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2 Year Old has iPhone (Does that make us bad parents?)

Try buying the kid a rubber ball and going outside and playing with her with that?

Try being more involved with your kid, instead of expecting Apple to keep her occupied in the corner. Why would you ask this in the first place? You obviously know it's a pretty poor decision.

But at the end of the day though, I'm sure it's just status/keeping up with the Jones' in the neighborhood, just like it usually is when parents throw G35 coupe keys at a 16 year old kid; it's not about the kid, it's about the parents competing with one another, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was at least a bit of that here.:rolleyes:

Buy the ball.
 
A few very important questions, which I don't believe have been answered so far:

-How much time do you spend with your kid a day?

-How much time do they spend outside a day?

-How much time is spent interacting with others his/her age?

-Do they cry when you take away the device? (Yes, kids cry, but an electronic is not a reason to cry)

I think if the child is having a normal life and they are being exposed to the touch/iphone in small doses it's a great thing. They're going to grow up in a world dominated by electronics, but no device should replace them being a normal child.
 
I would say no, as a child needs tools to fuel their imagination and development rather than something that could potentially limit their attention span and imagination, but what do I know?

BTW please don't say a child's imagination could be fueled or improved by an iPhone or an iPad. For God's sake, they're not developers who imagine it's creative capacity, they're two year olds. Get that rubbish out of their hands and give them Lego and books, not noisy electronics.
 
I'd be a bit worried, mainly about the fact that the kind of experience an iPhone provides to a two-year-old, while being addictive and stimulating, is actually very primitive and simple compared to interaction with "real world" objects and beings,that offer extremely rewarding learning experiences for developing minds. So, personally I'd try to limit the exposure of children to devices that superficially stimulate the senses to a very high degree yet allow for only fairly limited interaction. I'd probably try and wait until a child's mental capacities have developed to a point where she is aware of and understands the artificiality of computer systems and how they come to be. Then she might be able to intelligently use such devices as tools, thereby profiting from the experience.
 
paddy said:
BTW please don't say a child's imagination could be fueled or improved by an iPhone or an iPad.
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You are aware that she can also search Wiki for something that interests her.

Developing apps might be the last thing in the World she would do in her life-time.
 
iJohnHenry said:
What the naysayers' don't realise, it that the learning curve of a 2-year-old in off the charts, when compared to later life. ;)
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I think they absolutely do realize that. We just disagree about what constitutes a worthwhile learning experience at that age.

Of course, if your wunderkind already reads at age 2 and is able to use the iPhone as a research tool and what else not, we're talking about a very different situation, than "switching between videos and games on a regular basis".

Personally, I'm not inclined to judge anyone, and could also admittedly be completely wrong about this, but since the OP was asking for thoughts, I wrote some down.
 
Surely said:
My five month old son loves to play with our iPad. He loves Doodle Buddy, and gets really into it as he "draws". He loves to watch the photo slideshow, and we find videos on YouTube for him to watch.

I'm really looking forward to when he's older and able to interact with it more.

I think that early introduction of technology to a child is a good thing. The more they learn, the better.
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So we should not show kids crayons and paper anymore, straight to the technology? Kids should still learn the old way first before being sucked into tech. What happens when kids don't know how to use a pen or pencil to write their own name because all they know is how to type.
 
MacNut said:
So we should not show kids crayons and paper anymore, straight to the technology? Kids should still learn the old way first before being sucked into tech. What happens when kids don't know how to use a pen or pencil to write their own name because all they know is how to type.
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That's not what he's saying at all. The fact that he lets his son play with an iPad doesn't mean that's all the kid does. I've been using computers since I was three; during my childhood I also loved to paint and read. The fact that I also used computers didn't change that one bit. One thing doesn't exclude the others.
 
MacNut said:
So we should not show kids crayons and paper anymore, straight to the technology?
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So, um, where did I say that?:confused:

Kids should still learn the old way first before being sucked into tech.
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Why? Why not both at the same time? What are you basing these statements on?:confused:

What happens when kids don't know how to use a pen or pencil to write their own name because all they know is how to type.
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I just don't see that happening all because a two year old is playing with an iPhone or my 5 month old is playing with my iPad.
 
anjinha said:
That's not what he's saying at all. The fact that he lets his son play with an iPad doesn't mean that's all the kid does. I've been using computers since I was three; during my childhood I also loved to paint and read. The fact that I also used computers didn't change that one bit. One thing doesn't exclude the others.
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We are getting to a point where technology will take over. Kids are forgetting how to write because everything is typed now. Penmanship has gone out the window. At a certain point it wont even be taught in school as we will get into a iPad lifestyle. If I want my kid to draw on something I will give them a coloring book, not an iPhone or iPad. Yes, kids need to learn about technology but they also have to build critical thinking skills on their own with their hands. We can't just let technology become the babysitter or the teacher.
 
MacNut said:
Yes, kids need to learn about technology but they also have to build critical thinking skills on their own with their hands. We can't just let technology become the babysitter or the teacher.
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I think you need critical thinking skills. She just stated that she also read and painted. I am sure she read and painted with her hands and with a actual book.

Therefore, she learned about technology but also learned how to use her own hands.

