To think we've made a mistake with DS big present?

[lynzmb]

We got DS6 an Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet for Christmas to replace an ancient iPad. I'm pretty tech savvy but I have really struggled to get certain apps on the kids profile - YouTube Kids seems extremely difficult to add, research talks about side loading etc which just seems like an almighty faff. I'm worried we keep running into problems like this, DS will lose interest and it was v expensive.

I'm wondering if we return it and look at another android tablet instead. Seen a few people suggesting Samsung with Family Link app for parental controls.

I'm feeling stupid already for not realising the limitations around Amazon tablets so please be kind! Or is there a simple solution I'm missing?

I'd avoid YouTube full stop TBH, even YouTube kids is full of such mind numbing rubbish and I'm not snobby about screen time. But the setting on YouTube to whitelist channels doesn't give them access to search what they are allowed to watch and if you do it by age, then you have to constantly go in and block weird channels about changing Elmo's diapers, scary doctors complete with menacing injection wielding thumbnail, and Princess Peach being pregnant by Mario etc not to mention the thousands of random kid influencers, AI generated surprise egg videos and billions of identical channels showing peppa pig knockoffs with a constant creepy annoying laugh track.

It's got much much worse over the last year or so. I used to use YT as a free source of entertainment for DC but it's so hard to keep up with blocking all the weird stuff now that I'm about to uninstall it.

Sorry it’s chilling this start them young to be screen addicts.

It's a bit depressing that a child can be simultaneously young enough for Santa magic but also deemed old enough for the brain rot that is YouTube

The 11+ max has the Google play store, unlike the other Amazon tablets. I'm sure there's a way around child locks but if it's YouTube you're concerned about then, at the age of 6, you should be able to control what they're watching.
I agree with above poster though, after seeing the effects of YouTube on my own children, I'd scrap that idea altogether.

Wow OP, their own tablet so they can watch kids You tube? This is what you want for your child's Christmas?😕 Take this as a sign you made a mistake, return the tablet and get them Lego or something instead.

My eldest (3) has a fire tablet - I have the internet turned off so she can only watch what I’ve downloaded (Bluey, frozen etc). She watches maybe 20 minutes a day, although sometimes turns it off to put her Tonies box on instead.

At last count she had over 100 books and has spent an hour and a half this morning playing with her dolls house by herself, creating a ridiculously intricate imaginary scenario.

I completely accept some parents use screen time as a substitution but in small doses along with age appropriate toys and activities it can’t really be vilified that that extent. Especially given her school will give her an iPad to take to lessons and do her homework on - like it or lump it, screens are a part of kids lives these days, it’s just managing it responsibly that’s the challenge.

My dc have samsung tablets and are very easy for them to use and can set.up parental controls.

Do you not have a tv she can watch tv programmes on? Genuine question. Why a tablet? Why not the family tv?

We have parental controls and the school she attends asked all children had access to a computer or tablet for independent research

An elf made a mistake and sent the wrong one. Simples!

Kids often want to watch the same thing over and over again. Sometimes, a smaller, quieter screen means that parents don't have to hear Bluey dance mode for the umpteenth time that month, but know that their child has had 10 minutes of downtime watching something they love.

I'm afraid I also have one of those children who can take it or leave it! She has free access, it's just another toy. We are a tech household so we have tablets, Switch, other games stuff etc. that are free for use whenever. DD1 might play her tablet for 45 mins one day and then not pick it up again for a week. Looking at screen time for the past week, she's spent one hour in 7 days on it. 20 mins on the Paw Patrol game, 20 mins on her maths game and the rest on some CBeebies stuff. I don't think I'll be panicking about brain rot quite yet

If you do have one of those kids who can't handle it or have tantrums about it then fair enough but I'm perfectly happy with her use of tech. She's incredibly crafty, we allow her to watch a couple of craft channels on YouTube, and she is far more likely to spend hours a day doing crafts and drawing m than on her tablet.

School have them in classrooms and recommended a maths app that they subscribe to so she has that on her own tablet and her teacher can see her progress as it's a shared login. She also likes Reading Eggs.

