Ds doesn't like his tablet

Own_My_Own

zoominatorone wrote: »

no wonder you are always borassic lint (skint) buying tablets for a three and five year old. Can you imagine how much you are going to have to be forking out for presents on them by the time they are 10 if you have to "better" the presents every year.

Was thinking that myself, but then thought maybe it was just my age. My kids are late teens early 20's, so there was nothing like this around when they were young.
But I do often think what are kids going to expect in their teens if they are getting tablets at 3. Will there be anything they don't have.
My dd got the bargain 'grabbit' (£44.50) tablet as a surprise at Christmas and loves it. But then she is 15.

alwaysbrassic

Although I don't have to justify my spending to you, for your information the tablets cost me less than £50 each. My budget for them was £100 each, which I have save up over the period of the year using a savings tin. In previous years I have bottom myself into debt buying them plastic tat which has never been plate with. This year I have changed that.
My daughter gets her school reading books online, and other than our phones, we have no access to the Internet for her to access these reading books.
Consideration was given to buyin these tablets.

alwaysbrassic

shortdog wrote: »

My daughter was given a DS for her 6th birthday, and the arguments between the kids were so bad over it that my son was given one for his 3rd birthday. He loved it, but only for short periods at a time.
He's now on his 2nd DS, as his first one died from over use, and would play 24 hours a day if I let him!

Thank heavens for your post! I was beginning to think I was some sort of evil mother for even considering giving my children technology before their 18th birthday!

Own_My_Own

alwaysbrassic wrote: »

Although I don't have to justify my spending to you, for your information the tablets cost me less than £50 each. My budget for them was £100 each, which I have save up over the period of the year using a savings tin. In previous years I have bottom myself into debt buying them plastic tat which has never been plate with. This year I have changed that.
My daughter gets her school reading books online, and other than our phones, we have no access to the Internet for her to access these reading books.
Consideration was given to buyin these tablets.

I was not commenting on how you spend your money. I could not care less. My point was, that if they have tablets at 3, what do you then buy them at 4,5,6,7,8,9 ............

peachyprice

I'm sorry to sound harsh, but he's 3, what were you expecting? Not much interests a 3yo for long, especially something that requires sitting still to use. TBH, I would worry about a 3yo who did have the lack of sense of adventure and inagination to even want sit and play with a tablet for more than 10 mins.

As for the plane journey, do what other families have been doing for decades, I used to pack a small backpack for each with small, cheap, new stuff and managed to keep 3 children entertained for far longer than a 5hr flight. Take a selection of small toys, preferably new ones that they haven't seen before or old ones that have been put away for a few months, that you know will keep him entertained, eg some paper and colouring pens, an action figure, a puzzle toy, a new DS game, etc etc. At 3 he'll need variety, not one thing to keep him content.

SwipernoSwiping

alwaysbrassic wrote: »

For Xmas we took ages to decide what to get my 3 year old boy and 5 year old girl.
We decided to get them a cheap android tablet each, which we have downloaded with free apps. We decided on this as they both love messing with my iPhone. However, they are both unimpressed by the tablets. They are quite slow to respond, and the games seem boring with lots of ads on.
My daughter received a ds game for Xmas which has got her interested in her previously untouched ds, but my 3 year old has nothing really so I'm undecided what to do. We bought the tablets to entertain them on our upcoming holiday, we thought it would distract them from the long travelling time.
I am considering selling my little boys tablet and getting him something else but I don't know whether to get him a ds (second hand but think he may be a bit young), an innotab or a leappad. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Thanks in advance.

I have a 2 year old and an 8 year old.
They fight like cat and dog over anything "video gamey" including phones, ds, laptops and such.
dd1 broke her ds some time ago ( she was 4 when my ex gave her it and too young ) it was stored away. I was fortunate enough to win a 3ds this year so she got that for christmas. dd2 won't leave it alone, so we gave her the broken one. It won't play games but it does allow her to draw on the screen. She is happy with that for 10 minutes and then moves on.
I wouldn't go and buy her one. Nothing will hold her attention for more than fifteen minutes at a time. As OnMyOwn and others have pointed out, buying these things young does build a rod for your back in later years. My eldest is problematic thanks to my ex buying such things. But thats a different story.

DD1 was quite happy with a travel aquadraw and a bunch of downloaded travel games for the car journeys we make (long ones as we are natural adventurers ) when she was 3-4. The DVD player helped a little - again a present from the ex. A treasure bag filled with things to do kept them both quiet on the 13 hour international flight we took last summer, when the tech stuff really didn't entice.
It's no fun not spending money for me, but the kids love it when they get all "hands on" I have noticed!

The DS did help dd1 want to read however but that wasn't until she was 5 1/2 at school and discovered a whole new marketing machine called Pokemon

alwaysbrassic

When my 3 year old son is using a computer at playschool, and my 5 year old daughter is heavily involved in technology at school (numerous homework tasks have involved using the Internet), buying both of them a tablet was intended to allow them to keep this up at home.
I think it is naive for people to assume that technology is not a massive part of everyone's life. If schools are recognising and encouraging this, I have to support this. It's not like I'm letting them
Play on call of duty or other violent games!
As for what I will buy them, it will probably be age related gifts that are within my budget. Without a crystal ball it's difficult for me to say!

themull1

Own_My_Own wrote: »

I was not commenting on how you spend your money. I could not care less. My point was, that if they have tablets at 3, what do you then buy them at 4,5,6,7,8,9 ............

I don't think that you have to get kids a 'better' present every year, just ones appropriate to their age/what they want. This year oldest daughter didnt want anything big, so got lots of dvd's etc, but last year she got a laptop, and this year younger daughter got a dolls house, but last year got smaller things, so it changes every year, doesn't necessarily becomes bigger and bigger.!

alwaysbrassic

I do wonder how this turned from a thread asking advice about different products into a mummy bashing session. At no point have I said I am not taking other things on holiday with us, that assumption has been made.
I also do not expect whatever I swop the tablet for to keep him entertained it hours at a time ( neither would I want it to). I was simply asking for recommendations I the best product around which is educational and would be enjoyed by him, to go alongside all the other thing he enjoys playing with. There are some wry judgemental people on here, who spout opinions without actually looking at the original post.

kingfisherblue

I'm not a fan of tablets for little ones, but I can understand that they can be helpful in keeping youngsters amused on long flights. Can you download some TV programmes from iplayer, or purchase a couple fo films? You might also want to invest in a pair of headphones so that other people are not disturbed.

My son has an Ipad. It is used as a communication device as he is disabled, but he does enjoy some games on it. Talking Tom, jigsaws, colouring, and parking games are current favourites. He also likes a shaving app (where you 'shave' the screen) and basketball app. He is older than your children OP, but has a learning disability and plays games suitable for around 5-8 years.