Advise Plz

**jimbo77** · 23rd September 2011

Hi DF'ers

Just wanted to get people's opinion on myself buying my 4yr old son a ipod touch for christmas??

Both my boys have sooo many toys to play with in there bedroom is ridiculous and they always want to play angry birds etc on our iphone's i thought i would consider buying them both a touch??

opinions would be gr8

**Mickey** · 23rd September 2011

Buy them a cheap lappy and install it on there. Might be a tad expensive getting them something from apple that they might break and if they are only going to play angry birds i think its a tad OTT

**{{909}}** · 23rd September 2011

Theyre ok as games machines, most of the games would suit a 4 year old (ie, they're wank), get a case for it though, theyre not the most durable of items.

Personally I'd get him a DS, or better still, something he's not going to just sit staring at motionless for hours on end

**jimbo77** · 23rd September 2011

they would use for other things apart from playing Angry Birds i.e. youngest is always using mine to take pics around the house etc... and we also sit down with him and use the educational apps like maths etc on our iphone.

our other son has a DS and the youngest plays it but prefers my iphone.

they do mainly play with there toys and would not allow them to sit there all day/evening with there head buried into it playing games but thought i would get peoples opinion on buying a 4yr old a ipod touch in general.

**Roach-Rampino** · 23rd September 2011

Before my boy was born(he's now 3.5yrs and I have a daughter too), the missus and I had lots of ideas on how things would pan out. One of these was that we would limit tv watching to 30 mins per day. However my boy is a real livewire and one of the only things that he will sit still and do is watch tv. He has mountains of toys, goes to pre-school, swimming and we take him to soft-play and up the park plenty. But we cannot do that 24-7 so inevitably he ends up watching more than the 30 minute that we envisaged.

We currently believe that we will keep him away from games consoles (DS etc) for as long as possible. Painting, Play-doh, colouring books, jigsaw puzzles, even cardboard boxes!! are all great ways to encourage a child's creativity and keep them occupied. Most of them really want you to join in and have your attention.

I think that electronic devices have a time and a place but there is a fine line between their usefulness and lazy parenting. We have a portable dvd player for the boy that is a godsend in restaurants, flights and long car journeys. But we would never let him sit in bed watching it...despite him asking to do so.

If I were you mate I would hold out as long as possible before embarking down the road of buying anything like this.

**Thrush** · 23rd September 2011

I think the ipod is the way to go.

Plenty of cheap games and everything is pick up and play.

**jimbo77** · 23rd September 2011

Originally Posted by Roach-Rampino

Before my boy was born(he's now 3.5yrs and I have a daughter too), the missus and I had lots of ideas on how things would pan out. One of these was that we would limit tv watching to 30 mins per day. However my boy is a real livewire and one of the only things that he will sit still and do is watch tv. He has mountains of toys, goes to pre-school, swimming and we take him to soft-play and up the park plenty. But we cannot do that 24-7 so inevitably he ends up watching more than the 30 minute that we envisaged.

We currently believe that we will keep him away from games consoles (DS etc) for as long as possible. Painting, Play-doh, colouring books, jigsaw puzzles, even cardboard boxes!! are all great ways to encourage a child's creativity and keep them occupied. Most of them really want you to join in and have your attention.

I think that electronic devices have a time and a place but there is a fine line between their usefulness and lazy parenting. We have a portable dvd player for the boy that is a godsend in restaurants, flights and long car journeys. But we would never let him sit in bed watching it...despite him asking to do so.

If I were you mate I would hold out as long as possible before embarking down the road of buying anything like this.

I have 2 boys aged 4 & 7 and they have too many activites in a week to be able to sit in front of the TV or even play there DS as they have football training/games @ weekend....school activites like GameOn (sports activites) and beavers/cubs.

They also have sooo many toys and activities they we also do as a family to keep them occupied but main reason for getting them both a touch (well the eldest will get one) is for train/car and plane journeys and also sitting in resturants, when we are in there areas we are being constantly asked for our iphones to play AngryBirds or other apps on our phone.

I appreciate all the feedback and need to take it all on board to make a decision.

**Roach-Rampino** · 23rd September 2011

I hope that you didn't take my reply as a dig at your parenting skills mate?

I thought that the OP was asking more along the moral lines of the purchase as opposed to the technical merits of an iPod touch so I answered in that vein.

I often think that people see my boy in a restaurant with his headphones on watching a dvd and think "what a cop out" but we only let him have it after all other avenues (colouring books etc) have been exhausted and we want to enjoy our meal.....and not piss off everyone around us by trying to make a 3yr old sit still for too long!

**Zoots** · 23rd September 2011

My two (3 & 6) have them. Well, one has an iPod touch and the other an old iPhone. Both jailbroken and every icon hidden except the iPod functions. They've absolutely no interest in games or consoles. Sold the Wii and the Kinect after they both had a go then went back to something else. They just like to listen to music and read/draw with headphones on occasionally. In the car we have DVD screens on the headrests for long journeys, even then it has to be a music/concert DVD. Guess all kids are different. You do what suits you and what you think is appropriate. I mean, they have a TV in their bedroom with a Popcorn Hour but it's only allowed on Fri and Sat nights as a treat. I don't see anything wrong with giving them something to appease them for a little while and to give you a break. It's not as if you're plonking them in front of a screen 24 hours a day.
We've never taken the devices out of the house coz they both sing, and we all now what someone with headphones on singing is like

**Over Carl** · 23rd September 2011

I'm not a parent but I know my interest in computers started out with my dad letting me play space invaders on his apple II when I was 3 1/2 (back then you had to navigate dos to play a game!).

I'm wondering if a proper laptop may be a better idea as this would allow a wider range of both work and play? If you are keen on apple devices, there was another thread in the whine cellar where people were talking about eduucational software on ipads - I haven't got a clue about how good this s/w is and how much it costs but I'm just thinking the format of the device seems like it could be capable for teaching.

This I suppose ignores the question of whether you want a child of that age to access the net unsupervised. My earliest memories of the net back in 1994 when I was 14 were probably half browsing, half looking at porn (pictures loaded line by line back in those days!).

**consoles** · 23rd September 2011

Bought my 6year old daughter an ipod touch last xmas, as she was always nagging to play on my iphone.
It has to be the only pressie she's still playing with, she loves stupid zombies and cut the rope clever little sod on decent levels too.

**Detector** · 23rd September 2011

i just heard that the catholic church is doing a free touch for all new converts...

4 may be a tad young but if they play yours ok then it may be good for them to learn hand/eye co-ordination m8. as long as they dont get access to anything else they should be ok with it.