Introducing babies to tablets

[HappyCaroline]

Hey all, I'm looking for practical advice about how to introduce babies and toddlers to tablets and devices. I don't know of any resources or devices aiming to make this transition safer for very young children. Below is a summary of my thoughts so far:

• I hate the idea of my child living on a tablet / becoming addicted to flashy screens. Since 3 months old he's been obsessed and so I deliberately never treat it as a toy and try not to let him see us using our phones.

• I work in IT and data so I think it is lunacy to cut him off from access to electrical devices. I'd like him to learn valuable life skills and see devices as a tool instead of become a vegetable in front of them.

• I don't want to give him access to cocomelon etc but I'm also aware there's lots of things I would "never do" as a parent which we ended up doing to stay sane. So I want to know what I can do besides give up and play cartoons on a tablet.

• I want to know about how to make electrical devices less addictive or if there are things which can bridge the gap until he's older. Like a dumb tablet for babies or baby apps which mimic his other counting/ABC toys.

I'm wondering how small they make those eye glasses things? They can then be put on the babies face just after the cord is cut. Or even before.

If I could go back in time I would not have done it. It was the biggest parenting mistake I ever made. Now I have a clever little boy who is obsessed with gaming and devices who only achieves average at school because try as we might it’s a constant battle to get him to focus on anything other than the tv or screens. It’s affected his behaviour because he’s grumpy when he doesn’t have a screen and every day his life resolves around what he can do in order to negotiate more screen time.

Quite honestly I agree with you OP, it’s better to set the framework yourself, which you can do at an earlier age, rather than let screen introduction be peer led later on.

What we did with our children:

• download episodes/songs so that they re-watch the same thing many times.
• no unsupervised internet access at all.
• coding apps from age 3 rather than gaming.
• sending emojis to friends and relatives.

Thank you @Ididntmeantoyou! Was making mental notes never to enter Mumsnet again unless I want a barrage of judgement. I agree with the no unsupervised access and like the idea of having limited things to watch offline. Even better I think I'll go hunting for some interactive games. I'd like to skip any social media for a long time to come.

Many on here go on like giving your child a tablet is like giving them crack. As long as your child is getting lots of time doing other activities and not just sat at home staring at a screen all day tablets are absolutely fine. I would avoid YouTube kids if you can because there’s some very strange stuff on there. There are lots of apps with children’s shows to download or Netflix if you have it

My 3 yr old has a kindle fire he's had for about a year and a half. It's got educational games he plays ie identifying animals. He also uses it just to listen to stories with his headphones sometimes. We use the aquarium videos on YouTube for calming in the evenings, he likes the piano music, again, in the background, doesn't sit there staring at it. He has additional needs and doesn't operate the same way as a neurotypical child. He doesn't 'need' it and can happily do something else, it's just around in the background and he picks it up and puts it down as he wants. I think the no screens hype a bit odd tbh. It's helped him engage with things he otherwise wouldn't. I've downloaded planet earth and he listens to that when travelling, seems to like David Attenborough, can't stand cocomelon etc.

The issue here is giving a baby (3 months old!?) a tablet.

How do I introduce my baby to tech?

Should be good to throw out all his toys/books/days out and just stick to education via the screen.

Keep going though, you've got some posters on the hook.

Hook line and sinker

This is a really interesting book about screens you may find useful:

Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids-and How to Break the Trance amzn.eu/d/033sFRDk

Yes, well, what you said was controversial and goes against all guidance for young children

https://www.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/resources/screen-time/
Here you go, the NHS using research and guidance from the WHO.
NO screen time for the under 2s.

No no noa I made the mistake of giving my eldest a tablet at about 4 and won't repeat that.

No way would I be giving a baby a tablet.

My 6yo uses ours occasionally for school work. 4yo has used a tablet once in her life, to watch downloaded TV on a flight. Well twice - there and back.

They can both work the Disney+ and iPlayer apps on the TV and enjoy scrolling through photos on my phone. They also like to "type" messages to dad on my phone in WhatsApp, things like that. That's plenty of tech literacy.

Simple answer .... You don't.

Oh FFS. Missed this one. Right you are.

You sound like a great mother @HappyCaroline .

Some people are so behind the times.