How old were your kids when you got them a tablet/iPad?

[RachBakesCakes]

The advice is conflicting so wanted to hear from parents

Mine never had their own tablet, we have a shared family one. They got their own phones age 10/11.

@HamishTheCamel thanks, how old were they when they started using the tablet?

Mine had kindles on family settings from around 5. Handy for travelling and had some good learning apps and loads of books.
They had restricted access to them though.

DH is a tech geek so bought two iPads the day they were released so my children were 18months, 3 and 5. We let theM us them very little (they were always mummy and daddy’s) but they were around for flights/long journeys etc. I’d say by the time they were 5,7,9 they had their own but we still had very strict rules in place. My main rules were:
no screens upstairs
no screens between 10-4 on weekends and holidays
no screens ever at a table

the last rule still holds now they are teens!

We have a family iPad, they don’t have their own and won’t.

I am holding off on a phone for as long as I can! I’m thinking 13 but maybe that’s quite late? Interested in what other people do here. They’ll have a family computer to use also until I can’t hold out any longer. But I’m thinking even older than 13 for that.

OK brag alert here: DS is 19 close to top of his year in STEM at Oxford University, has a lovely girlfriend and plays sport regularly- he can also cook and clean. In other words a pretty intelligent well adjusted young man. He had a DS in year 2 and an IPAD in year 4. Rules were not before you are dressed, not until you have done your homework, not at the table and

It charges downstairs over night until after GCSEs. It worked for us.

My ds is 8. We just got a tablet. He did go on phones/laptop before. We have 1 hour rule term time. 3 hour weekend and holidays

Yes but it’s not academics I’m worried about, it’s DD’s mental health and social media!!!

Gosh, didn't you do parenting well.

We bought 3 kindle fires at the start of the pandemic, so 5, 7, 8 ish. They use them about 1h a week. Wasted purchase really. Only allowed candy crush type games and to watch TV on them

11yo has just got a phone, she will have social media/Whatsapp at some point down the line.

They all have access to family laptop. Mostly use it for "making presentations" approx 1h a week again. They have own email addresses now, but don't use them.

I think the thing is it is hard to know if it negatively impacts until too late. Also you can't unsee terrible things. We have been cautious for that reason. Also focused on a childhood of play etc.

End of primary school they had a phone each (year 6). They made their own way home in preparation for secondary school.

They had Amazon tablets from 8y (junior in primary school) although seldom used as they preferred playing with their toys/games & loved being outside come rain or shine.

Currently the 12.5y old intermittently uses his phone (good at texting family not fussed about the apps) but plays his games console. No tablet/iPad. Not interested.

His 15y old sister is the same with the phone use (great at using it as an actual phone, doesn't use too many apps) albeit replace phone with iPad/TV time.

I would let them play on the 'family IPAD' as a treat/game like you would when you play another game/activity with them, just to keep them up to date with tech but there is no need to have their own too early.
~ 4/5y is too early in my opinion, however when my son got his at 8y, he became a little frustrated as everyone knew what to do in the tablet/tech IT sessions in school, and he was still learning/inputting stuff when others had finished. It's hard to avoid when schools use them as part of teaching!

Saying this, children need to explore role play, interactions with others via games/puzzles and importantly imaginative play for several years for optimum emotional, analytical, creative and social brain development; they can't get this from a tablet.

I did say brag alert. His mental health is fine despite 3 COVID lockdowns. TBH I don't think what one does at a parent makes as much difference as we all think .

That's a very convoluted answer to a simple question.

Mine got them for their 9th birthdays.

Oldest is 4. She’s never been on a tablet, I have no plans to buy her one for years yet, she can have a mobile phone when she’s 11 and starts secondary school.

I think DS was 8 or 9. It wasn't the plan for him to have an iPad so long, but it was lockdown and it was easier for his home schooling than juggling random bits of tech between us.

It's locked down with parental controls so he can only use it for small bits of the day now lockdown is over.

We got DD one when she was 3. It's a child specific one that we can control what's on it etc.

She's 4.5 now and it's just another option for play for her. She isn't obsessed with it and will happily play for 10-15 mins and put it down. It's great for 6am on a Saturday when she's awake and we're barely!

She enjoys doctor/vet games and food ones (also watching kids videos on cooking/baking) and has learnt plenty from them. She also watches Octonauts and things on it sometimes.

