We are "those people"

Our kids got ipads for Christmas. From Santa.

Let me explain how we rationalized this.

First, Santa got a deal on them Thanksgiving night at Walmart. About 25% off. Second, we compared ipads to other, similar electronic devices kids might like, such as the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. While I don't know a lot about these, they seem to me like just gaming devices. They would need games to go with them in order to be of maximum use. The ipad, on the other hand, allows them to use YouTube to learn how to make things with duck tape (or is it duct tape? the interwebs use both), listen to their music, play on First in Math, read on Raz Kids and Kindle, look up random information, watch sports highlights, watch movies both rented from Amazon and itunes and streamed through HBO Go (which does have parental controls). When you consider that the price isn't that much different (with the deal) and that no game purchases are required, the ipads seemed the logical choice for us, so we allowed Santa to go ahead and let the boys have them.

Tucker still can't believe it. He keeps saying with wonder, "Sometimes I randomly remember that I have an ipad, and I'm like 'I have an ipad' and I can't even believe it's true." They've both taken very good care of them, not leaving them sitting out in weird places and making sure they are plugged in to charge every night. (Yes, I realize it's only a week in, but they really don't want them broken any more than I do.) I have also really enjoyed the ability to take them away when appropriate. When I say, "Your ipad is mine for the rest of the day" no one argues and suddenly everyone is being nice to each other.

We set both boys up with their own itunes accounts, which you can now do without establishing a payment method so they can't buy things accidentally. You can deposit money into their accounts via gift cards, but other than that they are tied to free only downloads. No more asking if they can download games on my phone!!!!  Maybe Santa brought them ipads for my benefit?  I have been very good this year.

My niece Tiffany told us that you can actually text from an ipad, and while I've had an ipad for quite a while I never realized this. The text can go to people who have some version of iphone, and it comes from the sender's email address. The ipad also has an icon for email, so it's easy to check and send messages. Keaton has absolutely loved this!  In fact, I think he's used his ipad more for messaging than anything, sending emails and texts to grandparents and cousins (and sometimes to me in the other room).

I was happy to find this ipad contract via Twitter, and I'm working on our own version to have the boys sign. There's a rule in there about no headphones, and there are times when I would INSIST on there being headphones!

I recognize that the other reason we may seem a little crazy to some people is that our kids have access to the big ol' scary internet and email, and they are only seven and (almost) ten. My theory on that is that it won't ever be "novel" to them as they get older. I have all the passwords and they know I check what they're looking at on their devices. If they want to keep them, they will be responsible. We had a little life lesson about what "explicit lyrics" means and how they should always search for the clean version or radio edit of any songs they want to download. (Tucker loves Bruno Mars and Kanye West, so this was a very relevant conversation.) If I find music with explicit lyrics on their ipads, I'll delete it and they'll be out the cash. I may be proved wrong in years to come, but for now I feel like it's my job to teach them how to use technology appropriately, and I can't do that if I keep them away from the scary internet. I suppose we shall see.

In the mean time, feel free to whisper about how we indulge our children and refer to the kids as "spoiled" (they are). It's all true. But it doesn't make us bad people.

It just makes us "those people." hehehe  :)