I bet he had already bought the iPad before starting the thread 😉

Surely a 10 year old is going to have more fun with an ipad, a laptop may be needed in two or three years but by then whatever you get now will be history. I vote ipad.

This is a slightly different view.

I got an iPad half price through work and it’s a “share” between me and my son (well, until I got a FREE iPad2 through work 😀 ).

Anyway, he used it a lot last couple of weeks (games and stuff) and has been getting really bad headaches. Had to come home from school one day and leave his sports club early another.

Not sure if a laptop will be any better, but limited use is probably a good idea.

Well, a bigger screen doesn’t always indicate more ‘space’ as it comes down to the resolution a screen can handle… the 11″ Macbook Air has more ‘space’ than the 13″ Macbook Pro, while being a physically smaller display.

Jesus, £400?! For a 10 year old?! Mind you, if it were for a learning device like a laptop then I kind of think that’s fair, computers are invaluable tools.

I thought I was the luckiest kid alive when I got a bike frame and only had to buy the bits to build it myself.

Do you want to be my new dad?

In return I will mow the lawn once a month and possibly clean the car, but only if you give me the money up front.

What? No?

Oh your so unfair!

*storms out of thread and slams bedroom door*

*Offers Jamie an orange*

Approx 1987, Age 10, ZX Spectrum +3, $249, equivalent value now is $491
Approx 1990, Age 13, Commodore Amiga A500, approx $370, equivalent now $588

Tosh, where on earth did you get those comparisons from?

In 1987 I was earning about £7k pa, an equivilent role now would be £25 to £30k – so £250 is approximately £1000.

And £400 for 10 year-old, so what – its the posters’ money to spend.

For comparison my youngest at 10 got a new Norco B-Line FS.

I waited until my daughter was 20 before we bought her that – don’t want to spoil her

Why is everyone so concerned about how much other people spend on the people they love?

Half these posts scream of jealousy or hypocrisy.

If someone can afford something and wants to do it then so what?

As for the OP it depends what chord your trying to strike. If its more of a toy / entertainment then Ipad.
If you want it to be more for work / education then a laptop.

i’d go iPad myself for a 10year old will be perfect get games on it and learning ones too she gets FaceTime to speak to you or Skype if she gets the app its an apple product if you pay £400 for a laptop she won’t have as much fun with it the iPad is a lot more portable and you don’t have to pay for any antivirus soft wear etc besides a laptop in the car is a pain when traveling 🙂

I’d go for a laptop it is more versatile and use for things like school work. I also like Dell I’ve had a few over the years and by and large they’ve been excellent there are so many good deals around right now I’m sure you’ll find something good.

As for the money aspect good on you, she sounds a sensible lass worth spoling a little!

The most valuable thing you can give your child is your time.

Far too many people don’t and possessions, not matter how expensive, will never make up for that.

C_G
Mum of two adult kids who were not indulged

Maybe the OP does but also has the financial means to treat them as well.

save your cash and send her to my daughters school, every kid has just been given an ipad.

Yeah, intentionally antagonistic to wind up the likes of you, but there was a point to it.

The point being, its all relative – if I were a millionaire, then the amount would possibly be much more, if I earned £300 a week, it would no doubt be considerably less. I can’t really understand some people setting limits based on their own expenditure and frothing at the mouth when anyone dares exceed that.

As for you initial comment, I’ve no idea what the amount I spend on my daughter at Christmas has got to do with teaching her the value of money. She’s sold some of her other stuff to fund new stuff, she had to earn pocket money and understands she can’t always have what she wants. The laptop is a neccessity and she knows she’s getting it – Mrs STR will use it too. A tv for her bedroom is a surprise and the Mrs always likes to get her other stuff to make a nice pile under the tree. I used to get more off my grandparents than my parents, but that doesn’t happen for our daughter.

Personally I think the ‘value of money’ is a load of old horseshit anyway. I had sod all as a child and saved diligently for anything I wanted. As soon as I had disposable income all that went out of the window anyway. Money’s for spending anyway. Having tight parents never made me respect them any more.

I don’t have kids. If I did, and I could afford to, I would spend as much as I wanted to on gifts for them. Similar background to OP for me, and I can’t see why people have a problem with it other than through envy.
I’d go for a netbook, something like an Acer Aspire for a couple of hundred, will do pretty much everything I’d imagine a 10 year old will want to do and its smaller size will probably be easier for her to maniputalt.

Entitlement. Have you ever heard of the idea of ‘spoiling’ a child?

Some people just like to wave willies through their children though I guess.

I always recall as a little kid – when we were sledging on old fertiliser bags filled with snow, or on the old sledge that my dad’s dad made for him when he was a child – my best friend would appear on a proper skidoo type sit on sledge with steering and everything. He got a new bike every year. He always got many more presents than anyone else.

Even though he grew up to hate his parents (when he was a teenager) and treated them like doormats, got into trouble with the police, treated girlfriends like playthings, his dad set him up with a business which he failed with.

Fortunately in later life he is redeeming himself and now has a lovely family, but for all the things he was given by his parents it never seemed to matter to him.

For me – yes I got into some minor troubles as a kid but always loved my mum and dad deeply, was always proud to be with them, always rang them up during the week and went round regularly for Sunday dinners. I also count my younger brother as my best friend (which again I think is a testament to how I was brought up).

I have no idea if that is simply the inherent difference between me and my old school friend or the way in which I was brought up and taught to appreciate the things I had and to respect people around me.

Half these posts scream of jealousy or hypocrisy.

^^^^^^So much this

Laptop, 10yo’s will be doing the social media thing and keyboards>>>>>screens