First tablet for preschooler?

[Anonymous]

We have no tablet for our kids (3 and 6). On a flight I will download some tv episodes to my old phone and let them watch that.

My 6 yo also likes Yoto.

[Anonymous]

No tablets or screens until your kid can cook and cleanup dinner, read chapter books for hours at a time and run a 6:30 mile.

[Anonymous]

None. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all the data out there it is hard to believe people want to buy these for young kids.

I've never seen any data about tablets for young kids in the limited circumstances of long car rides. Maybe some parents find that limitation difficult to enforce, but we haven't. Our kid has had a tablet since she was two. In the past 12 months, she's used it seven days total, which is average for a year. I don't think there's any data that indicates that has harmed her.

It seems wasteful to buy a special iPad for a preschooler that she uses 7 days a year. We limit screen time for our kid and specifically don't allow her ot use handheld screens because we think they are more addictive. But we do allow her to watch TV or a movie on a tablet on plane trips or very occasionally at a hotel room on vacation. We just use my DH's iPad or my laptop for this.

Also I don't have to see studies to believe that handheld screens and excessive screens generally are bad for you because I am a person who has seen screen addiction and decreased attention span and weakened social and coping skills *in myself* due to screen use. So I don't want to do that to my kid especially not starting at age 2.

You're not making any sense. On the one hand, you claim that you don't allow handheld screens, but then in the next sentence, you explain that your kid DOES use a tablet, it just belongs to someone else. We don't have any other tablets in the house, so our solution is a cheap tablet for our kid for long trips. We're doing the same thing, but somehow you're being sanctimonious about it.

You're also projecting your own (mis)use of screens onto other people. Our daughter's tablet is used to watch TV. That's it. It's "handheld" because she's in the backseat of a car, but it's just TV and movies. Is watching a full day of TV a few times a year ideal? Probably not. Is it decreasing anyone's social skills? Don't be silly. That's might be an effect of constant use of smartphones, but it's not an effect of watching cartoons on a car ride.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all the data out there it is hard to believe people want to buy these for young kids.

I've never seen any data about tablets for young kids in the limited circumstances of long car rides. Maybe some parents find that limitation difficult to enforce, but we haven't. Our kid has had a tablet since she was two. In the past 12 months, she's used it seven days total, which is average for a year. I don't think there's any data that indicates that has harmed her.

It seems wasteful to buy a special iPad for a preschooler that she uses 7 days a year. We limit screen time for our kid and specifically don't allow her ot use handheld screens because we think they are more addictive. But we do allow her to watch TV or a movie on a tablet on plane trips or very occasionally at a hotel room on vacation. We just use my DH's iPad or my laptop for this.

Also I don't have to see studies to believe that handheld screens and excessive screens generally are bad for you because I am a person who has seen screen addiction and decreased attention span and weakened social and coping skills *in myself* due to screen use. So I don't want to do that to my kid especially not starting at age 2.

You're not making any sense. On the one hand, you claim that you don't allow handheld screens, but then in the next sentence, you explain that your kid DOES use a tablet, it just belongs to someone else. We don't have any other tablets in the house, so our solution is a cheap tablet for our kid for long trips. We're doing the same thing, but somehow you're being sanctimonious about it.

You're also projecting your own (mis)use of screens onto other people. Our daughter's tablet is used to watch TV. That's it. It's "handheld" because she's in the backseat of a car, but it's just TV and movies. Is watching a full day of TV a few times a year ideal? Probably not. Is it decreasing anyone's social skills? Don't be silly. That's might be an effect of constant use of smartphones, but it's not an effect of watching cartoons on a car ride.

+1 exact same reaction to that PP

We actually don't have any other random tablets or iPads lying around the house. We adults don't use them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just have my kids listen to audiobooks and look out the window. No need for a tablet.

+1. Plus a million kid friendly activities. Crayola Color Wonder saved us on so many road trips, and we regularly do (and did, with little kids) an 18 hour haul.

