Is 4 too young for an MP3 player? Why?

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Dd loves sharing ds's mp3 player. They are currently listening to Hans Christian Anderson stories on it.

I just suggested we get her one for Christmas with stories/songs and dh reacted with horror.

What do you reckon? Are there risks? What? I'm not talking about letting her have Eminem or anything.

summat about the earphones? might that be the problem with small children using them? JUst guessing it's that rather than the musical content

Dh bought dd one for her 4th birthday last week.

It was a real cheapy Technika thing from Tesco.
He downloaded her things onto it and then we wrapped it up for her and she loves it.

Great for car journeys.

I'd just make sure that you have control of the volume so she doesn't blast her eardrums !

dd2 has dd1's old mp3 player now that dd1 has dh's old i-pod - she loves it. We've filled it full of stories and music from High School Musical - she's 5. DS is most envyous and would like one too - he is 4. Can't see the harm.

It will only do harm if they listen to it at too high a volume for too long. Can you buy kids MP3s with a parental volume control like the ELC tape recorders I wonder ???

Don't know what an MP3 player is tbh but if they have ear/head phones I would say no.

The reason being I had a Walkman many (many) years ago and I'm sure it has affected my hearing - and I was a teenager then. It's too tempting to turn up the volume, even if it's stories rather than music.

Here you go - some facts and advice

Well my DS has had a personal CD player since that age and I can't really tell the difference. He doesn't use it much - mainly in the car. DD not showing an interest in anything like that yet.

My dd got one when she was 7, which I thought was quite young.
Actually, she's lost it, but that's another story.

DS has a My First MP3 for his birthday on Wednesday

It has the headband type phones and will be kept at a low volume

How far in to 4 yrs old is the child? my ds will be 5 so not THAT much different really (unless it is their 4th birthday so they are closer to 3)

hmmm. Get a really cheap rubbishy thing because they are far more likely to break or lose it at that age

ds1 has one and has for a few months, he has a set of speakers, tesco do a folding speaker for 4.99, he uses that at bedtime to listen to stories without the issue of him damaging a CD.

with speakers no problem. if you get a nice basic one without written menus like the old ipod shuffle they can work it all on their own. wouldn't be without ours for audiobooks at bedtime.

Ooh interesting, thanks for all these. OK, I will hold off for a while. she's not even 4 yet, but it's not far off