To not buy my 9 year old any techno stuff this Christmas?

[ICameOnTheJitney]

She's got my sister's old Samsung phone which she can play games on...she has access to the internet via my laptop when she needs it...I don't let her play lots of games on my laptop as I use if for work.

I just can't afford to get her an ipad or tablet or whatever...she's expressed SOME interest but isn't begging but I get the feeling she knows that they're not cheap and that we can't really afford it....she'd be thrilled if she got one.

Is it unreasonable of me to just buy her games, toys I know she'll enjoy and a new scooter?

Will she be the only 9 year old with no new tablet??? SHould I get her some kind of cheapo tablet? I am clueless!

Bump...

No yanbu plenty of nine year olds don't have tablets. The scooter sounds perfect.

The only person in my house who owns a tablet is DS1. He is 14 and bought it with his paper round money.

So no, my 10yo has no tablet. Ditto my 12yo. I personally think a £400 toy/gizmo is not necessary for a primary age child (that's what an ipad costs isn't it) tho I know lots of people don't agree as friends' DC have them. They must have more money than me.

No of course YANBU.

She isn't deprived of technology and she clearly isn't craving it or she would have asked.

I wouldn't automatically assume that 9 yr olds all have tablets. Many don't.

Ah I do feel better! Thank you! My fears are based in part thanks to my sister's telling me off that DD won't be having one...she feels that "all the kids have them" and that I should go into debt to get it! Her DC have all the latest gadgets...they're ten....I thought it would be something she'd have when she's a bit older....perhaps I'll get her a 2nd hand laptop in the summer for her bday.x

FWIW, we got DS2 a Kindle Fire for his 10th birthday because he asked and they aren't too expensive. He was interested enough to offer to pay for some of it if we said it was too much. We wouldn't have given him one if he has asked for an iPad or a more expensive tablet nor would we have assumed he wanted one if he had asked for other things. It had his fathers old ordinary Kindle for a while which wasn't working well so he was used to reading books on them. However, he is in the minority in his class of having a tablet of any kind of his own.

Tell you sister that she can buy one for your DD - if she is willing to put her money where her mouth is! The kiddy techno race is awful and my advice is to avoid getting on that path for as long as possible!

kotinka where was it? I read the reviews on Amazon for cheaper tablets and they're often very bad...saying they're slow etc.

We've got ds3 (7) the Tesco HUDL for Christmas. You can double up your clubcard vouchers towards it. It's £119 but I got a £10 off Tesco direct so £109. My friend works in PC world and was looking out for something for him but thinks the HUDL is about the best in that price range.

i wouldnt buy an ipad..becayse there so expensive, but you can get really good ones for alot cheaper.. kindle. hudle.. even galaxy tab 2 is £99

that said if you dont want to get her one.. she wont be missing out.

my ds1 got one for his 7 birthday from grandpaprents and me.(we went intogether for one) . and i kind of wish i had waited, ds2 who will be 5 in dec wants one to and my parents want to get him one because he keeps wanting to get on his brothers .

saying that nethier of them have been ones to play with actions figures or such they prefer to be running around or playing with lego.. so im glad they have something they like.

Thank you all...Kotinka that is cheap!

My DDs don't have tablets. They have very old DS consoles and will be getting 3DS consoles for Christmas, but they're 10 and 12 and certainly haven't been given big expensive tech presents every year.

They might get tablets next year if our financial situation doesn't change, but they will mainly be for use as e-Readers and Internet access will be as restricted then as it is now.

I've only had my tablet for a month and while it's a lovely toy, I could live without it.

Three dc in this house (11, 8 and 5) and not one of them has a tablet. None of them have expressed any interest in a tablet. And there's no way I can afford tablets!

I have a used Kindle Fire (not the HD) but only because I traded in my Kindle Touch and my old Blackberry towards it (I ended up paying £8!).

I think tablets are over-rated and un-necessary tbh. I only upgraded my Kindle because some of the books I've downloaded have links to bits of film and stuff (American history) that weren't accessible on my Kindle Touch.

DD is getting Sylvanian Families, DS1 is getting KNex Mario Kart stuff and DS2 will probably be getting Octonauts/Jake and the Neverland Pirates toys.

Tablets schmablets.

Not all tablets are expensive, I got one discounted for £80 from Tesco for ds. It's just the top range ipad types that are a few hundred pounds.

Yes indeed, DS1's tablet did not cost £400 (some paper round!) more like £120 IIRC.

But I do know people whose 9yo etc have an actual Ipad which made me raise my eyebrows. I couldn't afford for them to break something that cost that much.

Of course YANBU she's got access to gadgets to play on and that's more than a lot of children have!

My DCs are younger so have their gadget time limited (30 mins each a day on either family iPad or family DS) so there would be no point in them having their own individual one even if we could afford it. And there is no way I would go into debt just for my DCs to have a gadget.

Even if your DD is getting to old for traditional toys I'm sure there's other stuff she will enjoy like books, crafty stuff, sporty things?

BTW my DD (6) did say she'd like an iPod touch (lots of her friends have them) but I said "don't be silly we already have an iPad which is bigger" and she said "oh yeah!" and wandered off. I guess it won't be so easy when she gets older then. I wonder what the latest must-have will be by the time she's 10...

God, I know 7/8 year olds with ipads..
I feel like I am always ranting about this and sound like a right gimmer, BUT...No, YADNBU!
Mine has no tablet, no DS, and only limited access to my laptop.
And that is the way way it is staying for as long as I can manage.
I can't afford to buy £££ worth of tablets and game players, but also, I don't see why I should.
A 14 yr old buying one with money he has saved from working sounds about right to me. A thing that expensive should be a) for older kids and b) worked for a and saved for.
If kids just get all these very expensive things given, what is left for them to aspire to? I remember yearning for a proper stereo, and working and saving, and really appreciating it when I got it.
Also, all the boys I know who have lots of gadgets just seem to be on them all the time. I was on a school trip a while back, going over a high road with an amazing view, and I said to my group of kids "hey, look out the window". They looked at me blankly and said "why??". Not in a lairy way, but in a way that suggested they genuinely couldn't understand being in awe of something in the real world.
Not to mention my friends 12 yr old son who spends all his time in his room, with his phone, on the internet. Hmmm.
I imagine at some point i might give in about the x box thingy, or a WII (if I can ever afford it) but am in no hurry.