I'm not sure if it's because of her personality or because she was young when she got it so the tablet was "just another thing" rather than this big thing she was desperate for but we haven't had to deal with the obsession/bad behaviour that I hear about with kids sometimes. Some combination of the two I guess. Remains to be seen if it's the same when she's older!

On the phone thing - obviously we're a long way from that but I'm intending to hold out til she goes to secondary school at the earliest.

None of my kids have ever had an iPad or a tablet. They all got phones when they were in the last term of year 6

I have an iPad which DD borrows sometimes but generally they just use their phones.

DS both have PCs in their rooms which they use for gaming.

But none of them have ever expressed an interest in owning a tablet / iPad to be honest. They are 13/16/18

We don't have an iPad at all so never, at least not so far, but that's mainly because they're an expensive bit of kit that we wouldn't use! They played on the laptops for Minecraft from around 6 and they both got a Switch for their 7th birthdays. No phones yet (they're 8&9), we're aiming for last term of year 6 to get them one as they seem to cause nothing but trouble among my friends who got their dc one earlier, they're allowed to play Pokemom Go on ours though.

We bought one when DD had just turned 2. This was much earlier than I would have liked but we went on a long haul flight to Australia to see family and we needed SOMETHING to help make it through those 30 hours!
The tablet is only used on planes or on long car trips now (though she isn't really too fussed now she is a bit older and can chat to us / listen to the radio in the car)

DS is 4 and we have a family iPad which we watch shows on (no TV) which we've had since he was a baby but he only started watching shows on it around 2.

Just got mine a kindle fire each, they are 7 and 5. Very handy for homework apps and down time. We are out a lot so they don't get used a great deal.

The answers to questions like this on Mumsnet always seem to massively differ from people I know. My DS got a kids fire tablet when 2 for plane journeys only. Didn’t really use it and it went back in a drawer forgotten about. We’ve recently got it out again now he’s 3 and he really enjoys playing games on there. It’s been a lifesaver for when he needs some downtime while dropping his nap and when I’ve been having to feed the baby. It will often then go back in a drawer and be forgotten about for days or weeks at a time.

On MN most people seem to be completely aghast at three year olds having a tablet, but most mums of three year olds I know in real life have one.

He doesn’t watch YouTube on there, it’s fully parental controlled, I can set a time limit on it. He never has it at the table or while eating and has always behaved impeccably at restaurants without one. He also doesn’t have it on car journeys as we listen to stories instead.

I know three year olds don’t need screens and it’s one of the number one causes of my mum guilt. BUT. It gives me a much needed breather when highly sleep deprived from the baby which I then think makes me a better mum. We spend lots of time outside, we do baking, we do reading, we play with his train sets etc.

Used the family iPad since 18 months, he primarily has watched colour videos, counting videos and as such, learnt all the colours at around 20 months and has been able to count to 100 at age 3.

He still uses it now at 6 but because it's never been a big want - as soon as we say 'iPad off now', it's off and there's no argument about it. What he watches has changed to more video game based videos but because it's down time and when the iPad goes off, it's time for reading a book or playing with toys - that's fine.

I don't think he'll really ever have his own but he will have his own phone when he finishes junior school.

Mine were all around 3-5 when they had them. I started my older 2 with Tesco hudl tablets and then upgraded to iPads once I knew they would be looked after and the younger 2 started on Amazon fire tablets again until they proved to look after them before paying for iPads.
I’ve never really restricted screen time because when they are young they tend to just go back and to them and not sit on them all day.
My youngest 2 are now 5 and 7 and play lovely together for hours but when they’ve had enough of each other they go on iPads for some chill out time. They’ve only got access to age appropriate apps and only allowed to have kids you tube.
My older 2 are now 13 and 11, both had phones for Xmas after they turn 10. Oldest has access to a few social media apps and no longer has iPad as he’s more into his gaming and my 11 year old is only allowed Whatapps and still uses her iPad as well.
My main rule is they are not allowed them at all on a school morning (although oldest has access to his phone) and none of them stay in their rooms overnight.
My younger ones are early risers so they tend to watch them in bed in the mornings when they wake up for a bit on the weekends/school holidays.

Same here. They got kindle fire kids tabs for Christmas just turned 5.