Your arguments aren't even arguments but rather repetitive summaries of what we are all saying to begin with. If that is your goal then continue on I suppose.
 
renewed said:
I think you need critical thinking skills. She just stated that she also read and painted. I am sure she read and painted with her hands and with a actual book.

Therefore, she learned about technology but also learned how to use her own hands.

Your arguments aren't even arguments but rather repetitive summaries of what we are all saying to begin with. If that is your goal then continue on I suppose.
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So since everything is covered lets just lock the thread.

Personally 2 seems to young to be able to even grasp what an iPhone is. Am I at a disadvantage now because when I was 2 cell phones were just a dream? At least let the child experience kindergarden before introducing high end electronics. When I was that age I think Speak and Spell was about as high tech as I knew of.
 
MacNut said:
So since everything is covered lets just lock the thread.

Personally 2 seems to young to be able to even grasp what an iPhone is. Am I at a disadvantage now because when I was 2 cell phones were just a dream? At least let the child experience kindergarden before introducing high end electronics. When I was that age I think Speak and Spell was about as high tech as I knew of.
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And people like you back then were saying the same thing about the Speak and Spell. How'd you turn out?
 
MacNut said:
So since everything is covered lets just lock the thread.

Personally 2 seems to young to be able to even grasp what an iPhone is. Am I at a disadvantage now because when I was 2 cell phones were just a dream? At least let the child experience kindergarden before introducing high end electronics. When I was that age I think Speak and Spell was about as high tech as I knew of.
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Times are changing though. I am sure back in 1700 children were taught how to light candles and shoo away wild animals from the garden.

Now they are being taught how to use technology of this era. Times change. Is writing still essential these days? Yes. Are the OP and Surely as well as other parents most likely going to teach their kids how to read and write as well as use technology? My guess is yes.

Technology has a place in this world and just like language or other skills, it is good to start them off at an early age, therefore they are able to compete with todays skill-sets.
 
Surely said:
And people like you back then were saying the same thing about the Speak and Spell. How'd you turn out?
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Speak and spell was designed as a learning tool, it only had one function and it was used to build thinking skills The iPhone is just that a phone that has many uses. It is not meant to be a teaching tool. It would be more of a distraction than a help.
 
MacNut said:
We are getting to a point where technology will take over. Kids are forgetting how to write because everything is typed now. Penmanship has gone out the window. At a certain point it wont even be taught in school as we will get into a iPad lifestyle. If I want my kid to draw on something I will give them a coloring book, not an iPhone or iPad. Yes, kids need to learn about technology but they also have to build critical thinking skills on their own with their hands. We can't just let technology become the babysitter or the teacher.
Click to expand...

If you want people to respect your opinion you should actually read what the other side is saying and not make a hyperbole out of everything. I had access to technology since extremely young. Still, I loved to paint (on actual paper) and read, I also played violin and was an honor roll student. Same thing with my cousins. Technology didn't hurt us one bit, quite the opposite.

There's a long way between letting infants have access to technology and letting technology be the teacher. If you can't see the difference than you're the one who needs to build critical thinking skills.


MacNut said:
Speak and spell was designed as a learning tool, it only had one function and it was used to build thinking skills The iPhone is just that a phone that has many uses. It is not meant to be a teaching tool. It would be more of a distraction than a help.
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There are lot of apps designed specifically for kids that help stimulate their senses, learn about new colors and words and yes, build thinking skills.
 
renewed said:
Times are changing though. I am sure back in 1700 children were taught how to light candles and shoo away wild animals from the garden.

Now they are being taught how to use technology of this era. Times change. Is writing still essential these days? Yes. Are the OP and Surely as well as other parents most likely going to teach their kids how to read and write as well as use technology? My guess is yes.

Technology has a place in this world and just like language or other skills, it is good to start them off at an early age, therefore they are able to compete with todays skill-sets.
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The problem though is that as technology advances we will forget about the other way to do things. We are getting overly computerized and it will only hurt a child's learning experiences.
 
^^^^That's ridiculous. Why make such a generalization?


MacNut said:
Speak and spell was designed as a learning tool, it only had one function and it was used to build thinking skills The iPhone is just that a phone that has many uses. It is not meant to be a teaching tool. It would be more of a distraction than a help.
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I think that you're forgetting about all of the teaching Apps that are available for the iPhone/iPad. Those were also designed as a teaching tool.

Hell, I bet there's a Speak and Spell App. EDIT: There is.

You should try checking out the Education App Store.
 
anjinha said:
If you want people to respect your opinion you should actually read what the other side is saying and not make a hyperbole out of everything. I had access to technology since extremely young. Still, I loved to paint (on actual paper) and read, I also played violin and was an honor roll student. Same thing with my cousins. Technology didn't hurt us one bit, quite the opposite.

There's a long way between letting infants have access to technology and letting technology be the teacher. If you can't see the difference than you're the one who needs to build critical thinking skills.
Click to expand...
Infants with technology will get accustomed to it and then when you try to teach them another way they won't want to learn it. To use the music analogy, my piano teacher always told me to actually learn the music not play by ear. It is harder to break bad habits once they have started. Giving a 2 year old an iPhone will not help their development skills vs just giving them a coloring book. What is the harm in waiting a few years before introducing such complex tech?
 
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