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Tablets for Kids

There is a hot debate going on between parents on the issue of tablets for kids. If there is any indications, the demands for tablets for kids is on the rise. This past Christmas, tablets and phones were on kid’s top wish list from Santa. Since many children already have access to computers and phones, there shouldn’t be any problems with them using tablets.

There is no denying it, children should be able to have and use tablets. Tablets are perfect for kids. There is no phyiscal keyboards for them to “learn” how to use a tablet. Everything is pretty well intuitive. Just use your fingers to move things around the screen. Even a 1 year old can get some interaction by swiping his/her fingers across the screen. There are some early-year programs out there that does pretty well nothing other than to respond to a child’s touch by emitting sounds or changing the colors of the screen.

There are mainly 2 categories of tablets for kids. There are the usual tablets made for adults such as the iPads. They can get pretty expensive in the $200 and up range. The other categories are tablets made especially for kids. These tend to be in the lower price end and have a toy-like appearance.

Tablets for Kids At What Age?

But the question is at what age should they be introduced to tablets? Some people say at least 2 years old. The earlier years are best left to physical human interactions (parents and other kids) and being aware of ther natural environments. Tablets won’t be able to provide that type of unstructured activity. Plus you are basically interacting with a non-human object. Since the tablet has just entered into the mainstream, there is not enough research done yet to see what are the impacts on tablets for kids. However, if we use the same type of research done for kids on computers and laptops, the findings should be no different. Kids at a younger age will now be exposed to the tablets in a similar fashion as being exposed to gaming consoles when they first came out.

It’s great that kids do have access to tablets, but like everything else, moderation is the key.  You don’t want them hunched over their tablet the whole day.  They should alternate between other non-compuitng activities.  They should spend no more than 2 hours a day with their computing devices (including watching TV, playing games on computers and gaming consoles).

Tablets for kids that are older are great tool for learning especially reading. Not so sure about writing. We still prefer children to learn good penmanship on a physical paper rather than on the screen.

So what do you think? Are tablets for kids a good idea?

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