My DS (8 yrs. old next month) is begging and pleading ( respectfully, of course) for a tablet foe his b-day. Do your children have them? How old were they when they got them? Do they come in handy for school? I would really appreciate some guidance here!
We have a tablet for the whole family. We can use it for school, but don't. My hubby put movies on it for long car rides since our van doesn't have a built-in DVD system. They are extremely useful for also looking up recipes when I don't want to bring the laptop into the kitchen.
My great-niece got one at 9 for her birthday. Her grandmother gave it to her. We don't even live in the same state, so I know nothing about it. Wish I could help you.
I would not buy one for my 8 year old simply because they are expensive, and 8 year olds are...well, 8. I just don't think they've built one that meets my criteria for in-the-hands-of-a-child-durability. Also, I think it would be very difficult to help my child limit their screen time if they had a portable device with which they could disappear into their room. We let our 15 year old have one, but it was not long before we realized that even she was too young to be left alone with such a potentially time-draining device. She handed it over voluntarily, because she felt like she couldn't self-regulate her time...it was just too much of a draw. I did buy a cheap Kindle for our 13 year old. It doesn't have a touch screen, but he can read books on it. He can search the net on it, but it takes forever because he has to enter letters in using directional arrows. It wasn't exactly what he was hoping for!
Those are valid concerns. We had already decided the tablet (if purchased) would have to be closely monitored. Some points it its favor were that reading might be more appealing if it involved a screen. Educational videos and games could augment our traditional lessons. Plus, being tech savvy is an important life skill. We thought that perhaps we could start with an inexpensive version. Wal-Mart has two under $100. We could upvrade if it went well, and not be out too much if it were a dismal failure. Are we deluding ourselves?
Last time I looked, there was nothing under $100, so don't tell my kids that prices have come down...I can't handle the begging that would ensue! LOL! The fact that you are even considering this means that you have not experienced the same issues I have with my children (mainly my middle son) with what I call "computer idolatry." He is better now, but there was a few years when he put computer time above all else. He only ever had 30 minutes per day, but if school was taking "too long" and delaying the start of that 30 minutes, he'd turn into a nasty troll. Even when we had the opportunity to do something fun, if it delayed or forced him to miss his computer time, he'd be miserable and make everyone else miserable. He still loves his computer time, but he has developed a more healthy attitude about it. I think the turning point was when we he was grounded from the computer for a month. We noticed that with the computer time being eliminated as an option, he was much more pleasant and peace was restored to our home. We pointed this out to him, and I think he saw it himself, so after that, we saw a difference. However, I wouldn't test him by giving him any other electronic devices! I guess I didn't really need to write all that, because the point is that you know your child. If you have no issues with monitoring her current screen-time or with her desire for screen-time, then there is no reason to believe you will have any issues by adding a new, smaller screen to the mix. I'd be interested to know what you think of the Walmart, under-$100 tablets. We had a Archos which was one of the least expensive at the time, but it was junk. We sent it back three times. Twice they "repaired it"--not. The third time, they sent us a new one, which worked but it has a finicky on-off switch. You have to mess with it for a few minutes before it would actually turn on. We don't use it, because it's just too much trouble. Anyway...I recommend avoiding anything called "Archos."
'Computer idolatry' is an interesting term. The closest thing we've dealt with is 'TV idolatry'. My two older boys spent a significant time in front of computer screens too, but it led them to high tech careers (software engineering and nuclear electronics), but they were much older. Thirty minutes would be a difficult time limit to enforce. When I get on my computer, thirty minutes barely gets me started on amy research, or social media. I'd probably have to lead by example, and, of course that's always tricky. The cheap tablets at Wal-Mart respond well when ds plays with them, and I imagine they get a lot of use out there on display.
We got my ds a tablet for christmas last year (he was 13). It was a walmart black friday special for $49. It is not the nicest but it works for netflix, internet and what he needs it for.
My 3 kids SHARE a hand-me-down iPad from my husband. They upgraded his at work (he's in a technology field and they buy all of his equipment, but when they upgrade him, he gets to keep it and they write it off). I had gotten one as a gift for christmas one year - mine was smaller and less powerful, so I got his, and they got mine. LOL They do fight over it though. We would NOT buy them one. My oldest is saving for her own iPad and we will allow her to buy it when she has the money. She's more than halfway there (she's almost 15). My son wants an iTouch, so he's saving his money for that. My youngest wants it all - but she's only 9. She uses the iPad for school very often, more often than the other two. My oldest uses the iPad a lot, too for schoolwork. she uses a keyboard and types all of her papers on it and such. The shared iPad is kept in a main room, and if they take it to their room and not bring it back to a common area when done, they lose iPad privileges for the day. I'm mean old mama! Anyway, they are useful. But I would never give an 8 year old an expensive piece of technology and let him be in charge of it.
My kids each received a kindle fire HD the Christmas of 2013. They were 8 and twelve 12. I paid the extra 10 bucks so they would not have advertising on the opening screen. They are android based and the kids really get a lot of use out of them. They are their music players, cameras, video makers, movie player for the car, and they read books on them. I was suprized that they actually read on them. LOL. They play games on them and use little apps to do somewhat creative time wasting. When we travel or visit people they are useful to entertain the kids. For us a table was not a replacement for buying a laptop. We have ample computers for school and do not use them much for that. However I am not comfortable with the kids having a smart phone and these replace that in terms of portablility, reader, camera, video recorder, mp3 player, book, video player etc in a single item. We could purchase a blue tooth keyboard for one or more if we used them for productivity using an andoir based office suite. We can print from them to our cannon using an app we installed. Overall for between 100 and 200 dollars for the fire series , I think you get an amazing amount of hardware for the buck.
If you choose to get one look at frys electronics they have them at 50, also know that they will be on sale soon for holiday sales lap tops and tablets will be big this year .
