Does Your Child Need an iPad? The Pros and Cons of Giving Kids Expensive Technology

Today's endless array of advanced computerintroducing your children to the iPad, there are
electronics is truly unprecedented, and offers anmany reasons for which you may want to hold
especially unique experience for modern children.off. Perhaps most obvious is the fact that the
This is perhaps the first era during which childreniPad is not a cheap piece of hardware, and it also
can grow up from birth around technology suchdoes not happen to be very resistant to
as the smart phone and advanced PDA devices.breakage, especially in the hands of a child.
These devices can do wonders for theWeighing in at just one pound, simply dropping the
imagination and are excellent learning tools, butiPad off of a low surface is enough to damage it,
they are also very expensive and come alongsometimes even permanently. Children may view
with their own sets of security and privacy issues.the iPad as a toy and not realize its fragility or
Does your child need an iPad, or can puttinghow expensive it was to purchase. If you have
devices such as this in the hand of children causereason to believe that your child may act
more harm than good?carelessly with an iPad, it is best to keep it to
First, there is no doubt that the iPad can act asyourself or at least invest in a high-quality case
one of the best modern learning devices on thefor protection!
planet. With the constant development of newMany parents are also concerned with the
iPad "apps" and big name developers now jumpingwebsites that children visit when they use the
on board, it is fairly certain that the iPad willinternet, which is another potential issue with
continue to host to an excellent array of learningallowing children access to an iPad. The iPad is
tools for your child. Applications range from thosecapable of surfing the web just like any home
which teach children to read and count to thosecomputer or laptop, bringing with it the same
offering educational simulations, such as the basicsthreats that one might come upon while on a
of cooking or growing a garden. Before touchcomputer such as pornography, graphic violence
technology, applications such as these wereand chat rooms. While it is possible to block
practically non-existent; especially for use bychildren from using the Internet this way on the
children.iPad, it is still less than ideal to give your child
The iPad works in more ways than one as anunlimited access to the web. Even good children
excellent learning device. Children love coolcan find themselves in bad neighborhoods online.
technology, and the iPad is arguably some of theIn the end, it really comes down to you and your
coolest technology on the market currently. Bychildren. If you feel as if they are careful,
marketing the ipad to children as a "cool" way toresponsible "young adults" that are ready to
read (such as with ebooks) and do theirexperience touch technology and learn from it,
homework, they may jump at the chance, asthen by all means take the chance of letting them
using the iPad for just about anything is vieweduse the iPad. If you are on the other side of the
as fun by children.fence, it's best to hold off.
While it is true that these are great reasons for