Comments on: Is your toddler addicted to your iPad & iPhone?

By: Tina

Tina — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 01:39:41 +0000

yes, I agree that all these products are great but make sure that they play it only for a limited time. Too much of everything is not good for the child uuuu

By: leappad leapfrog

leappad leapfrog — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:25:52 +0000

leappad leapfrog…

[...]Is your toddler addicted to your iPad & iPhone? « Stephanie Oppenheim on Toys[...]…

By: Manju

Manju — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 06:19:23 +0000

There are definitely more losses than gains here.
What about the ill effects of gazing at that screen?
Do take a look at this link:
http://blog.cleveland.com/health/2008/12/television_is_harmful_to_babie.html – quoting from this article -
“…over-stimulation at that early age will kind of precondition the mind to want a higher level of input than real life — thus causing attention problems”

By: audrey

audrey — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:35:11 +0000

Must get the Addycase. It protects the home button so that kids can simply enjoy the app they are in. To buy one or learn more about it, visit: addycase.com

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:08:28 +0000

love the post! Our son is 17 months old, and we purchased our ipad on valentines day.. for mommy.. as it turns out my son absolutely loves it and can work it like a pro. i have all his apps on one page together and he knows to swipe it until he finds his… our favorite apps are monkey preschool lunch box, bus hd by duck duck moose and toddlers farm. Wish they had more apps from shows on nick jr and disney junior though

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:57:59 +0000

Thanks Rob! Your product sounds like something we should try with our testers. Please feel free to submit a sample to us at toyportfolio.com. The submission forms are on our site.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:25:36 +0000

Hi Stephanie, I wanted to throw our new product in the ring. BubCap home button covers are made specifically for toddlers who are addicted to pressing the home button on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you’d like to check them out, contact me at BubCap.com.

Like David Pogue, I also struggle with figuring out the proper boundaries for my 2yo son. There is no doubt, my son has learned a lot of words, numerals, and letters, and also developed some motor skills, thanks to some of the educational apps we let him use. However, I think we all need to figure out limits and stick to them; like educational TV, there are benefits, but too much TV time is definitely not good.

BTW, I think educational apps are, in many ways, more beneficial than educational TV. With TV, kids can just zombie out, but with most Apps, kids are forced to interact. Of course, each show or app must be judged independently by the parent.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:16:25 +0000

Hi Charlotte! One of my media buddies called David’s article to my attention right after I posted my piece today! I missed his yesterday.
As with any new technology, parents are going to have to work out what they feel comfortable with for their kids depending on their age.
With older kids we have found that once a game system comes into a house–many other kinds of play disappear. It’s hard for most games and construction sets to compete with the bells and whistles of video gaming.
The problem here – is that we are no longer talking only about kids aging out of toyland (tweens) – but kids just entering the heart of their childhood play experiences. Young children really need a full mix of play opportunities – those that exercise their big muscles and those that help develop their ability to pretend and imagination. Those small screen are, as anyone who has lost themselves on their smartphone or tablet, incredibly engrossing. And, as cute and amazing as it is to watch a 18 month old navigate an iPad APP–it should not be allowed to become the main form of entertainment and play.

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 21:40:29 +0000

This is a great discussion starter! David Pogue, tech editor at the NY Times, wrote a great piece on this the other day. In his post “A Parent’s Struggle With a Child’s iPad Addiction,” he shares the conflict parents often feel when giving their child a screen to occupy them, but not feeling terribly guilty because with iPad there really are very high-quality, apps that provide engaging, authentic learning opportunities!

Great post, and here’s a link to his!
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/a-parents-struggle-with-a-childs-ipad-addiction/