ipod and tablet for a 7 and 5 yr old

[peppajay]

Just wanted other people thoughts on whether I am a irresponsible parent for thinking of getting my 7 yr old a ipod touch fgor xmas and my 5 yr old a tablet. At the moment we have a tv and a laptop, no subscriptions on tv so just freeview and a humax recording box. Up until 6 months ago neither of them really watched tv but now the evenings are darker they do spend time watching cbeebies and cbbc. They do an activity after school every day bar a Wednesday and in the summer we are always at the park. Weekends are usually spent out and about doing something as a family. My son absolutely loves watching the clips and playing games on milkshake and cbeebies website and my DD loves music so we thought these were the ideal choices, however after speaking to a couple of mums today they have a blanket ban on any technological products till their kids are in high school!!! I will always control what they play and watch but they would love their own and they haven't really asked for anything else. Other families I was speaking to spend weekends at the cinema or watching DVD's as a family but we have done this as kids don't sit still for more than half an hour and that is why I thought an ipad/ipod was a good idea but now I don't know as it seems very frowned upon!!

my 2 got tablets last year when ds was 6 and dd was 9. They both had Nintendo ds consoles from around the age of 3/4.

DD had a basic iPod and a DS from being 5y, an iPod Touch from 6, replaced latter with an iPad Mini last year, aged 10y and she got an iPhone on her 11h birthdy ready for starting secondary. She has also had her own netbook or computer since being about 6y too (ones via DH's work so at no cost to us).

I have no issues with technology at all and have never had to restrict DD's use on these devices. She still does plenty of other stuff, in and out of the house, and is very sociable, in and out of school, and infact most of her time on her phone and iPad are social based activities too! She most certainly isn't glued to the things like some children you see.

Technology doesn't equal evil here! It is embraced and used properly and with care.

My six year old has a touch. Has done since he was 5. It's been great. My four year old is getting a kindle fire for Christmas. I'm one of the "for" tech parents.

Personally I wouldn't necessarily give those type of items to my DC to own, but definitely have them as 'family tablet' or 'family ipod' and for them to have main use of it. I don't think technology is bad, it's part of life and can be great for relaxation or to aid education. It's just important that it's used responsibly (and what constitutes responsible will be different for different families).