipad, to be honest I don't really pay that much attention to Apple anymore. We've looked at what tablets are available for what dd2 wants and the Playbook seems like it will do the job well enough, although I am a little bit put off by the price of blackberry apps, so we haven't decided yet. We're still looking into android tablets.

NoraGainesborough · 20/11/2012 15:53

Well I think to call people naive jenia for relying on them is a bit daft when its actually a case of you not using the correctly.

that doesn't make others naive.

D0oinMeCleanin · 20/11/2012 15:55

I had that very same argument with DH when dd1 wanted a Nintendo DS lite for her 5th birthday, now she is older she's getting the 3DS XL, technology advances quickly, by the time dd2 is 10 her Playbook (if that is what we end up getting) will be defunct and there will be something else on the market.

Dd2 is also getting an easel and paints. Dd1 is also getting books and games.

Wii have just brought out a new console, it won't be long before X-box come up with a better version of Kinect and PlayStation come up with a better what-ever-motion-sensor-thingy they have.

PolkadotCircus · 20/11/2012 15:56

I don't think they're a grown up present.

Children are growing up with these things,they're piss easy to navigate,they can do fab stuff on them,kids are perfectly capable of looking after things,they're no worse than laptops re security and if I had the cash(which I don't)I'd be buying them for our 3.

My ds 9 has to go to grandma's house to give her tutorials on her ipad(he was the only one under 70 at her Apple training session last year and they couldn't all keep up). He'd love one,spends many a happy hour drooling in the Apple shop.

Won't be long before schools have 30 in a box to teach on.

PolkadotCircus · 20/11/2012 15:59

Fraser-Appgear toys,movie making materials(hours of building Morph out of Plasticene),there are masses of things to move on to,tech is changing all the time.

Very of kids sometimes.

JenaiMathis · 20/11/2012 16:01

fraser it's not a case of having to get increasingly expensive, sophisticated presents every year. If there's something ds particularly wants and we can afford it (and it isn't utter crap) then we'll get it for him - some years I've spent under £50, others far more.

Present inflation isn't inevitable basically.

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