i want it, daddy!

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Reportedly, the Apple iPad is the Christmas gift most desired by children in the under-13 set. (It starts at the "unbelievable price" of $499.)

Um... no.

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Comments

[Doris]

One of the funniest shows I've seen on television this year was the Modern Family episode in which Phil Dunphy (the amazing Ty Burrell) wanted an iPad for his birthday and his wife Claire (Julie Bowen) tried to get him one. I can watch that episode over & over. Phil at the batting cage is almost not to be believed. Hysterical!

[Kelly]

If we could just parent using the "Why?" philosphy rather than the "Why Not?" one....

[Kelly]

check out:
http://brucecrobertson.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/do-you-need-an-ipad-2/

[Dee Dee]

Exactly! I'll check the "No" box, for lack of a "Hell No" option. But just to be snoburban, I was listening to a discussion about this on NPR the other day...and the moms were generally lining up on the no side as well. Side note: Great comments from you in the WaPo article today!

[The local planet killer]

You have got to be kidding me. I thought it was bad enough that they all want DSi's and Iphones. My children have not one of these devices - their ipods are the old shuffles that cost less than $50 (one is still operating with my old one that looks like a pregnancy test), and that is all they are getting.

We do these crazy things called non-virtual activities. There will be plenty of years for my sullen teens to be strapped to some electronic device, ignoring me and wishing I didn't exist. Hell if I'm going to pay thousands of dollars to start them now.

[Ksuccess]

I recently watched a commercial for a Kindle where a grandmother purchased a small child (elementary school aged) a Kindle to read and "discover." REALLY??? They aren't marketing a Kindle as a must have for kids so that they can read are they? Heaven forbid we buy or borrow books from a bookstore or library.

Don't get it twisted, I love nice things and I have fallen victim to a few techno trends (netbook and android phone) but I don't like gifting these high price babysitters to my kids. Somehow we grew up reading books, doing our homework using encyclopedias, and went outside to play. Everything was not net enabled and we survived.

Some see it as staying on the edge of technology but I just can't do it.

[Queen of the Weezils]

Under 13? What are they going to do, chew on it?

[Bruce Robertson]

Kelly - thanks for the shout out to my blog. I hope folks enjoy it. How can you NOT buy your kid an iPad once you find out they can learn how to unroll toilet paper faster on it?!

[Ksuccess]

@ Bruce I read your blog and laughed so hard I cried.

I think I have already put my thoughts out there on giving a child such an expensive high tech gift but I totally negated how these gadgets could improve the competitive sport of toilet paper unrolling. I guess it just goes to show that kids still like basic elementary fun.

BTW, I'm glad to read your daughter is a champion.

[Cristy Rugo]

I actually just read a Snoburbian's message (to a PUBLIC list-serv!!!) saying that, in lieu of purchasing the DVD system for their new hybrid, they opted for matching iPads for their 4-year old twins, "and it's worked out great!"

?

[Justafed]

Uh...yeah. This is not a kid's item. I know this because I am, so far as I can tell, the prototypical buyer of the iPad, which is to say a male, married forty-something who travels a decent amount and doesn't want to admit that his vision ain't what it used to be and therefore finds the "expanding pinch" gesture that effortlessly make the text bigger a God-send. Oh yeah: it also has GPS on board and a Bloomberg app. So it's a total guy magnet for the kind of guy who doesn't start rebuilding motorcycle engines, training for triathlons, or whatever when he hits a Certain Age.

Any questions?