Restaurants, grocery stores, visiting friends, we have all had embarrassing episodes of a screaming child attracting unwanted attention. Luckily, with that little invention by Apple, iPad has effectively become a modern day pacifier. Though convenient, is iPad suitable for the little ones?
My answer is, I don’t know. I won’t know if it’s a good idea or bad idea to expose Oliver to iPad when he was as young as 4 months old. I will find out later in life, I suppose. For now, this is my philosophy:
Regardless of its original intent, a toy is suitable for a baby if it is helping the baby learn.
That said, if the iPad is teaching babies something new, it is probably more suitable for babies than some cute but meaningless plush dolls or cartoon figures.
Some may say, iPad is too expensive for babies to mess with, and babies aren’t well known for taking care of toys. If that’s the case, the obvious answer is no, iPad is not suitable for their babies. Share your iPad only if you are willing, otherwise keep it away from your child.
Toddlers have toys like tea sets, tool sets, music instruments and so forth. They even have musical cell phones and remote controls. It only makes sense to have tablets for children as well. Companies like Fisher Price and Leap Frog have their own kind of electronic tablets, with apps available for purchase. Parents have to first invest in one of these children-friendly consoles, then invest some more on apps or games. The cost of content and activity can easily and quickly add up. How long will it last before kids get bored of it? Probably in near future when the next best thing is released. These children-friendly consoles, will quickly become obsolete because they serve very limited purpose with little objectives, otherwise useless. On the other hand, the iPad serves a much wider range in purposes and age groups. From productivity, gaming to reading, the contents on an iPad can grow and evolve with its owner. For instance, Oliver’s previous love for the Moose and Zees ABC app was based on listening to Moose talking. His current love for the same app is to finding hidden letters per Moose’s instructions. Someday when he graduates from the Moose and Zees app, his next favorite apps can be anything and the possibility is limitless. Options are not bounded by the manufacturers’ marketing strategies; they are implemented by people from all over the world, by people who can write apps for iPads. These people can be coming from some large corporations or just some passionate app programmers. Another words, contents provided in branded children tablets are controlled by the brand owners, essentially they control the direction of their educational value for the children; whereas the content in iPad apps is uncontrolled and the creativity is boundless because anyone can contribute to the iPad apps library.
Let’s take a closer look at the physical differences. Color screen on iPad and some children tablets. User interface, all children tablets mimic the innovative design of the iPad. Weights are likely the same. The only real physical difference is probably glass versus plastics, and it hurts the parents more to see a broken iPad than a broken children tablet…
Parents can always tell whether a teaching method works on their children or not. If you believe iPad is not for babies, you are probably not wrong. If you think otherwise, I will be sharing some of my baby apps research findings in the next post.
