Should You Give Your Child Their Own Tablet?

For a while now, our kindergarten-aged daughter has been allowed to borrow our tablets. She’ll sit next to us and play one of her apps, or get passed the iPad during a car ride so she can watch her favourite show while we struggle to maintain sanity during gridlock. Either way, she gets it for a set amount of time, and then has to hand it back.

To her, it’s no big deal; whether she’s using them or not, the devices are just part of her daily life. For birthdays or holidays, she’s never requested her own tablet in the same way she’s never asked for her own refrigerator—why would she need one when she just uses ours?

More parents are letting their children play around with tablets, so it’s unsurprising there are more devices specifically aimed at kids this holiday season. And while I’m happy to just keep loaning out my tablet to my daughter, there are a lot of pretty solid reasons for exploring the potential of getting a child his or her own device.

Available from a handful of companies, learning or kid-specific devices come in a range of sizes and prices, from less than $50 to pushing $200. Some are comparable to traditional iOS/Android tablets (with less-fancy processor speed or memory, but will your six-year-old notice?), while others are closer to video game systems, requiring the purchase of additional cartridges for new apps.

"Playing with their kids' tablet did not stop my daughters from wanting my phone or the iPad."

For some parents, these devices specifically geared toward little hands offer peace of mind in terms of controlled app selection, online security, and durability. They are supposed to hold up to drops, scratches, and spills better than traditional tablets (which, for their part, need to be fitted with not-always-convenient protective cases). Also, some offer educational games unavailable through the App Store or Google Play—though the price tag may be higher than the buck or two with which you’ve grown familiar.

Another benefit in gifting kids with their own tablets means they can learn the importance of responsibility and taking care of their first expensive, still-pretty-delicate ‘toy’—a sense of ownership and pride. Also, kids love pretending they’re adults, even when it feels odd for their parents.

“A kid’s tablet was given to our daughter a couple of years ago for Christmas,” says Sarah, a mother of two from Vancouver. “Initially, I was a bit hesitant about handing her essentially a mini-computer (and one that makes a tremendous amount of noise), but since a big part of it seemed to be focused on learning the alphabet, I figured it was at least educational. The pretend e-mail button, though, and the prompts to ‘Check your e-mail!’ still weird me out—she was two!”

However, if one of the reasons you’re giving your child a learning tablet is because you want your own iPad to revert to being private property, you might want to think again.

“Playing with their kids' tablet did not stop my daughters from wanting my phone or the iPad,” laments Selina, a mother of two from Markham. “The game quality and viewing/screen experience is not the same.”

“We bought our son one of those kid tablets, but he never uses it,” agrees Melissa, a mother of two from Oshawa. “He didn’t find it as easy as my old iPad, which was more intuitive—point and click to turn things on, instead of pressing multiple check boxes that can be frustrating. We ended up permanently giving him an older iPad, which he loves.”

This type of digital hand-me-down is becoming far more prevalent than dropping $600 on a new top-of-the-line tablet for a preschooler. With continual waves of ever-advanced devices coming out, many parents may find themselves upgrading.

Buy a protective case, install some parental controls, delete some files and programs, and reload a few good apps, and you have just DIY’d your own kids' tablet. (You’ll also want to explore your syncing options and credit card info.) As a bonus, you’re also railing against a disposable culture that sends too many electronics into the waste stream. Who knows? Maybe one day, your granddaughter will inherit a second-generation iPad as a family heirloom.

Do your kids have their own tablets? Are you thinking about buying one of those kid-specific ones this holiday season?