Should Parents Rely on Tablet to Educate Their Children?

Not many children want to play with their Barbie dolls and small toys anymore. Just like adults, children are also more comfortable with smartphones and tablets. In fact, nearly half of children say that they want to get a new gadget for their next birthday. Device manufacturers are getting the message and their tablets can be used by both children and adults. Although the iPad and other tablets are designed primarily for adults, they can also become an exciting entertainment center for children. There are many thousands of games for children in Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

These tablets can also turn into coloring books and children can fill colors in objects with their little fingers. Some music apps allow children to sing along with their attractive tunes. With tablets, learning has no limits and there are many education apps designed for children. This should allow children get fun learning experience. Some tablets are designed for children and their Android implementations are also optimized for kids. These tablets have creative activities, educational games and animated lessons for reading and writing. Regardless of the models that parents choose, they should find those that have rich features. This will provide abundant opportunities for fun and development.

However, tablets that are not optimized for children use could actually become the worst toy for them. From all the entertainment choices in the market, tablets could become the most insidious. Parents should also be aware that the best entertainment and education lessons should be provided by real, living human; instead of a machine. With this fact in mind, parents should be aware than children shouldn’t play more than two hours with the tablets. Most of the education and learning sessions should be performed with parents or other adults. It is also beneficial for children to play with other kids.

In this case, parents shouldn’t buy into the common notion that they can rely completely on tablets to provide education for children at home. In fact, parents are able to develop a brainier baby by providing direct education. It should be noted that children could eventually be focused on games and other less educative content. This will result in less than adequate learning performance, because parents are not present to provide direct instructions. Manufacturers could prey on parents’ ignorance about the proper usages of tablets. It means that they could become less attentive toward their children.

Before even choosing a tablet, parents should consider whether they really need to provide their children with a tablet. It is true that tablets can educate and stimulate imagination, but there are real consequences of relying only on these mobile devices. Instead, parents should encourage children to head outdoors and go to playgrounds. Libraries and museums are also fun places to go because children can see real objects and read the actual, physical books. There are many activities that can help parents educate and exercise with their children, such as scavenger hunt, bike ride and simple walk.