My kids 5 & 9 are on their iPad as much as well allow them. They’d probably spend all day on them if we let them. The 9 year old doesn’t really play with toys nowadays although she still loves her big stuffed animals. The 5 year old will play with toys on the rare occasion she has friends over but usually they are both on iPads. They play together on them most of the time With coop stuff etc which I like. But they very rarely play with any toys. They’ll still do role play stuff etc as you’d expect from young girls and they are both really intelligent, bright and articulate for their respective ages, but given the choice it’s always iPads iPads iPads.

Is this lack of interest in toys to the detriment of the traditional development and social skills (though tbf mine aren’t showing any of that) that most of us has 30+ years ago or is this just a natural progression of technology in changing the type of toys kids should/are playing with nowadays?

Just seems a shame. Spent a fortune on sylvanian families stuff for the younger one last Christmas and she has no interest in it whatsoever now which is nearly all down to the iPad I’m sure.

Yes and no….my little boy …is all ipaded out now…….his new thing is riding …whoo hoo!!

I’ve reduced tablet time to a few hours a week. Their behaviour gets poor and Ill disciplined when they spend too much time on them,

Instead Jr Sr and I have recently got into boardgames which we’re playing pretty much every day now. Meanwhile Jr Jr will happily play lego chima or ninjago.

It was too easy to use tablets as babysitting and made me lazy as a parent. Now I’m wasting money on weird board games. Im turning into cougar.

I don’t know. My boys (8 and 5) sit and play Minecraft together whenever they’re on our Kindle/iPad. Then when we’re in the car they’re chatting away to each other about Minecraft, and when we’re out walking the dogs they’re doing whatever it is you do on Minecraft in the imaginary world, and at bedtime their main delaying tactic is to tell me all about Minecraft. So in my experience of two boys it doesn’t seem to have stopped them interacting without the tablets, or using their imaginations.

And they spend at least double any time on tablets playing with Lego.

I’ve reduced tablet time to a few hours a week. Their behaviour gets poor and Ill disciplined when they spend too much time on them,

Definitely noticed this- it’s a serious addiction they can’t handle.
I have noticed one of these has got him away from screen time without much persuasion however.

No, we have galaxy tabs and they are heavily used but today we have also build lego, magna tiles and done an obstacle course in the garden. Mine have even got bored of minecraft, and I thought that would have been worse.

I think the tablets are a bit like junk food, good in moderation, and we all enjoy it, but you have to make the effort to do the wholesome stuff

Tablets haven’t killed more traditional toys, but I think they offer more instant gratification, so kids (and adults) naturally enjoy playing with them, given the chance.

I think the main problem with tablets is that regardless of how sophisticated the app, you are still pushing pixels around in a 2D plane, and the boundaries of that environment are always constrained by the rules of the app. Give someone a blank sheet of paper and some pens and they can do anything they like with it; draw on it, tear it into shapes and stick it back together, fold it into a plane. That involves an interesting range of motor skills and spatial thinking that tapping on a tablet does not, and you need to learn a bit of patience and concentration to produce anything. Similarly, building with Lego involves imagining a structure and then creating it with your own hands, learning how to fit fiddly bits together and why some things are strong and stand up, while others fall to bits. I remember seeing how difficult my son found it just to line up and snap basic bricks together when he started using Lego. I’d never considered that. Building virtual objects in Minecraft doesn’t involve overcoming the same frustrations and doesn’t have the same tactile richness (although I’m sure it’s great fun).

So I think tablets have their place, but toys that make kids engage their eyes, hands and fingers in a more physical, three dimensional way, and demand the child’s imagination to get started, are still very important.

In education, tablets have their place and are a great resource when used correctly. Without correct implementation they are just a crutch for lazy teachers.

At home (which is really all about education, just less formally*) the same applies. Tablets can be great if used properly and, as you above said, in moderation. My 3 1/2 year old doesn’t know how to use a tablet. He’ll watch about an hour of cartoons a week although the television hasn’t been turned on for the last 11 days. The hour he does get is when we need to be lazy parents – we all need downtime!

He probably asks to watch cartoons twice a day but is used to being refused and it doesn’t bother him.

