To not buy dd1 the "ONLY thing in the world" she wants for xmas/birthday?

[D0oinMeCleanin]

She will even "sell me her Kindle Fire, 3DS, ipod nano, ipig and her soul" if I buy her one. She tried to sell me her Xbox, until I pointed out that it was not hers to sell and already belonged to me She won't sell me her bike, she loves it too much.

She wants an ipad air. I do not want to buy her one. Not because we cannot afford one, it would be a big chunk of our christmas budget and she'd have to not do any big birthday celebrations, but we could afford one just.

The reason I do not want to buy her one is that a) I begrudge paying Apple's prices which I believe are massively inflated simply because it is an Apple product and people blindly believe they are best (although admittedly upon looking further into it ipad air is very impressive, but then so is the new Google Nexus) and b) Going on what she is wanting to use it for, there are more suitable, cheaper tablets out there for her, that do the job just as well but without Apple's price tag.

She is wanting it primarily for taking photos and videos, watching movies on the go and playing minecraft. The Galaxy Tab 2 is just as suitable for her. It's processor is slower, but as she is not as massive gamer, she'll hardly notice this and it's camera is not as good, but she is not a photographer, she wants it simply to take photos of her dogs to edit in photo editor/whatever it is she uses, a 3MP camera will do the job adequately. When it comes to watching movies, the ipad air has a much better display, however once you get past 1080p, the difference is hardly noticeable, imo, the Tab 2 has a bigger screen (something which she would notice) and plays a higher number of file types, meaning less pestering me to convert files for her and the Tab 2 has expandable memory, which she will need.

She also wants Skype/Facetime etc. to keep in touch with her Aunt. Both devices have HD web cams.

And the biggest bonus is that the Tab 2 is significantly cheaper. I do not believe the Air is £200+ better than the Tab 2. Plus 2 weeks after she gets it, she'll be moaning she's run out of space on it and asking me where her memory card is so she can swap it for a bigger one, just like she did with her ipod and kindle fire.

I've spoken to her about this and she is adamant that it is ONLY the ipad air she wants, although she is unable to tell me why beyond "It's the best because it's ipad and all my friends have one and Mr. X (her new teacher) has one because it's the best and if he says it's the best, it must be the best, btw we also need to buy a Mac because they are better than Windows PCs"

If she can't have the ipad Air, she'd rather have the cash to save towards the ipad, than the Tab 2.

She's a bit of a sheep and easily sold to.

Seriously?

My thirteen year old carelessly cracked her smartphone screen a year ago and has had to live with it although I did offer to replace it with this

Utter madness.

Thorn, she uses my smart phone for Skype and tells me off for not looking after it properly (gotta love Gorilla glass, it's saved me many a time from phablet + tiled floor incidents, the tiles did not fare so well)

I'm not worried about her not looking after it, I know she will. In how ever many years time she wishes to upgrade, whatever she gets will still be in mint condition and she'll have hidden the box and documentation away somewhere too.

Blimey. She seems amazingly savvy for her age.

My DD is self-absorbed, sloppy, disorganised, unmotivated, and yes, spoilt even though she doesn't have half the things your DD has. Quite normal for thirteen

I wouldn't buy my ds an ipad but I wouldn't by myself an ipad either.

BUT, I think some people on this thread are being abit harsh on DOoin. She hasn't said she is getting the ipad, she is rambling her thoughts out. And if she does, it is up to her and her dh. I think it is harsh to slate a 10 year old for wanting something that is being waved under her nose by spmeone influential in her life. I know it doesn't mean she can always have what she wants but you can't blame a girl for trying.

Have all those indicating she should be grateful for a doll.and not whine never ever mooned over owning something just out of reach before? Bloody hell, I'm 37 and doing it now over a pair of boots, so badly I'm even considering bidding on an ex display pair in 'odd' colours where faded that might be in reach.

I'm also a little bit that so many people have such careless kids that they can't be trusted. Ds is 8 and has had access to his ds, our tablet, laptop and phones for years and has always been careful. I can honestly say he has never broken a toy himself.

