Littlejen

Ooglybear

I am just curious, what prompted the "Electronics and kids poll"? You said you'd update why, and I didn't see it, so I thought I'd ask.

Littlejen22

My friend's 8yo 3rd grader has wanted an iPod Touch since her birthday during the summer. My friend admits to having no knowledge about all Apple products. She keeps teetering between being against it to the point where she sounds like she thinks all evil begins and ends with iPods/iPads and then will say she might get it.

She wound up buying a Nook for the family but her DD still wants and iPod.

She is driving me insane because she is pretty judgey about my kids getting them from my Mom for Christmas last year. She will argue that these are not made for kids and are too expensive. My argument to her is that Leap Pads and Nintendo DSs are less money but after buying games they cost more and the iPod does more. I do not worry about the kids breaking it any more than other products and with FaceTime I can call it when they are lost. Friend argues about how they can be used for horrible things, I argue you can password protect them.

Friend called yesterday saying she might give in and get it for Christmas and I said if you are then buy now while the 4th gen 32 GB is still avail bc it is cheaper and more memory and will be all she needs. Then friend says that I am the only one that thinks this is a good idea and all their teacher friends say don't do it and her DH will be pissed if she does friend and her DH are teachers.. Then she goes not to say she would buy her DD a Nintendo DSi which confuses the crap out of me i know very little about the DSi because if she can get online with it and take photos and message friends then it can be as evil as the iPod and still is not what her DD wants.

Essentially her DD wants it to say she has one so I told her I am 100 against it then but if she wanted to get it for it's features everything can be password protected and a DSi or Nook or other tablet would all need the same supervision.

Her last comment before I said I had to go was that if they were made for kids all kids would have them like they do Nintendo handheld games! Um, wtf? Nintendo has been around for probably 2 decades longer so not an argument and not all kids have Nintendo and while iPod might not have been originally marketed for kids it certainly can be kid friendly with a case to protect it and kidfriendly games and music. My kids are trying to teach themselves to speak Cantonese on their iPods, they can be educational and more so than a Nintendo if that is the real argument. And she is not antiscreen, her kids watched TV from birth and her DD had a TV at two I am pretty sure it did not last long in her room but you get the point.

I want to slam my head into a wall on the phone, if you did not want to get it why call me and say you were and then argue against it to me, I do not give a flying F what you get your kid, I have my own presents to figure out!

karatechrissy

She sounds like a psycho. 

Just an FYI, there are a TON of things for ipods and ipads for the little ones. Hell, there is a 'baby proof' iPhone/ipod/ipad baby case thing. It has a bunch of sensory things on the outside then you put the phone/pad/pod in the middle and the baby can play it. I gasped out loud when I saw it. Apparently it's water proof and everything. Insane. They have an adapter to use the phone/pad/pod as like a remote for another thing for toddlers. There is a HUGE market for the smaller ones now with the apple products. Target has an entire aisle dedicated to these things! (the one here by my house does anyway).

I think your friend is just trying to argue for the sake of argument. She must like hearing herself talk or something. It sounds like an exhausting conversation.

We got my SS an ipod for Christmas last year. He lost it (in the house) 3 months later. We still haven't found it. BM bought him another one beginning of summer. Guess who can't find their iPod? yea, huge waste of money. DH and I are in agreement that SS cannot have any expensive electronic for a very long time. He lost 2 DSi's as well prior to the ipods. BM bought both of those. The first one when he was 2, the other for his 4th birthday. The kid is just too young and irresponsible.

With that said, I bought my 2 1/2 year old a leap pad explorer 2 for Christmas this year. She likes my phone but I can't risk her breaking it. So she only gets it for very small limited amounts of time. I think the leap pad will help her learn stuff and it's durable and won't break on one drop. Maybe I"m a terrible parent... meh... 

Littlejen22

My kids both have leaps terms, DD got an old hand me down at 2 shortly after DS got his Leapster Explorer, they NEVER use them or their Tag readers, things have been used for maybe a total of 2 min for the last 6 months. I actually find the iPod easier to use and the kids use it as a camera more than their point and shoots they have Nikon point and shoots to blow someone's mind!. They have been really good with their iPods although they rarely take them out of the house and when they do I actually carry them. At 3 DD is more responsible with hers but uses it less and like I said without being able to call it DS would misplace his. I like that there is no stylus or games to lose. And hell, yesterday I downloaded Brain Beats and School House Rock and now cannot stop singing the Preamble.

AmeliaKris

My 9 yr old got a kindle fire. Its been great. All the same apps can be downloaded, its a bigger screen so its easier to use, and because its bigger she rarely misplaces it. I would buy it again over a smaller itouch. She was just doing flashcards on it this morning before school. She loves it.

Sigir

My dd8 got an iPod touch no regrets. Your friend sounds exhausting.