“There isn’t a holiday season that goes by that most parents aren’t treated to the seasonal joy of caroling neighbors and cajoling children. There’s always something your kids want that you don’t want to give them, whether because it’s too expensive, too mature or too hard to find,” Adam Levin writes for The Huffington Post.
“But this year, you should seriously consider giving him or her that pricey iPad (or tablet) that adorns many an underage wishlist this year — not for their sake, but for your own,” Levin writes. “Set aside the money and get them an iPad of their very own — and make sure the Genius Bar helps you set up all those parental controls.”
Levin writes, “That way, your child gets what she or he wants, you get the privacy protections you need and you both get the security of knowing that his or her online behavior won’t impact either of your lives for a little while longer.”
Read more in the full article here.
He was making sense until “(or tablet)”.
If you’ve ever taken kids on long car rides, the iPad is a godsend. I remember the first time I took my stepchildren on a trip to Connecticut from New Jersey to visit their Grandparents. Between the teasing, fighting, and all those things kids do, I was ready to go nuts. Finally, I was able to appease them with a laptop to watch DVD’s and play games which made the ride much easier. Anything you can do to keep kids appeased on long trips, and keep me from going crazy is worth every penny.
One plane trip will also make you a believer. I give all my children new iPads each year and they pass the old ones down to their children. All their worlds have drastically changed since the iPad.
You are spot on with your post and it got me thinking.
I remember my parents giving me lots of books to read on long trips. Then I heard that some people can’t read in cars. I wonder if the same goes for the ipad, but I doubt it.
Anyway, good point for sure.
Looks like you’ve spoiled your kids rotten. I was a kid in the 1980s and early 1990s, and let me tell you, when I was bored on a long trip, I simply just looked out of the window. As someone who grew up in the Bronx during the dark ages, looking out at pristine countryside was a godsend compared to ugly housing projects. Today’s generation has it good, you don’t know how bad some of us have had it.
And you never fought and carried on with your siblings? I always took the the driver side back seat, that way when my dad swung his arm around the back to smack us to behave, my brother would always get it. You must of been an angel. And yes, we spoil our kids rotten, because we love them and can afford to.
If you actually loved your kids, you would have taught them the value of hard work, instead of treating them like royalty. The first computer I bought with my own, hard-earned cash was a Bondi Blue iMac for college. I bought on the morning of September 11, and the very first thing I did was email my friends and relatives who lived in NYC at the time. I actually cared about my family, and was glad I had a tool to communicate them with, to see if they were OK. (And they were, indeed, OK.)
I’m sorry, but I just can’t agree with this. Apple makes great things, but this is too much. When I was young, I wasn’t a spoiled and entitled brat like many of these post-1990 borns. I didn’t get my first cellular until I was in college in fall of 2001, and even then, it was a Nokia brick. These Millenials have it a little too good. Give them an Android stupid phone (and I don’t mean a Samsung Galaxy) and wait until they are responsible enough for an iPad or an iPhone. These kids need to EARN it, and not EXPECT it, like they are princes or princesses.
You sound like an anal authoritarian type. That shit always backfires on you later in life when your kids will hat and resent you for being such an asshole. Remember, when your old and decrepit, they are the one that will care for you. Treat them right, right now and you won’t regret it later.
You sound like those Generation X parents who hated how they were treated, and decided to be your offspring’s “friend” rather than a “parent”. I know my opinions won’t be popular, but I’m not being kind, I’m being real. Maybe it’s my culture, but that is what I grew up with. If you copped an attitude with your parents, you ass would be grass. It’s what people in my generation grew up with, and today’s parents are soft. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is.
Well, lumping all of today’s parents in one category shows how short sighted and narrow minded you are. Quit trying to blame technology for your issues. People like you are stubborn, myopic and set in your ways. And that is cool, for you. But not for others. I’ve meant plenty of what you call ‘spoiled’ kids that have turned out just fine. Try broadening your horizons instead of being so anal about things. You might be happier.
Give your children the proverbial lump of coal tablet for Christmas… the Google Nexus 7.
If my son or daughter acted up, they would not even get a circa 2000 Nokia brick, they would suffer a month of no Internet. I’m ol’ skool, and I don’t care what other people think.
A lot less toys will clutter the living room floor the rest of the year.