Last weekend we were in a restaurant and I was amazed at how many children had iPads propped up in front of them for the entire time. We took a bag of Duplo but when the food arrived the boys sat up and we ate as a family. Another boy went crazy when the battery died on his tablet.

At an inset a few years ago, the speaker talked about studies which show how detrimental prolonged ‘screen time’ can be. Children who watched television within 4 hours(!) of going to bed fell into a far shallower sleep.

*be it education in morality, social situations, motor skills, verbal reasoning etc, it’s all education

Yes in my experience, my friend with 2 daughters similar age to yours has got rid of all toys now but they still use pens and paper for drawing and colouring if persuaded. However I don’t have experience of how much girls play with toys at that age anyway, I suspect the iPads are substitute for something but I can’t be certain its toys.

Our 3.9yr old boy would sit on it watching utter junk for 12 hrs a day without a problem, he’s obsessed with it. He will however put it down to play toys with me, what its replaced is his ability to play with toys on his own. We have to hide the iPad or flatten the battery to stop him being a pain pestering for it.

Home

They have some interesting ideas about creativity and play.

Reading this with interest . I admit we take an iPad to restaurants to use if things get a bit screamy, but it’s no default option. Everything in moderation I guess

Why do 5 and 9 year olds have ipads?
Sorry I just find the idea that children of this age have their own ipad(s) bizarre.

What’s ‘normal’? It’s just different to what we grew up with, so who is to say all this technology is right or wrong? It’s just different.

Everything in moderation however and our experience has been very similar to those above, in that too much time spent in front of a tablet and/or games console leads to a generally poor attitude and behaviour from Slack jr, so time limits have been introduced, much to his chagrin.

I am rather struck by the change of life ambitions of kids nowadays. Gone are the whistful desires of being a train driver, crane driver, astronaut etc, replaced by the dream of becoming a youtuber… 🙄

So far my two kids have never used tablets or phones. My gut reaction is they stifle creativity.

At least the computers we had you could take apart and see how they work (hardware and software)

Our six year olds like to watch films on the iPad (ours, not theirs). A strict ‘no iPad’ rule during the week during term time and only for an hour or two at a weekend (if we are trying to get on with something else).

Thankfully they accept this quite willingly and mostly enjoy doing other things such as arts & crafty stuff, board games etc.

I’m 35, married with no children, so please do take my opinion in context.

ce9adp – Member
Why do 5 and 9 year olds have ipads?
Sorry I just find the idea that children of this age have their own ipad(s) bizarre.

From my experience they don’t, usually there’s a house iPad the kids monopolise. Why? We live in wealthy times and this forum is self selecting people with at least some spare cash, an Internet connection and of the right age group. I suspect that over the general population the answer would be different.

In our case, blame Apple, a 4yr old £600 device has been rendered useless for anything other than you tube by software updates. It will be a hudl to replace it when the updates finally kill it.

Fortunately our boys ,2&4, are only bothered about the tablet occasionally, then its ceebeebies games, fortunately, toys, or just messing around in the garden are way more popular. They are allowed a couple of hours tv a day which they prefer, tbh.
My wife and I also make an effort not to be phone zombies when the kids are around

No.

My kids both have iPad but jump on and off them freely, they will happily play with their boardgames, play outside, ride their scooters or bikes and my eldest will go down the street with her friends. All done without me having to monitor the time they spend on the iPad. Very similar to when I was a kid with computers when we were told kids spent far too long sat in the house playing on computers, it’s bollocks.

Why do 5 and 9 year olds have ipads?
Sorry I just find the idea that children of this age have their own ipad(s) bizarre.

Really? What’s bizarre about it?

My daughter, 3.5, played with it a little bit till, the CBeebies app mainly. Then she discovered YouTube and people opening eggs!!!! Not just kinder eggs but giant eggs they seemed to have created out of intricate playdoh and the videos have huge numbers of views. Now you have to prise it away from her.
She has her “own” tablet but it’s a 1st gen nexus 7 that the latest android updates have killed for actual use.

Why do 5 and 9 year olds have ipads?

