iPads for 3 YOs

[nearerthanfar]

On the rare occasions my 3YO DD has had access to an iPad, it's made her insane. Literally like a switch has flipped and she becomes a different kid. Ridiculously overstimulated whilst on it, crazy tantrums when it goes away. I see kids her age with iPads everywhere. Am I missing something?!
I'm not slamming screens btw, I know people have different opinions on whether they are good/bad but I am desperate for a break. iPad seems like an ideal option for so many parents. Why not me?! It's the same with cartoons really.
Never thought I'd be a parent actually wanting my kid to want screen time but there you go 🤷‍♀️
YABU - how ridiculous to wish your young kid liked screens, you should be grateful it doesn't work for you
YANBU - you must be exhausted for even asking this on MN, so fair enough

My GC have had screens from two, we never watched TV, so they filled when most toddlers would be watching. They ard now 7 & 10. I think as long as screens are balanced out, they are fine. Is it the same for everything she watches?

My DC was like this, the rare times we allowed the ipad it changed her personality and taking it away was like taking drugs from an addict! We didn’t really reintroduce it until yr1 for playing educational games that were set as homework and this had to be closely controlled.
Even now (age 9) we have to monitor the amount of ‘immersive’ screen time as it totally messes up her sleep.
Interestingly, TV has never had the same effect, so pretty much all of her screen time is TV based.

Games are designed to be addictive. Kids are too little to cope with that. I especially dislike tablets as my older son had one for years and it was different to watching tv, he could have the TV on and run around and play but with the tablet he sat still and held it and it was very immersive and very difficult for him to snap out of that.
I do think the reason you see them around a lot is that even people who do very little screen time will save that little for public places given how horrible people can be to kids in public these days.
But I wouldn't give one to DS2.

My 2 year old has one purely for watching videos of tractors ploughing fields on YouTube 🤣 he’s obsessed. He then lines all his toy tractors up and ploughs along with them. We don’t take it out of the house though.

I remember feeling a bit like this OP when my DS2 wasn't interested in screens or TV at age 2. He wasn't like you describe (tantrums etc), he just wasn't interested and would run off and play instead. Sounds great, but he was SO active and I was desperate for a break rather than running around after him all day!

The good news is that he's now 14yo and still very active and still not that into screens (compared to the other teens I know). And now it's definitely a good thing!