Wwyd. Would you buy a kindle fire for a 2 year old?

[UmbongoUnchained]

Just out of interest.

Umbongo beaware of the time when she will not take NO for an answer to the question 'Can I go in my tablet?' though.
Or when the tablet will become the very easy way to entertain herself so much so that anything else such as drawing, dancing etc... will all feel to hard work.

Again, not trying to say it's an AND/OR situation. Just my experience with my own dcs.
Because one of them has become very much like that despite restricting access and spending a hell of a time (and effort) trying to widen his interests etc... :(

I had a newborn and 1 year old. Using a tablet would have been the worst idea. We needed to tired elder one out so he napped when baby did and Dh and I could nap also or do stuff. He wouldn't have slept at night either without being active or using his mind doing stuff rather than just passively staring at a tv or tablet

Well you're obviously a better parent than me Art. Well done you.

Art the point is that she did it off her own back. I don't expect fluency, I expect curiosity. If she finds a language that she wants to pursue then all resources will be available to her.

We're a bilingual household, but being able to access the curriculum in my country means that I can move her I to that school system if I choose because she has been able to access materials that aren't available here.

There are some really half arsed arguments here

My 2.3yo has an Amazon Fire kid's tablet. She's say playing on it right now actually. She's playing a puzzle game where she has to put the pieces together in numbered order. She is learning and enjoying herself.

She also has tonnes of books that she loves, loads of toys, enjoys going to the park and play group and nursery. We read together for about an hour spread throughout the day. She 'helps' me cook. We spend time playing in the garden.

It's about moderation, just as most things are. No, she doesn't need a tablet. She enjoys it. Stringent avoidance of technology will do your children no favours in an increasingly technological world.

It's hardly a better parent, I just couldn't be bothered getting up in the night or having long drawn out bedtimes to a un-tired toddler.

Because having a tablet stops you doing other things that tire them out? It doesn't, I assure you.

Yeah don't know where this idea that my toddler won't be doing anything but playing on her tablet is coming from

No I would buy her an iPad mini i stead, they are much more intuitive.

iPad mini is 4x the price

You said you work full time so is she in childcare in the week or at home?

There's nothing wrong with a bit of technology time per se, but it just seems to me if she is in childcare out of the house that any time I had in the evenings/weekends etc I would want to spend interacting with her and teaching her to enjoy stories and I'd be concerned the tablet would take that over. It won't improve her attention span for things like reading, but the opposite. We have a family ipad and ds 5 goes on it once a weekish, whenever he asks basically and he can take or leave it. The 2 year old may watch him and join in but I wouldn't think of giving it to her when I'm with her alone ifyswim. Just wouldn't occur to me.

Car journeys we have audiobooks and boredom

Because a 2 year old isn't awake that long in a day. Most sleep 11-12 hrs at night, and nap still.

That must be a joke surely, I want your kids!

andnow really? Can I ask what made you like it more? I do prefer Apple usually but thought maybe the kindle would be more child friendly

Toffee - Erm no. A 2 year old should be sleeping at least 12 hours in 24. Most do.

Here. A guideline is 13hrs for a 2 year old. 11 1/2 at night and 1 1/2 in the day
www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Childrenssleep/Pages/howmuchsleep.aspx

I didn't have a 2yo who slept that much. My understanding was that, like so many other things with children, there was a range of 'normal' sleep which was between 9-14 hours. Some people do just need less sleep; surely this applies to children too?

DD1 stopped napping at 2.1, and has never slept for more than 11 hours at night, usually it's closer to 10. Sleep has always been a challenge with her and she has consistently needed less than the average. DD2 sleeps like a champion, as did DSS - 12 hours from the point you put him to bed, plus a 2.5hr nap in the afternoon. They're just different.

Umbongo, kids are extremely adaptable - they'll be fine with either, I would think, certainly DD1 is fine with her Samsung tablet amidst our sea of Apple gadgets (not buying her an iPad, I thought ours was extortionate and she's only three!).

Get the one which is least likely to break when dropped on a tiled floor/covered in porridge.

I'd love all these people who have never met a child that doesn't like books to meet my dd!

