What’s your position on leap pad etc?

[crazychemist]

Hi all,

Wondering what the general consensus is on using electronic devices for supporting learning at home?

A part of me thinks interactive games are a really great and fun way to learn and phonics games etc sounds like a great idea. Obviously interaction is key to learning, but I wonder if my DD would get some satisfaction from “teaching herself” some things? Obviously there are plenty of times that I can’t/won’t give her my full attention so it might be good for then. Maybe on car journeys? I can see the advantages.

BUT part of me is worried about introducing screens/games. Even if it’s an educational game it’s still training the brain to expect rapid gratification, means she’d be focussing at a fixed distance, might cause her to interact less as it might be tempting to leave her to it so I can get some work done....

What do people think? I’m torn over whether it’s a good idea for recall-only learning like phonics and number bonds etc.

DSs had one for a few years now and even though he has a laptop he still uses it, although we need to get around to adding new stuff to it, on the plus side it's very robust, the software is easy to both install and use, on the down side it's very American, I have never seen an English version, so Period for Full stop, Zee instead of Zed, that sort of thing,

Did you have any kind of battle with regards to him wanting it all the time etc? My concern is that it might lead into spiralling screen dependency... (I might be being a little paranoid, but as a teacher I see huge numbers of 11 year olds who are completely dependent on their tech, and it must have started somewhere!)

Can't really say that I did but we had very clear boundaries from the beginning, he has time limits on his tech and knows they're not negotiable, however I'm very conscious that the world he is growing up in isn't the one I did, In reality todays kids need to be able to negotiate tech, it's part of life now, what I've worked on is trying to get him to see that tech is a resource he needs to be able to use but not be dependent on, for instance we don't use satnav, so he map reads when we go out in the car, he knows satnav would make it much easier but he also sees (I think) that you don't 'need' it.

Thanks @1099, that’s really helpful.

I think I’ll delay till she’s a bit older. I know it has to be dealt with well before she’s in secondary school, but I’m not ready to work out what boundaries to set just yet.