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Consumer Group Calls for Recall on iPad-Equipped Newborn 'Apptivity' Seat
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Reporting back as requested. My oldest is now 10 years old. He not only has an iPad, he now has an iPhone too.
Guess what, he gets almost perfect grades, he is far from lazy, and he has a ton of friends. But lets not let facts get in the way of your ridiculous opinions.
Pretty sure you completely missed the original point of my argument, which was that if you tie your kid into a chair with an iPad mounted 8 inches from their face that they will probably end up with developmental issues later in life.
You also said you wanted me to check back in because you thought I would become a lazy parent who just shoves my kids in front of a TV to keep them calm. Didn't happen, end of story. Never replying to this thread again, have a nice life.
Ofcourse thats your opinion with no proof at all to back that up. Nobody is saying the kid should spend all day playing on an iPad, but no different than tv or other things.
Reporting back at 9 years old. Never just plopped my daughter in front of an iPad to keep her occupied. Through not inundating her with devices she was able to keep herself occupied and be at peace with being still and not constantly entertained. Same with my Son who is 6.
We did test runs with a time limit on the iPad when she was 4 years old using educational software and she would cry and scream when we took it away from her after a couple days. So we disciplined her those times and told her we were taking it away until she was able to not throw a fit. So we waited until she was 5 years old. Less upset but there were still some problems after a while so we decided to revisit 6 months later. This time she was able to deal with having an iPad for a short time and having it taken away. So we bought her one with a keyboard case and Apple Pencil so she could be creative and learn to type. Within a short period of time she was able to write messages to people in our family. Over time and with improvements in parental controls we gave her a little more access. where she was able to use it daily after school after completing her chores and homework.
The pandemic happened during this time and she did all her remote learning on a school issued iPad and has a healthy relationship with electronics today. She's not addicted to anything and often chooses to read on her Kindle over using her iPad. She is in 3rd grade and as of our last parent teacher conference in the autumn, has already reached 4th grade equivalency in every subject except reading, where she is at a 6th grade level and she has been invited to take a placement test for advanced studies. My son is in kindergarten but is also quite advanced, able to read storybooks before starting kindergarten (well more advanced than See Spot Run) and has already begun on beginner chapter books.
I've taken a very proactive, hands-on approach to helping them learn. I take them for walks out in nature and teach them about science, how math relates to science and nature, and about natural history and local history. I try to tie it altogether in a way that makes sense for them. They frequently ask questions and I love answering them. We built a treehouse together in the forest behind my home and I've developed an entire play area for their imaginations to run wild. We've studied planets, the moons of Jupiter and nebula through my telescope, we've collected samples from the creek and looked at the microorganisms under a microscope. My daughter has learned sewing from her aunt and crocheting from my wife, and I've had both kids in my workshop helping me with woodworking projects and fixing things around the house. I've taught my son how to draw since he's really into that and he quite frankly can recreate most cartoons through sight only that are 80-90% accurate which is well more advanced than I was at his age. The "Nature Cat" from the PBS show that he drew at 5 years old blew me away. I want them to be empowered to know that through learning and knowledge they can develop any skill and do anything they want if they put their mind to it and put in the hard work.
So yeah. This product was incredible stupid. The dumbing down of our society today is due to parents just throwing their kids in front of devices to baby sit them instead of putting away their selfish instincts and spending time with their kids. It's definitely a sacrifice I've had to make. There were times with my job where I was working some 16 hour days and felt exhausted but I still managed to put in time with the kids before bed on most days before going back to work in the evening, even though I just wanted to veg out and relax. Fortunately I've modernized many of our processes at work so that shouldn't be an issue again. It was definitely not easy but it was necessary for our kids to be healthy and grow and feel loved. iPads can't love kids like parents can. And when you're old and gray, your kid will remember all the times you plunked them down in front of the iPad instead of spending time with them. It's no substitute.
This will be my final update. I set a reminder for this post, lol, even though I said I would never respond again. Glad I did anyway because it feels good to look back and know that I did everything the right way and it strengthens my resolve to keep putting in the work.
Yea just the BS where people complain about video games while binging shows. At least gaming takes more thought and you're helping hand eye coordination
Or more $1k+ food delivery ordersI can see the complaints now. "I didn't make the in-app purchases. It must have been my baby in it's new chair".
Same, I thought the issue was that they fell out and hurt the babiesBefore Reading the article:
Yes, it really looks like the iPad will fall on the baby. It may be safer to have glasses that the baby wears that covers 100% of the babies vision with cartoons or screen savers than using this low tech idea of a big screen over the baby.
After Reading the article:
That is the awesomest thread revival I've ever read.
My first child was about two years old when this thread started -- now he's almost 12. Getting him off the iPad is still a constant struggle. At one point last year we (the parents) got so frustrated that we took away iPad privileges for almost a month. Finally gave it back and he is only marginally better. We've been focusing on it and trying positive reinforcement and it's such an effort getting him to turn it off and come to dinner that it's really not even worth having the iPad.
My second child is six years old. Last night he played Minecraft with four of his friends for about an hour. When it was time for dinner, he had a complete meltdown that lasted probably 30-40 minutes before he could calm down enough to join us at the table. He knocked everything off of the coffee table and threw things across the room, sobbing endlessly and telling us how mean and stupid we were. He was frustrated by something that happened near the end of playing Minecraft and was taking it out on us. When I went to try to give him a hug and say supportive words, he hit me and threw stuff at me and told me to go away.
My kids both have ADHD, which adds a huge layer of complexity on top of the already complex and muddied subject of screen time. I think that each kid is different and can react totally differently to screens. You have to feel out how your individual kids respond to screens: the type of game played or show watched, the duration, the timing, etc. My younger one's friend will just turn off the iPad whenever his parents ask him to. But as for the original post about the product that started this whole thread, sticking an iPad in front of a baby like that sounds foolish, especially when at that age it's difficult to get any real feedback about how well they can tolerate it, since they're, well, babies.