Children and iPads

[LibraryBook]

I'm tempted to get my 8 and 6 yr olds iPads for Christmas as they do a lot of stuff on mine (sometimes it's games but also some lovely stuff like painting drawing, film-making, making music etc). They would not be connected to the Internet, except under close supervision.

DD has mentioned a Nintendo 3DS but I've looked at it and it appears much more limited than the iPad, is it? And it'll cost broadly the same as an iPad once we've bought a few games.

Even though they use our iPads often, I'm a little uncomfortable about it for some reason, part of me feels they should be playing with Playmobil, building planes from bits of balsa wood or making dens in the garden while dressed up as Victorian ladies and industrialists.

I'd be grateful for fellow mumsnetters' thoughts.

It would make my Christmas shopping lovely and easy.

Ds (4) got one last year. It's still as good as new and he knows the rules for it. It has educational games as well as games and netflix. This year he's getting a dressing up box full of dressing up outfits as his main present and his other presents are all toys, you don't have to try to top it next year...

My 3 year old has an iPad. She loves it. But she also plays with a variety of other toys, her scooter, reads books, draws & does puzzles.

It doesn't have a protective case and doesn't have a scratch on it.

I'm sure i'll buy my DD2 one when she's 2/3. I think they're amazing for children.

My DS has asked for an ipad, he is 7, so I said 'no, what would you like for Christmas'. They cost two thirds of my mortgage payment, not a chance would I spend that on one present even if I could afford it.

we have an ipad - we share it.... don't see the need for one each, seems an awful lot of money for a bit of entertainment... but that is just me...

Children don't tend to know how much things cost. And they certainly shouldn't be concerning themselves with their parents' cumbersome mortgage repayments.

lade small children are more impulsive and more accident prone than adults. It's got nothing to do with being careful or not respecting their belongings.

Even more chance of it being broken if its taken to school daily, why ever would a child be taking an iPad to school every day. Maybe I'm just old.

I think this is turning into a stealth boast thread, who's got the youngest child with an unscratched iPad, who does crafts, phonics, and all the other very educational stuff. When my DS was young he had a gameboy, played pokemon and watched cartoon network

I got my ds a hudl for his birthday, he loves it and it was much, much cheaper than an iPad.

I'm meanish, DD2(12) is getting a Nexus 7 not an ipad. she wanted a kindle fire like mine, but I wanted to play with the nexus. If she hates it I'll swap.

She has had a lap top since she was six and is only on her second due to Sony's shit design faults, she is very very careful with it.

She is, however forever loosing her ipod.

Yes tablets are £££, but DS and console games are a shocking price on top of the hardware and they get lost and scratched. its easy to spend £15 on a DS or Wii game and find it isn't a patch on a 99p App.

Where is water is free on google play and will amuse you way more than most cheap DS games.

LightastheBreeze - if that is aimed at me, then my dd take sher iPad to school each day as it is a principle part of her education.

She has severe ASD, and uses her ipad throughout the school day (SN school). She has learned to read and write from her iPad, and uses it to take information to/from school in the form of diary notes she writes now. we share pictures of what she has done at weekends (she cannot always talk about what she has done), and creates some artwork on it too.

Curseof

I have asked for my post to be removed as I didn't realise your DD used her iPad as a learning aid at school, sorry about that.

Just in case anyone's interested I posted the following on a recent thread on IPad security. It's for iOS7 (ie the latest IPads).

FOR iOS7

THE BASICS FOR STOPPING UNINTENTIONAL IN-APP PURCHASES

1. keep your iTunes password private and not guess'able

2. Enable restrictions
   SETTINGS >>>> GENERAL. >>> RESTRICTIONS >>> then enter and re-enter a non-guessable 4 digit PIN number.

3). Then turn off in-app purchases
SETTINGS >>>> GENERAL. >>> RESTRICTIONS >>> your PIN NUMBER >>>>. Turn off IN-APP PURCHASES

4. Require a password every time you make an iTunes purchase. This is your Apple ID password. SETTINGS >>>> GENERAL. >>> RESTRICTIONS >>> your PIN NUMBER >>>> REQUIRE PASSWORD >>>> toggle it to IMMEDIATELY

5). Remove your credit card from your iTunes account and use itunes vouchers.

6. turn off autofill and credit card info

SETTINGS >>> SAFARI >>> PASSWORDS AND AUTOFILL >> toggle off NAMES AND PASSWORDS AND turn off CREDIT CARDS

BLOCKING ADULT WEB CONTENT (ie porn 'n stuff)

Even if you have decent controls on your home network and it's worth following the info in the following THIS LINK This feature is even more important if your child has a 3G device or accesses the internet via networks with no controls.

PREVENTING CHILDREN FROM BEING ABLE TO DELETE THEIR BROWSING HISTORY . (I love this feature)

SETTINGS >>>> GENERAL. >>> RESTRICTIONS >>> your PIN NUMBER >>>> WEBSITES >>> then tick LIMIT ADULT CONTENT

This removes the option to delete the history of which websites your child has visited. For younger children you can specify which websites you DC can visit and prevent them from visiting any other sites at all. You can find this option by doing the following

SETTINGS >>>> GENERAL. >>> RESTRICTIONS >>> your PIN NUMBER >>>> WEBSITES >>> then tick SPECIFIC WEBSITES ONLY this will allow you to specify which websites can and can't be visited.

PRIVACY

I recommend that anyone who is concerned about privacy and has Apple devices running iOS7 have a look at THIS LINK. It details how you can prevent pesky Apple and other apps accessing information about you.

Disclaimer, I am happy to have the above info corrected. I think its right but I am not at all an expert

This info is for iOS7 only.

LightastheBreeze, no no, no problem at all

I was just explaining why she does take it to/from school each day.

Why would you have known? I am not offended at all, and didn't mean for my last post to sound stroppy, so apologies if it did.

iPad minis are great and to be honest I don't get the whole 'what will you get them when they are 18?' type question. If it's valid now and they will get use out if it now then buy it.
You don't HAVE to get bigger and better each yr, you just get what they will like/need/use.

My dd got a laptop last year. This yr she is having a CD player which is a fraction of the cost but it's what she wants.
Just do what suits you, everyone has different ideals and boundaries for their own kids.

Children don't tend to know how much things cost. And they certainly shouldn't be concerning themselves with their parents' cumbersome mortgage repayments.

I disagree with that statement, obviously children don't need to know the exact detail of mortgage payments but surely as children get a little older they need to know about household expenses/what things cost etc etc. If something is way outside your budget then why shouldn't children know that?

Too many young people seem to be leaving home with no idea about the cost of running a house & get into huge difficulties when they have to manage on their own. My DS is 12 but has been saving up for university for the last couple of years & understands that a £25 birthday money gift can either be used for something immediately or put away for the long term benefit (for example).

Ithought bless you for typing all that out. Really helpful. Thanks .