My dd has ASD op she was completely non verbal at 2 not even babbling. I let her play with some preschool apps on my phone.

Within a month she knew all her colours, shapes and alphabet a few months later she was writing. She now communicates by writing not speech.

There have been times I've struggled you know because once you get them a kindle you have to stop interacting with them, stop playing with them and keep them locked inside on hot sunny days and ignore them while staring at your phone all day but for the most part we ignore this rule and just go about our lives as normal except she uses the kindle sometimes.

I'm glad I let my dd play on my kindle because it did more for her in one month than 3 months speech therapy. I even confessed the reason my dd had come in so much to the speech therapist and she asked me the apps name so she could mention to another parent.

She's going to grow up around technology it's good to embrace it as the normal part of life it is these days.

Snore - are you sure that's not just natural development?
Neither of mine spoke at just 2 either. That's normal. By 3 they were bilingual talking non stop. It wa soothing to do with using apps, more that they grew up and were them old enough to talk.

I am at those people who have children who can just stop playing on a tablet just like this, carry on playig with their toys, run and have friends around and well... you know talk to them.

I want one of those too

Artandco
She was 2nearly 3 not engaging with anyone and completely nonverbal wouldn't make eye contact or sit still to read a book. This app was the only thing that held her concentration for more than five minutes.
So yeah I pretty certainas was speech therapist be honest. Kindle now incorporated into her therapy as she flicks through it for picture cards.
Having this kindle has opened up the world for her as do computers for many people with additional needs.

Some of the comments on this thread are ridiculous, seemingly suggesting that if you let a child play on a tablet a bit they will never enjoy books or going outside, and clearly their parents will make them use the tablet approximately 23 hours a days at the expense of all other educational activities or sleep.

It's about moderation isn't it? Nothing wrong with a toddler occasionally spending some time playing a tablet in a day otherwise balanced with other activities.

It's a bit like those parents who get really pious about not letting their kids eat sweet things. I'm personally of the opinion that there's nothing wrong with a toddler having the odd biscuit in an otherwise sensible balanced diet. If you chose not to give your kids sweet things then that's fine, but making out that any other parent that does is a crap parent is really not on. And there's a few posters on here basically making the same accusation of any parent who lets their kids play the odd game on a tablet.

Oh and there's no way DD will spend all day on a tablet. She's fidgety and trying to run around if I try and get her stay still more than 5 minutes. Lol! Usually if she plays on the tablet if entertains her for a few minutes and then she gets distracted by something else. I can't say I've ever met many toddlers who would stay still and play on a tablet for hours.

We have a kindle fire that the kids (4 and 2) use, although it wasn't originally bought for them.

The parental controls are pretty good - we have set up child profiles for them, which allow them to access apps and books that we've specifically selected as ones we consider suitable for them. You can set time limits so the child profiles will only work between certain hours, so say not before 9am or after 5pm, and set total time limits for the day, so they can only play on the tablet for anywhere between 15 mins a day to unlimited time. You can also set varying time limits for books and apps.

There's plenty of child friendly apps available from the Amazon appstore, ranging from purely entertainment value to more educational ones. Although if you're looking at the educational ones, we've found it's best to sit and do those with the DC to avoid them randomly jabbing the screen until they hit the right answer.

Obviously it's not great for a small child to do nothing but play on a tablet all day, but I don't see a problem with half an hour here and there. It's all about moderation.
And my DC enjoy doing plenty of things that don't involve technology. Today so far, we've had building a wooden train layout and driving trains on it, about 20 stories read (using real books, mostly the ones we borrowed from the library last week), making scones, and no requests for any tablet time at all.

If I'm honest, DD1 would probably spend hours on the tablet if given the opportunity. But she's not. I take it off her and deal with the tantrum, because I'm the grown up and then we do and do something else!

(Though for the sake of balance I should also mention that this reaction is not limited to having the tablet taken away; she got equally as cross this morning when I took the box of Cheerios away from her as she was taking one at a time out, saying "one, two, three, go!" And then eating it. And it wasn't the most productive use of time when we had to be at nursery).