[Anonymous]

My kids are 8 and 10 now but we've used an old iPad since they were that age. I don't think tablets are evil, but we never brought it to stores or restaurants like I see so many kids doing now. You really need to monitor their usage. We limited it to 30 mins at a time and long car/plane rides only. They could only use it for educational games/drawing apps, no YouTube or social media. For us it was fine, but the problems arise when kids zone out watching endless videos and can't interact in social settings because they have become so screen dependent.

[Anonymous]

We just but the bullet and bought iPads. The kids only get them for long travel (like 4+ hour drives or airplane trips.)

[Anonymous]

We have a Kindle Fire that’s only for long flights and car trips. We have had zero trouble enforcing this, and our child has never once asked for it outside of those circumstances. It’s really not that hard to enforce boundaries. I do not feel our kid has been harmed in the slightest by 2 hours of Elmo 3 times a year.

[Anonymous]

Listen, a tablet on a long road trip is fine. But giving a tablet to a child daily for hours not so much. Also stay away from youtube.
I think any tablet would work as long as it's in one of those big foam cases. The fire is cheap, and cheaply made so won't last so long and also won't really matter if kiddo destroys it. we didn't have a case but it stopped working with a year or twi. An iPad everyone can use is much better. Just be sure you have a case.

[Anonymous]

None. They don't need one on the regular, and you can just bring out your tablet for a long flight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None. They don't need one on the regular, and you can just bring out your tablet for a long flight.

But I myself don’t have a tablet. So I bought the kindle fire for plane rides.

[Anonymous]

None, don't be lazy!

-single mom with full custody of a 7 year old who has never had a tablet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all the data out there it is hard to believe people want to buy these for young kids.

I've never seen any data about tablets for young kids in the limited circumstances of long car rides. Maybe some parents find that limitation difficult to enforce, but we haven't. Our kid has had a tablet since she was two. In the past 12 months, she's used it seven days total, which is average for a year. I don't think there's any data that indicates that has harmed her.

It seems wasteful to buy a special iPad for a preschooler that she uses 7 days a year. We limit screen time for our kid and specifically don't allow her ot use handheld screens because we think they are more addictive. But we do allow her to watch TV or a movie on a tablet on plane trips or very occasionally at a hotel room on vacation. We just use my DH's iPad or my laptop for this.

Also I don't have to see studies to believe that handheld screens and excessive screens generally are bad for you because I am a person who has seen screen addiction and decreased attention span and weakened social and coping skills *in myself* due to screen use. So I don't want to do that to my kid especially not starting at age 2.

You're not making any sense. On the one hand, you claim that you don't allow handheld screens, but then in the next sentence, you explain that your kid DOES use a tablet, it just belongs to someone else. We don't have any other tablets in the house, so our solution is a cheap tablet for our kid for long trips. We're doing the same thing, but somehow you're being sanctimonious about it.

You're also projecting your own (mis)use of screens onto other people. Our daughter's tablet is used to watch TV. That's it. It's "handheld" because she's in the backseat of a car, but it's just TV and movies. Is watching a full day of TV a few times a year ideal? Probably not. Is it decreasing anyone's social skills? Don't be silly. That's might be an effect of constant use of smartphones, but it's not an effect of watching cartoons on a car ride.

The point (which was admittedly not stated well) is that you don't need to buy a tablet for a kid if you are only going to let them use it in very rare circumstances when traveling long distances. So the PP who was like "our kid has only used her tablet 7 days in the last year" raises a question as to why you'd put effort into finding a "kid friendly tablet." If their use is that minimal they could use a parent's phone or laptop to watch TV on those trips and you don't have to invest in a tablet with special features for a kid.

I think a lot of us are saying that we allow some screens during travel even if we limit screens at home. That actually seems to be the consensus. But OP was asking for recs for a "preschooler's first tablet" and that indicates regular at-home use and most of us think that's a bad idea.

[Anonymous]

My kids got iPads issued by the school in K. That's more than enough tablet use IMO.
If you are on a long-haul flight, there will be a screen for your child to watch movies. On a really long road trip I would let my kids use my phone to watch something if I was desperate.
Every one of my friends has at some point regretted giving their kids a tablet and said "but I can't take it away or ...." as if their kid were the boss.