ipad for my kid, SHOULD I?

Sound cliché but it’s true the ipad will be not for ME but our main purposes of buying Ipad is for my princess after seeing many times scenes of ‘kids holding ipad’! I have seen young kids and even babies with ipad are becoming more common. I suspect some parents as I do seeing ipad as a convenient tool to occupy their children’s time and attention. ipad is certainly easy to carry and, from what I have witnessed, kids are captivated by the ease of use and the versatility ipad can show and do (such as games, videos, photos, picture books, and the internet). Thus, I am thinking of buying an ipad for her! On second thought, should I?

The truth is, I am worried. I am aware of the opportunities ipad can offer to my daughter’s learning development. But I am also aware the harm ipad can do. And no, I am not talking about the harm from UV radiation coming off the screen. The key problem is ipad (we have been focusing) encourage shallow reading – the way we ‘scan’ sentences instead of reading every word in a sentence. Shallow reading discourages us to think deeply and to internalize information, so people who shallow read often fail to see and appreciate the overall picture or concept. I do not want this occur to my princess! I want her to be an avid reader...read a lot and tonnes of books!!

It’s true ipad aid in a child’s education. It is a useful tool, but I believe it cannot replace the importance of printed books and physical, hands-on approach to handling real, physical objects. While reading, kids are required to understand what their read at the same time as their mind imagine the story their reading. So it stimulates the brain and is very productive. In addition, proficiency in reading printed books encouraged a child to develop self-learning skills required later in life.

ipad did offer good quality image along with story therefore requirement of imagination is limited. However, ipad also has positive effects on kids. Some of them are ‘makes you smarter’, ‘improves hand-eye coordination’, and ‘introduces children to computer and information technology.’ Good video games can be fun to play, yet still help a kid with things such as school work, which includes school subjects such as Math, Language Arts, Science, etc. These video games might capture a child’s interest and fascinate them with their topics better than books can offer. 

On top of it I do not want my princess to be stack behind. I want her to keep updating with newest applications with current technology. To one side, I also do not want my princess having less chance of becoming an avid reader! I know which I would like my precious princess to be... instead of rip-off an ipad, it would be better to insist on few hours of reading daily. This way, she can play games in ipad and develop the habit of reading too! Insyaallah.