A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children
I'm curious: don't any other people here think 2-year-old kids shouldn't be playing iPad games <i>at all</i>?<p>I'm convinced that watching TV is harmful to a child's intellectual development. (And there's an established body of evidence to support that.)<p>As a kid, I hated my hippie Montessori teacher mom for allowing me only one hour of TV per <i>week</i> as a kid in the late 70s and early 80s (elementary school; I usually chose the Duke boys, and later Knight Rider). But, as an adult, I cite it often as one of the things I admire most about the way she raised me (no limits on books, nor daytime outdoor play after school, nor building things), especially after coming to understand how much easier it is to set a precocious and hyper wild little monkey in front of the boob tube so the parents can get a couple hours of peace.<p>I do think video games (especially good ones) are probably much less harmful than TV, and that they do even have some net positives for the user, in terms of developing various human abilities (cognitive and otherwise). But isn't two years old too young? Shouldn't kids of that age, instead of learning in-game physics, be learning <i>real</i> physics? Like with balls, marbles, and blocks, running and falling down, and not with animated honeypots and flying unicorns?<p>My own kid won't be here for a few more months, so I'm not preaching; just honestly asking. I know little kids <i>love</i> iPad games... but they love eating sugar cubes, too.