I'm not saying DOoin should get her it, but it is up to them. If you only want to get your dd a doll, great. But it's a bit hatsh to say othet people are crazy if they don't. £400 is too much for me at xmas, but MN is the only place I have ever come accross competative lack of spending on gifts for children.

Admittedly I don't have kids but I am at all the stuff she already has - Kindle? DS? iPod? is that normal nowadays?

DH (50) also needs the iPad Air for Xmas. As he's the money earner, technically he could have it (we tend to do agreed Xmas presents so no nice surprises but no grotty ones either!) But there is no way in hell our current disposable income facilitates this. So he's not getting one either

We have 2 iPads in our house, DH's original one and my iPad2. That's how it's staying for a while.

I feel your pain re Xmas presents though. DDs are 15 and 17 and seem to be unable to think of anything they want (yes, they both have smartphones and netbooks already). Xmas has been getting steadily more expensive since they started high school and yes there is a heck of a lot of peer/cultural pressure to have the latest iThing/jacket/trainers but we've always followed the 'if you save half, we'll pay for the other half' rule, which rapidly put them off the very expensive stuff.

BUT, my best, never beat-able memory of Xmas was the year I was 12 and my parents bought me a Levi denim jacket. We weren't well off and although I'd (loudly) longed for one, I didn't dare to dream I'd get one. My DM has embarassing photos of me crying when I opened it and realised what it was. I still have it even though I can't fit into it and it's doing sterling service as the DDs are wearing it now 'vintage' is all fashionable!

chrome I don't think there is a normal amount of gadgets for a 10 year old.
Everyone is different. I am sure everyone will tell me that my ds2, also 10 is spoilt because he has an iPod touch, a third share in an iPad 2, an Xbox and half a playstation 3.

I don't really care. If I can afford it, really afford it I mean, so I actually have the money to spend without using credit or going without something essential, then I do not see what the problem is. He has football 3 times a week, swimming once, he reads a lot, draws, paints, walks round the house singing songs he makes up. And he has a few gadgets.
What's the issue?

I am upgrading my iPad 2 in December to the air. I have a 3G contract so it will cost me £100 to upgrade. Then the DCs can have the retina display iPad and technically we all get an upgrade
But that is not their Christmas present.

And my teenager have iPhones runs away to hide

I would be having a chat with the maths teacher who appears to have shares in Apple:) also I would question minecraft during lessons and free time to play minecraft.

This reminds me of dh maths teacher who just taught chess to the children in his group. They all failed their maths, but can play a mean game of chess. His parents knew but assumed teacher knew best.

Is she doing the research herself? No. So until she is I wouldn't buy it. She seems to have the measure of you though:)

Her reasons don't warrant it. Still, I suppose if it keeps her quiet, until something else comes along. Just hope her teacher isn't into horse racing and betting to teach maths next year.

dooin if you are not worried about her breaking it and you can afford i am not sure what you are asking , i seem to remember a thread about the kindle and whether to get her one, why dont you just buy her the Ipad and be done with it, I dont think you should be negotiating terms with a 10yr old just get her one,

Dooin regarding a comment you made aaages back about the charger. I have a Galaxy Tab 2 and it has a different charger to my Samsung phone. It's not the generic USB charger.

Minecraft on the PC is being used in various curriculums in other countries as a tool for teaching computer programming among other things, not sure about on IPads as I don't think the game is quite as up to date on there.
www.edutopia.org/blog/minecraft-in-classroom-andrew-miller
YANBU to say no at the moment, I would tell her something like she could save pocket money and do chores to earn a portion of the money, she could save her birthday money to contribute and you would make up the rest or something similar.
Tab 2's suck btw. I'm biased as we have currently got 2 that died at the same time despite being practically pampered and Samsung can't/won't do anything...

mrsjay, I was trying to ask would getting a comparable tablet be worth it, since she is so adamant that it is only the ipad air she wants and would it be fair to get a comparable tablet, not because we cannot afford the one she really wants but because I cannot bear to hand over £400+ to Apple knowing I could have gotten a lot more in terms of hardware for my money.

