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kolakube

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2012
14
0
Hi,

My 5 year old daughter has done superb at school. I do things a little different in my house. I dont just dish out presents for nothing. I illustrate 3 options. One small present for poor effort, then one for medium effort and a top prize for best effort. With the glowing 98% mark she got in the effort coloum of here teachers report im blow away and so proud of her. I simply must reward this as promised and then some!

(Note effort not grades. Not everyone can be a straight A's student. My only concern is she has an incentive to try her hardest and realizes early on that things don't grow on trees for many of us.)

So, time for skint daddy to stump up for an iPad :eek: Im not wealthy by any stretch of the mile. But will gladly sell the shirt of my back to reward her.

So, im not that good at this technology stuff but know enough to get by.

Options seem to be iPad 2 vs iPad mini as they cost a similar amount. My daughter is 5, shes gonna be watching stuff like Kung fu panda and other DVDs she already has and playing app store games mostly. She wont have Email but facetime is essential. The iPad will never leave our house.
Can anyone advise me between the two?

I have a load of xvid backups of my DVD collection and my daughters children DVDs too on my PC. Will I be able to stream them across to here iPad? I understand the iPads dont use Xvid and you have to do a conversion. But then with that comes the space to house all of this and the price between a 16 gig and a 64 gig is double. Id much rather get the 16 gig and stream over from my PCs hard drive.

Any help greatly appreciated.
 

Binarymix

macrumors 65816
Nov 1, 2007
1,121
353
You can convert all your xvid to mp4 format and use home sharing.

Not what you wanted to hear, but I'm not sure an option exists to stream that format to the iPad. Not on an un-jailbroken iPad anyways.
 

flight

macrumors regular
Mar 4, 2010
130
0
Air Video can be used to stream videos to the iPad. As for the size, the mini seems like the better option here due to weight. Alternatively, pony is a good backup plan as previously mentioned.
 

NavySEAL6

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2006
613
79
A 5 year old girl? I'm not a big proponent of the iPad Mini but it sounds like the perfection situation to get one of those. It will do everything you want it to, and she wont miss the retina screen and won't be playing graphics intensive FPS games. I also think the Mini would be easier for a 5 year old to wield. Thats my vote
 

kolakube

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2012
14
0
Binary mix,

So if I convert them on my PC I can stream them direct to her iPad as long as there in the formats you suggest?

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Thanks Flight and Navyseal
 

dfine1966

macrumors 6502
Apr 9, 2011
425
46
I think a 32gb iPad mini would be a good reward, as long a you use a good case. Remember a child's hands are small, and a mini is a better fit. Plus, with all the children's application that are available IOS is a good choice. You don't need 64 GB, 32 GB is enough for what you want to use it for. My daughter loves her mini. We have an iPad 3, but my daughter prefers the mini,easier to handle. She is 12 and paid for the mini out of money she saved from past birthdays and holidays. Good luck.
 

Binarymix

macrumors 65816
Nov 1, 2007
1,121
353
Binary mix,

So if I convert them on my PC I can stream them direct to her iPad as long as there in the formats you suggest?

----------

Thanks Flight and Navyseal

As long as you put your converted videos into iTunes, and setup home sharing, yes.

AirVideo may work, but there might be latency when it's converting on the fly? And that app costs money.

iTunes also keeps track of where you left off on the video.
 

kolakube

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2012
14
0
She is 12 and paid for the mini out of money she saved from past birthdays and holidays.

Dfine - Hi mate. Thats superb! I hope my daughter will appreciate money like that when she gets used to it.

I see my role as equipping her to make good decisions by herself. Not to decide for her. Sounds like your already there. Great stuff!

Ok, iPad Mini it is. Thanks guys.

Will this article / app do for the file transfer or is there better
http://www.ipadforums.net/pavtube-s...ay-xvid-avi-files-ipad-mini-new-ipad-3-a.html


As for the guys who keep mentioning a pony. Seriously!! Do you even have kids?? Do you know how much cleaning up "I" would have to do twice daily.

Jeez, a rabbit is bad enough! You want me to get a pony too.


;)
 

Brradley

macrumors member
Jun 21, 2010
90
2
Mental. If I did anything good when I was younger I would get a Pokemon sticker, not an iPod, and that was only a few years ago! What is she going to expect the time she does well in high school :eek:
 

kolakube

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2012
14
0
Brradley.

Families are different man. Dunno what to say to you.

I switch on TV and watch spoilts 16 year olds getting given Ferrari's because there spoilt rotten. How could they be anything other?

I dont run things liken that. If my daughter had got 15% for effort (the only column of the report im interested in) then she'd have got a doll and nothing more. I would deliberately be harsh so she can see she has to stick in at school. Luckily Ive avoided this.

But 98%??? Im amazed and very proud and this HAS to be rewarded on the scale it deserves.

Im not very wealthy at all. Infact thanks to the recession and loosing my job ive never been more skint. But it is my duty to reward this.

