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

[RachBakesCakes]

The advice is conflicting so wanted to hear from parents

had access to my iPad from 2
”family” iPad from 5
own iPad (with parental controls / time limit) from 9 - that was 2020, which pushed the decision on making the “family” iPad her “own” iPad

I think we got them one each for Christmas just before the pandemic so they would have been 4 and 6.

they are now 8 and 10 and broadly moved on to pc gaming (10yo) and Nintendo switch (8yo- bought in last few months) though the (expensive Huwawei) tablets are still going. They mostly use the tablets for Spotify these days.

we also have a family iPad. And TV. Kids don’t have phones but their 11th birthday before they go to high school is the norm round here.

Age 2 for Dc2 and about 4 for dc1.

Parental controls applied but DH loves gadgets so DC2 has few restrictions. It’s terrible and his brain is mush.

however he could ride a bike age 3, he loves to run, swim, climb, play football.

Luckily AI will take over everything by the time he’s an adult so the fact he’s hopeless at school will be irrelevant… right?

We got one for DD1 when she was 3; she's 4.5 now and doesn't really use it much. She has free access to it, but will mostly choose other stuff to play with. We've never made it a big thing. I'd say she maybe does an hour or two max on it a week, some weeks none.

I think child temperament matters a lot too

Thanks for all the replies. To clarify, we have an iPad in the house that DC (age 2.5) has never used so wouldn't be buying one just for them. We live in the countryside so are outside most of the day or crafting in the house if it's raining very heavily. It would just be handy to use for travelling to visit our family in Australia. Seems like this would be reasonable on the odd occasion we visit.

When he’s 2ish, I imagine. I’d rather him have his own than share mine.

I think you’d be unreasonable not to use it for a flight to Australia with a toddler!! Hours upon hours of sitting and being quiet isn’t exactly normal. It’s also far better to know you have stuff they really like downloaded with your own toddler wireless headphones that you’ve practised with at home rather than relying whatever movies the plane has which may not hold their attention and having to use the adult sized wired headphones. But agree you really don’t need it day to day.

Honestly, I have no idea. We have three DC (9/5.5/3.5), none of them have access to iPad or phones and don’t seem to have much interest.

DD9 will use my phone for Timetable Rockstars but that’s about it. I worry that she’ll be left behind or is missing out but seems to get plenty of iPad access at school and is content with her Switch for gaming.

Phone wise, she’ll get one in year 6 ready for secondary school so it’s not a novelty but that won’t have any social media, just WhatsApp for messaging her friend although that terrifies me.

Don’t know about the younger two, I’m reluctant to introduce anything yet and they haven’t asked so don’t think it’s an issue.

I guess you just have to use your best judgment and hope for the best!

Five

About 9 months old... best money spent on an Amazon Fire tablet.

I would be interested how much time small children actually spend on their tablets versus how much time their parents think they do. 15 minutes in the morning and half an hour after school probably doesn’t seem like much, but when you actually add it up, that’s over 5 hours a week - most of a school day. More if it’s then used for longer periods at the weekend. Whereas it would feel like ‘a couple of hours a week’, because it’s short bursts of time.

Mine has had use of a tablet since around 3, now 4.5. He likes playing games on it (Cbeebies/educational type stuff) and has YouTube Kids with parental control (I've approved a few channels - started off with no controls and that was not for me) and iPlayer for Cbeebies programmes. His favourite thing at the moment is to watch videos of a kid building Brio train sets and then create his own - I can't see the harm in that.

He doesn't have it in the car or in restaurants, however it is invaluable on flights. He knows if he tantrums about turning it off he won't get it again until the next day/an appropriate amount of time has passed. I don't have screen time limits but I do often say 'Ok five more minutes and then turn it off please', and I stick to it. I keep it hidden when not in use, so he can't just pick it up without asking.

Realistically tablets will be part of their childhood, they're growing up in a different age to us and need to know how to use tech.

@fearfuloffluff if you look around in most queues (for example) most adults will be on their phone, not playing I spy or leaving the queue to go for a walk.

My DD1 is 3.5 and if we go out to eat, she has small, non noisy toys to play with, or colouring to do and will happily chat with us. But sometimes our food may take a while or she might have finished before us and rather than her get itchy feet, wanting to leave, we allow her to play a game on her iPad.

Use of an iPad is not an either/or situation with chatting or playing games. They can be used alongside each other and be beneficial

We got an Amazon Fire tablet when DD1 was 4 (she's 5 now) specifically ahead of a holiday with some long journeys. She only rarely uses it, mostly on holidays. Probably uses it once a month outside of holidays. She just doesn't think to use it on a daily basis at home as she prefers to play with toys or do crafts, and we don't bring it out with us usually as it's quite big and we travel on public transport. I sometimes give her a spare old phone to watch downloaded cartoons on, if we're on a long train ride (1 hour+).

@MsSquiz Thats exactly what I realised, it’s not an either/ or situation. Just because they have access to a screen, doesn’t mean they’re not doing lots of other screen free activities. It’s all about balance.

My baby woke seven times last night (four month sleep regression) so you can be damn sure that I’ll be letting the toddler have the iPad today if he asks for it. However, we’ll also be outside lots and he’ll of course play with other toys.

No I’m sorry you’re not allowed to be nuanced like that, no sitting on the fence please.

I’m of course joking. Sounds sensible. iPads fall into the 80/20 rule just like everything else.

And sympathy for the seven times, I know what that feels like. Hope it’s not raining where you are (it is here!) as that makes everything harder with a toddler.

3 he’s 4 now and he barely uses it just in the morning first thing and in the car sometimes. Maybe I’m lucky but he’s not fussed by it and has no problems coming off it.

Kindle fire age 7. Honestly they were using pc’s before that though.

I wouldn’t let them have their own. If they want one they can save up. I’ll allow mobile phones in last term of year 6 but iPads will be a no. We’ll have a family one (ie. Mine) which can be used but no way are they having their own.

We got our daughter a Kindle tablet during the first lockdown when she was nearly 3. It was supposed to be for jolly phonics whilst nursery was closed, but in reality has only ever been used for cartoons and games. She's 6 now and it's just broken. We won't be replacing it. It's been handy for long journeys etc, but I can see a negative shift in her behaviour after she's been allowed to go on it. She can have a phone when she starts secondary school, but won't be having anything else before then unless needed for schoolwork - even then we'd buy a family tablet rather than one specifically for her.

He had access to my kindle fire from 7yo. Has just got a mobile this month in preparation for starting secondary next month.
We've spent most of the summer in the beach cos it's so fucking hot (35c already today) so he's not constantly at home on his arse glued to a screen.

This is interesting from unicef:
https://www.unicef.org/parenting/child-development/babies-screen-time

This is why I’m toying with buying one for my two year old. We have a few similar long flights/train rides coming up and I think a little Baby Shark/Hello Bear would help the entire trek go a lot smoother. Last flight he ended up on his dad’s phone watching YouTube anyway.

2 for my oldest and honestly thought I wouldn’t be that parent but it gives me some peace and obviously it’s limited screen time. She’s 5 now and it helped her massively with learning. My youngest is 1 and recently started to play the learning games on oldests one. He’s just counted to 10 on his own and he’s 20 months so obviously it’s helping him to.