what apps do you allow on your child's tablet?

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  • March 31, 2018 at 12:19 pm
    caedmyn
    Participant

    I’m struggling to find a balance with allowing my 12 yo to use her tablet.  She would be on it pretty much all day, every day if that was allowed.  I put a parental controls app on it that limits some apps to 1 hr/day total and allows unlimited use of others (Audible, classical music radio, clock, stuff like that).  She uses it less now but still constantly wants to check it to see the weather, use the clock to set an alarm, read something, etc.  I’m wondering if I should restrict apps to only those that can’t easily be accessed with real objects (ie no clock app, she has a watch and we have timers, no calculator app, no weather app as she check mine if she really needs…I think she checks it multiple times a day), and also trying to decide if how much I want her reading on the tablet vs reading real books.  I’ve read that kids don’t learn or retain information as well from an ereader as they do with a real book.  Also, it’s much harder for me to monitor her Overdrive account on a tablet than it is to monitor her actual library book checkouts…Overdrive doesn’t seem to have any parental controls.  Wondering if anyone else has these dilemmas and what apps others have chosen to allow on their child(ren)’s tablets.

    April 1, 2018 at 9:34 am
    mrsmccardell
    Participant

    I’m going through this with my kids too.  I’m really trying to look at what they are doing and asking them why they are doing it.  For example, is your daughter super interested in the weather?  If yes, this is her way of showing that interest.  Can you expand on it?

    Sometimes our kids want to go deeper into learning something that is a little more self-directed…and it may not look the way we want it to.  Is it still learning?  Learning is learning, right?  We may place more value on learning that looks like ___.

    I’m really trying to look at what my kids show interest in and help them learn to use the resources available to them.  Digital resources are wonderful and maybe she’s at an age where she can really learn the ropes of the internet and such.

    I’m preaching to myself too!!

    April 1, 2018 at 1:42 pm
    Karen
    Participant

    My girls’ tablet (one tablet for the four girls) has Audible, Learning Ally, Adventures in Odyssey, Google Earth, Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, Chess, the calculator, timer/clock, EasySpell, YouTubeKids on it…..I think that’s it.

    But, they are only allowed to use the tablet for school (listening to their history books).  They alternate days when it’s “theirs” — meaning when they’re done schoolwork, they are allowed to listen to Odyssey.  YouTubeKids and the games all require my verbal permission and I always limit it (20 mins. for YouTubeKids and 1 round for the games).  And the tablet is the first thing to be taken away when disciplinary action is required.

    So far, it’s working out pretty good.  Every once in a while, someone pushes the time limits or something, but then that person loses the tablet for the rest of that day and the time it’s to be theirs.

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