Our lad uses the house kindle which we spent a grand £50 on.

He gets (carefully selected) youtube cartoons or sing song time – he’ll happily sit there providing us with a lovely and very loud rendition of the alphabet song while we get a few quiet minutes, but his tablet time is definitely limited.

my lad has been through phases. The tablet is sometimes a great way of keeping kids entertained when you have to get on with something. For example, every weekend me and my lad make a 2 hour drive each way to see his nan, he spends a chunk of that time on the Tablet, why, well, because I kinda have to concentrate a bit on the road and it’s far too dull to just sit there, so we spend 50-50 of the time split between Tablet and reading his schoolbooks.

He’s obsessed with Gears of War… or whatever the little trolls/giants etc one is… however that takes up about 45s per go, he gets 3-4 goes per day.. so maybe 4 mins lol.

X-box is more preferable at the moment.. last night he spent 2 hours on it… “oh that’s too much, why wasn’t he outside playing”… well, he’d spent 6 hours that day at football school, so we were giving him a few hours sit down, relax and enjoy time… we then went back out for more football after tea…

It’s just common sense really. My lad is exceptionally active, but there are times when he (and I) need a bit of quiet time.

I’ve reduced tablet time to a few hours a week. Their behaviour gets poor and Ill disciplined when they spend too much time on them,

Instead Jr Sr and I have recently got into boardgames which we’re playing pretty much every day now. Meanwhile Jr Jr will happily play lego chima or ninjago.

It was too easy to use tablets as babysitting and made me lazy as a parent. Now I’m wasting money on weird board games (and bikes and kayaks). Im turning into cougar.

+1

We massively restrict screen time.

Have tablets killed normal toys?

no, its just another option

Although I forgot to add that mine will spend hours drawing and painting. Though that’s not really toys is it…?

No, but it is learning creativity and managing boredom – and research suggests (among many other things) that too much time on screens is killing creativity.

There is a lot of research that says lots, but in summary:
Kids should be bored (it is really good for creativity and mental health and wellbeing)
Kids should be tired (not sleep, physical knackerdness – again, brilliant for reducing health issues by increasing fitness, sleep patterns and diet).
Kids should experience risk (not just physical, but emotional and social – it is great for mental health and wellbing and social wellbeing)
Kids need to be outdoors (cold) (again, fresh air, stimulating, away from adult control – all brilliant stuff for physical literacy for life, health benefits, mental and social wellbeing).

Too much screen (or any sedantary, entertain me based or school work related) stops much of this.#

AI Factory produce traditional board & card games for tablets, great for travelling. I think as long as the kids stick to the house rules and also interact with other people while playing they are fine. But just dumping them with them for hours as a cheap babysitter is always going to end badly.

We tried to bring up our kids to be as independent as possible and do their own thing. Mainly because we still want to do our thing too and don’t want to be hovering all the time.

This has worked out well because they have been given a room full of carefully selected small toys they will spend an entire day up there playing make believe. They will also spend an entire day watching TV though if they are allowed so perhaps it’s just their obsessive personalities 🙂

This morning my older two girls have spent two hours playing with a big box of Sylvanian Families, one is now on her tablet, the other just asked if she can paint. The youngest is now watching Monster Uni but had spent the morning bugging the other two and making a mess with her own toys and books. Pretty much exactly what my family did in the 70s, just different stuff.

We all have tablets and there are a couple of laptops around the house, plus an Xbox which is never used. We rarely limit how much they can use things.

Bad parents have and always will be bad parents – the invention of tablets hasn’t changed this.

We tried to bring up our kids to be as independent as possible and do their own thing…..This has worked out well because they have been given a room full of carefully selected small toys

Hahaha! That made me laugh. I know what you mean but still.

We just buy one of everything, our two then entertain themselves fighting over it. After the first five minutes the new trampoline (with big nets around the side) was more like a cage fighting ring…

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AphxyjrH4SE[/video]

Only if you let them. We take colouring books or sticker books to restaurants. Yes they spend time the the iPad (our iPad), but currently making stuff with cardboard and plenty of other toys get played with. I’m sure they’d spend all day on iPad or watching TV if allowed.