If I have to pull out like this every year and then one day when shes 21 she gets a first on her honors degree then I honestly don't care.
 

flight

macrumors regular
Mar 4, 2010
130
0
Mental. If I did anything good when I was younger I would get a Pokemon sticker, not an iPod, and that was only a few years ago! What is she going to expect the time she does well in high school :eek:

Surely Apple will have released a car by then. :p
 

lyngo

macrumors 6502a
Sep 10, 2007
849
1,425
Mental. If I did anything good when I was younger I would get a Pokemon sticker, not an iPod, and that was only a few years ago! What is she going to expect the time she does well in high school :eek:

As it is said too much on this forum, but ^^^^ THIS.

My wife and I have a 6, 3, and a year old. Our oldest daughter gets rewarded time in my iPad or time on my wife's iPad or time on the family desktop. The last thing that I want to do is start promoting in my daughter the attitude of entitlement and trying to one up ourselves year over year if she is top dog.

I believe in rewarding and encouraging good and awesome effort, but where that line is of giving too much is beyond me. This is becoming or has become and ethics post on my part. I apologize for going off topic, but I guess I would love to understand the thinking of why an iPad now?

If you absolutely have to go that route, I would look on craigslist for an iPad 1 or 2 that is fairly cheap and inexpensive. That's just me. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
 

kolakube

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2012
14
0
I explained this above already.

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Also ipad 1 doesnt have facetime.

And second hand ipad 2 here in UK is £260 ish. Same price as iPad Mini

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Just like to thank everyone

Airvideo and 16 gig Mini pad looks perfect

Thanks fellas
 

KatMarie

macrumors newbie
Apr 3, 2010
17
0
My 4 year old granddaughter has a little bit of a problem handling my iPad...it's just a little too bulky for her hand size. So I think the iPad mini would be the better size for your daughter.
 

lyngo

macrumors 6502a
Sep 10, 2007
849
1,425
I explained this above already.

----------

Also ipad 1 doesnt have facetime.

And second hand ipad 2 here in UK is £260 ish. Same price as iPad Mini

Yeah I see that. I was writing my original reply before your response to the other guy came in. Good job for your daughter, but again not everything should be rewarded something that costs $4-500! I think it promotes entitlement. I really do. I've seen it in my oldest. I've seen it in the youth advocacy program that I work for.

Again, your values and situations are different than mine. I get that. I just don't understand the fact that you're saying your not wealthy and basically have been impacted by the recession and are still feeling it... Well, if you are still feeling it then why put yourself in a more difficult financial place?

I'll shut up after this post. I'm even regretting putting this up there, but perhaps the big topic at hand is where is ethically that line of kids "owning" their own iPads or iDevices? Are there other good ways to reward good behavior like going out to do something special as a family or taking her to an amusement park or doing something unique and fun together that is bonding?
 

kolakube

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2012
14
0
Thanks kat.

Yeah im gonna go with the mini and airvideo. Looks the perfect combo.
 

Greg.

macrumors 6502
Sep 12, 2010
404
54
London, UK
Pokemon_Yellow_Box_Art.jpg
 

kolakube

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2012
14
0
Lyngo

Just trying to instill the ethics into my daughter she will need.

Ie stick in and work hard and get qualified. I know with no good parenting behind me and no one giving a damn at all I had to do all of this later on in life and it was tough.

Im not trying to make her make up for my mistakes. More give her an environment that will equip her for the journey ahead.

Hey, if she decides to become a buddest monk and forego possessions totally ill still be proud of her. But I figure she can do that when she's responsible for her own actions IE over 18.

As we used to say in the Army, train hard fight easy. So by this if she sticks in now she has trained hard. Then instead of working 50 hours a week in Mcdonnals and earning £12000 a year she can work 35 hours a qualified professional but earn £35000 a year.

Unfortunately our lives on western earth evolve around money. Anyone who thinks they dont, get all you have and burn it, then in a month report back to me on how things are going for you.
 

D.T.

macrumors G4
Sep 15, 2011
11,050
12,460
Vilano Beach, FL
Definitely a Mini. The form factor will be much better for a child, and it's honestly a superior device vs. an iPad2 (better cameras, better Wifi, higher PPI).

As mentioned above, drop your videos into iTunes, turn on Home Sharing, and you can consume any media on any device on your home network (iPad, Apple TV, other iTune instances).

The media will need to be in a compatible format - I personally like using the built-in video services vs. a 3rd party product, so I mux/encode/etc., our video so it's in a native iTunes/iOS format, but I could see if you have an existing library of content you'd rather not have to reprocess.

As the father of a stunningly bright, beautiful daughter, I can tell you an iPad (with of course, proper lock-down and content control) can be outstanding for entertainment, education and communication. While the initial entry price is higher than say a Nintendo handheld, the content/app costs are so low, you make it up quickly. So many outstanding apps from free to <$3

Have fun :)
 

ob81

macrumors 65816
Jun 11, 2007
1,406
356
Virginia Beach
Don't

Don't get her an iPad, get her an art table and some paint. Teach your children to produce, not to consume.
 
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