My little addict

[twotrue]

Jelly Bean is addicted to my phone. On one hand, I feel bad for ever downloading a child's app on there. On the other hand, I'm okay with her learning things through technology (on a limited basis). She gets 5 minutes of play time when we first get home because it allows me to set down my stuff, pee, and let the dogs out. I'll also give it to her in restaurants, before we order and when we're waiting for the check. She knows that it isn't allowed when we are eating and talking. And she gets to feed her fish (a fish app) when she gets out of the tub and before we settle down for the night.

So honestly I'm not all that concerned about it because it's like everything else, I believe in moderation. However.....

....this morning she took my phone off the table, took it her room and started playing. When I caught her she just giggled. If she's going to be an addict, at least she is a damn cute one

[thiswillbe]

The fish app sounds like fun-- what's it called? Our kids look at "toddler flashcards" (basically just pictures) on our ipod every now and then, but we don't have any interactive apps. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing (or, well, just a thing!).

It's hard to be mad when they're so cute, isn't it? And so grown-up as to be able to do those things themselves. It still amazes me how quickly the kids mastered the "swipe" to unlock our ipod...

[twotrue]

Her apps are mostly educational based. She has a few puzzle apps. She LOVES puzzles (on the phone and regular puzzles). She also has some sing along app that she'll listen to a little. Some matching games and a few word games are also in her list of approved apps (I use Zoodles so she is limited only the apps I allow her access to). The fish one is "Fish Adventure."

[never2amazing]

Little Man has learned to take photos with my phone and is it ever hard to get my phone away from him when he is on a "shoot". Some of the photos have come out really well...and some...well let's just say I have a lot to delete.

[hensmum]

Okay, I'm looking up this zoodles business.

I have mixed feelings about this stuff. On the one hand, I want to limit Hen's screen time. On the other, he watches tv daily and I'm okay with that. And I spend A LOT of time glued to my ipod (soon to be iphone!!). I recently downloaded a toddler app for him and ended up using it once to get through our only dinner out with the ILs in the Cape. It worked! I let him play with it the entire time, and honestly, without it, we wouldn't have made it through the dinner. It was the end of the week, he was tired, he needed a distraction.

We are going to be doing some traveling for Thanksgiving, including a loooong time in the car. I'm thinking portable DVD player and toddler apps will be invaluable. Yes, we'll also have nonelectronic distractions, but I feel like whatever it takes to get us through!

Also, so much of life happens on mobile devices/computers/etc. How much more will be by the time our kids are older? While I do think too much screen time isn't a good thing - I guess it IS a good thing for them to learn to be adept with these devices, since they will be using them a great deal as they grow (in school, etc).