We've chosen one now anyway, that is not Apple, but does everything dd1 wants it to as well or better than the ipad does and is more intergratable with the software we already have and has sufficient memory for what she will be using it for. I am sure she will be happy with what we have decided on. Morton, the pink ipig is staying and I doubt that she'd get more than £3 for her ancient Nano anyway, so she can keep that too.

So have you told her she definitely won't be getting it? (I agree YANBU anyway)

At 10 - no.

Yanbu. If you teach her not to be swayed by gimmicky marketing and be ripped off hundreds of pounds extra for less functional technology that apple have made billions out of by exploiting the gullible she will thank you when she is older.

I allowed DH to go unaccompanied into the Apple store this weekend and - with no knowledge of this discussion - announced to me that the Air really wasn't much lighter than his existing iPad and he really couldn't see what the fuss was about. Given that he was both bored and thinking about what he'd like for xmas it really can't be that impressive.

Sounds like you've come to a sensible conclusion Dooin.

An hour or more in the Apple Store is a useful bribe if I have to take my 12 year old shopping - like a creche for teenagers .

I think it would be sensible for her to learn more about how advertising and branding work. Children are growing up more bombarded with advertising messages than ever before, and it doesn't help if schools and teachers are encouraging children to be passive consumers of (expensive) technology rather than creators and coders .

The Story of Stuff touches on the problem of Planned Obsolecence and/or Percieved Obsolescence.

Projects like Alice and products like Raspberry Pi would give your DD (and many other children) a better grounding in technology than being able to use the latest Apple or Microsoft product (as handy as that is). These are just the resources I've come across when looking at this subject, I'm sure there are many different approaches to suit all skill levels and interests.

Being exposed to less advertising would be good, but I guess they get it second hand through their peers (and teachers ) at 10 years.

I don't believe in not taking children's wants and desires seriously just because they are children. Advertising and peer pressure are powerful things for making us want things that aren't necessarily what we need. So I wouldn't scoff but I also wouldn't give them everything they want. I'd want to explore what she felt the difference was between two tablets with similar specs but one branded apple, does she think that if she has the apple one she'd seem cooler, that she'd have people look up to her the way the class does the teacher etc.

I think that either getting the cheaper but good tablet, or giving her the cost of it to save up for the one she wants are good ideas. Though if photography is important to her, she could get a rather good camera instead - using the cameras on tablets is never going to be quite as good as a camera with a good optical zoom.

Hope whatever she gets she is happy with and appreciates it.

If you don't want to buy her the iPad Air, can you just give her a cheque for however much you would've spent on the other tablet? No it won't cover the whole purchase price, but if she asks for cash from other relatives for Christmas as well, that should cover it. I realize other people have already made this suggestion, but I think it's a good suggestion.

If you get her the tablet she's already said she definitely doesn't want, that's a recipe for a big tantrum on Christmas Day.

Why does it have to be the iPad AIR?

You could get her a refurb or 2nd hand iPad2 for a fraction of the cost of the Air

I'm not believing all these tales of supposedly rubbish Android tablets, I would take a decent Android product over any Apple product, any day. < shuddering at itunes flash back>

When I was 12, I wanted as SNES with Street Fighter 2 for xmas. However it was £160 so I didn't get it. Such was life and I was still very pleased with my xmas presents.

Noblegiraffe is spot on.

Do Apple still do that thing where you have to use their special Apple chargers? Like in the 90s when you could only print from a Mac using an Apple printer?

They got away with it then because you could only get decent FTP software for Apple and the alternatives were rubbish. Lord knows how they get away with their control freakery now.

DTP, not FTP. They're still tossers.

10? Bloody hell! My daughter is 10 & had none of that! She has a cheapie MP3 that she bought herself ($30) and a ds that we bought her 3 yrs ago!

Seriously, why do children need so many gadgets? Apple really have you sucked in, don't they!

To be fair to your DD, we had a tab 2 and it was rubbish. We sold it and some other things to pay for an ipad which is much better.

What does it have to be ipad air and not a standard ipad?