Grandson wants an iPad

moneypenny2k

My 6 year old grandson wants an iPad (having 'borrowed' mine every time he sees me, however, I'm not willing to buy him such an expensive piece of kit, nor do I want to buy him one of the kiddie pad type things that are made by vtech and the like. Does anyone have any recomendations for tablets that might be robust enough and cheap enough to make it viable to buy him one? max budget is £100ish

Should also say that he'd probably want to play games and surf mainly

eleven11

what about an ipod

T_T_2

As I said in an equally ill thought out thread, why don't you just say 'no'?

A six year old really really doesn't need an ipad or any other tablet. They will break it and when they do they will be in trouble, even though the reality is that a six year old is not mature enough to be trusted with something that is so easily broken. How about a colouring in book or some lego?

gardner1

moneypenny2k wrote: »

My 6 year old grandson wants an iPad (having 'borrowed' mine every time he sees me, however, I'm not willing to buy him such an expensive piece of kit, nor do I want to buy him one of the kiddie pad type things that are made by vtech and the like. Does anyone have any recomendations for tablets that might be robust enough and cheap enough to make it viable to buy him one? max budget is £100ish

Should also say that he'd probably want to play games and surf mainly

you may as well chuck £100 down the drain because if you buy him one it will be bust in a few months

moneypenny2k

T_T wrote: »

As I said in an equally ill thought out thread, why don't you just say 'no'?

A six year old really really doesn't need an ipad or any other tablet. They will break it and when they do they will be in trouble, even though the reality is that a six year old is not mature enough to be trusted with something that is so easily broken. How about a colouring in book or some lego?

gardner1 wrote: »

you may as well chuck £100 down the drain because if you buy him one it will be bust in a few months

It's good to know that so many people have such intimate knowledge of my family. If your children have been brought up to maltreat their gifts then so be it, but don't assume all children are so thoughtless. Yes he's 6, so he needs a simple tablet which is robust that is obvious, hence the wording of my original email.

Yes I could say no, but given the speed of development of technology I want him to have experience from a young age. I did this for my son in the 1980s and he's now a £60k+ programmer in his early 30s.

globalds

If you want to buy him something valuable ..Then it is a great opportunity to teach him lots of lessons of value and responsibility.

I remember years ago when getting into an argument with a friend because I allowed my then 6 or 7 year old kids play on my new £1,000 computer...

Teach him well and he probably won't break it ..maybe even have a few restrictions that ease as he proves his ability to look after it.

I have no recommendation for cheap I pads ..other than refurbs on the apple site itself ...But think if done carefully and thoughtfully giving an expensive gift can be a great learning opportunity.
My kids do value things now ..I trust they are careful partly because with such a reward to play on ..they learned there lesson exceptionally well.

Plus you will be a right pair of cool dudes sitting next to each other surfing the web:cool:

Lifeforms

Look at acquiring an iTouch. They're mini ipad versions basically, alongside a griffin survivor case (or similar) they're pretty hardy, and would mean the same apps he plays on the ipad could be used (or non-hd versions) on the itouch too. They're not as big screen size as an ipad, but for small hands, as it's far lighter, it'll be easier for him to hold. He'll still be able to surf, and such, and if he even has a music collection already, then can listen to it on it as well. If he wants music on it, look at a 16GB model over an 8GB if it's big collection

At his age, probably wouldn't recommend a brand new one, but look at refurb models from apple, ie an 8gb 2010 model is £129. Think this is 4th Gen, so not overly outdated.
If you have the likes of Cex, or cash converter stores nearby you can get second hand cheap models there.

The itouch would be technically advanced than the "toy" kids tablets, but not so desperate if it's roughly treated with a special case on it, and he'll find it a breeze to use, if he's gotten used to using your ipad.

T_T_2

moneypenny2k wrote: »

It's good to know that so many people have such intimate knowledge of my family. If your children have been brought up to maltreat their gifts then so be it, but don't assume all children are so thoughtless. Yes he's 6, so he needs a simple tablet which is robust that is obvious, hence the wording of my original email.

Yes I could say no, but given the speed of development of technology I want him to have experience from a young age. I did this for my son in the 1980s and he's now a £60k+ programmer in his early 30s.

I don't have intimate knowledge of your family, but in my experience there aren't many six year olds who should be trusted with something as fragile as a tablet...it's just wreckless. Childrens minds adjust at a much quicker rate than we can improve technology. That's why a 13 year old in a bedroom today is much more capable of producing a website than a 40 year old who did a web design degree. You don't need to get them started at the age of six, they find their own ways.

By your logic if I gave a child the game 'Operation' to play they would be earning £100k/pa as a surgeon by their early 30s.

At the end of the day, it is your money and how you choose to spend it is entirely up to you, just be cautious to the fact that it might be broken and if it is broken then you cannot justifiably blame the child.

jtk174

Many of the android powered tablets are around the £100 mark for 7" versions. I am hearing that on the run up to xmas you might pick up a 10" android tablet for £120 ish.
The ipad is around 10".

Whichever you buy, get a good sturdy case for it and it might survive the odd slip.

I have used Ainol Nova and Onda tablets and both are excellent value for money. If you do a google search you will get info and reviews.

mazza111

How about starting him away with an android tablet? I'm with you on this one actually, although maybe not an ipad. I allowed my children to use my pc from an early age, until I upgraded and they got mine. Pretty sure android tablets maybe a lot cheaper than ipads. Sounds like I don't need to teach you the lessons that go with it. When my son got his first laptop, he had to sit at the desk with it, and no running around with it.

sickofusernames

My 4 and 2 yr old girls always play my iPad2 and apart from the occasional problem with them accidentally moving or deleting apps, they're great with it. I've downloaded quite a few learning apps for my eldest which are fantastic for aiding her maths and english but I guess you don't need an Apple product. It's actually quite comical watching my 2 yr old swiping the screen and selecting apps like a pro, I really need to take a video of her doing it...

I've been looking at some other tablets for my 4 yr old for around the £100 mark and you can get them even cheaper especially with deals on the usual "deal" sites. Again, like any tech product you need to make sure you buy something suitable for the means, such as memory capacity and auxillary ports in the case of a tablet.

By the way, we probably wont buy a tablet for them this christmas as we still prefer the old conventional toys but we'll still let them use the iPad if they're good and only for a certain time limit.