As for books, I work in publishing and used to be a book editor. I'd imagine we have more books than most people on this thread

Amazon Fire tablets run on a version of Android OS that doesn't support the Google Play Store, which means adding apps is harder. Used to be able 'jail break' them and install a standard version of Android OS on them, but I believe that has become harder to do.

People who say it’s no-one else’s business how others parent their own children…. Sure. But how people parent their children will end up affecting other kids. I don’t want to send my son around to his friends houses because some of them seem to have unfettered YouTube access, or all they want to do is play Fortnite. If I invite them here, they seem to find it boring if gaming isn’t an option.

I’m a teacher and do find it frightening how screen time has affected attention spans, dominated conversations and brought up so many safeguarding issues. And I’m in primary.

So sometimes, how others parent their children does affect a wider society.

Those of you who have replied to this thread to patronise the OP about the evils of screens, accuse her of “useless parenting” and generally pile on to stick the boot in, ask yourselves this: why are you spending this time, right now, on an internet chat forum writing rude and unsolicited messages to a stranger? Do you genuinely think that you are the first person to tell her that screens are bad, or that your “intervention” will save her child from irreparable “brain rot”? Or do you think (in the manner of a missionary in the deepest Amazon) that there may be someone else out there reading this who truly had no idea and can be saved before it is too late?

I’m astonished that none of you appreciate the irony of the fact that one of the biggest evils of the internet is the power it gives people to bully strangers and enable those who are compelled to proclaim that their world view is the only one that has any merit. And also the way that those prone to such behaviour become addicted to it, clicking on thread after thread after thread with the sole purpose of getting a kick from being sanctimonious.

Perhaps take a dose of your own medicine and consider stepping away from the online world, maybe try to live truly by your own screen-free ideals in 2025?

If it really is just 10 or 20 minutes then I don’t really buy that. I can’t think of many parent who couldn’t tolerate the same episode of Bluey once a day for 10 or 20 minutes.

Return the tablet and buy him some proper toys.

YouTube kids is full of things that are not child friendly. You can get some decent apps (hairy letters for phonics, drawing etc.), but they should be downloaded onto an adult tablet.

And perhaps some of us have slightly older children and are trying to help. Some of us work in professions where we see the impact of YouTube and screen time.

Bluey was just an example, its by far one of the least annoying shows. We've deliberately not ever put cocomelon or Peppa Pig etc on. But equally, I can't think of many parents who wouldn't appreciate 10 minutes of quiet time every now and then. Rather than having the family TV singing at them. Can you?

It also gives DD an element of choosing for herself. She can watch in the living room, or in her bedroom (I imagine you would be even more outraged if a small child had a bedroom TV?) or she can sit at the kitchen table while I prep some food or whatever she and I feel is her best option at that time. Rather than plonking her in front of the family TV and then leaving the room (not always a great plan) or else everyone in the house is now subjected to whatever TV program she wants (which for many families may include younger children for whom it's not appropriate or babies you're trying to get down).

Try and think outside of just "10 minutes of TV" and look at the bigger family picture.

This show was about phones and apps like Snapchat, WhatsApp and having free reign of the internet for kids that are too young. That's completely different to kids tablets with games and watching bbc iPlayer.

Mine had a kindle fire aged 5 and has used it ever since, so for 5 years. Mostly for watching YouTube, it had the occasional game on it too. So ours was a hit but it depends on what you want to use it for, I know it can't handle things like roblox. I liked the limited functionality as it felt safer!

🙄

You genuinely believe that OP has just landed from Mars and what you are saying is entirely new to her? Or that somehow, the way that YOU say it will be the first time she properly understands? You really do sound just like those religious zealots who are compelled to knock on doors saving souls because they can’t live with the thought of everyone else going to hell.

I had to do a few techy things to make some apps work but once it was done it was done. I wouldn't buy android again though

Most parents with older children or young adults will disagree and say actually they don't regret letting their kids game, or wish they weren't so strict about it because it doesn't actually have as much of an impact as we think.