App Addiction?

I'm just going to say it. I think my three year old is addicted to the iPad. Yes, I do believe he is. Every day, I hear "Mommy, can I play on the iPad?" On days when the answer is no, you can pretty much bet on some tears. And on days when the answer is yes, expect many, many, many, crocodile tears if it is taken away or if he is told to turn it off, and, I don't know, come to dinner or something. Yes, in my book, this classifies as an addiction.

So we are undergoing detox.

Which, as you can probably guess, is not easy with a three year old.

"Mommy, can I play on the iPad?" No, not today. Not tomorrow. Not for a very long time, my sweet, adorable child. Go play with  your "real" toys. You know, those trains. Or those cars. Or those dinosaurs. Or heck, go bug your sister. Anything. But no playing on the iPad. No matter how much I want to say yes, just so I don't have to see any tears. The answer is no.

In the olden days, it was the TV. The constant debate was how much time is too much in front of the TV. More recently, it was straight up video games. Now, we are faced with the parenting decision of, first, yes or no to the iPad (or other tablets), games on your phone, etc., and, second, how much time is too much. The nice thing about the olden days was that the TV was stuck in your house. You could physically leave your house, or just force the kids outside, and the TV was not an issue. Those tablets and phones? Yeah, that great thing about them being portable, all of a sudden is not so great anymore.

I hear parents say things like "I only let my children play with educational apps." Or "I only let my kid play when we are running errands." And my favorite is "We only let our kids play on the tablets or our phones when we go out to dinner." Really? At the dinner table (because, I don't know about you, but to me, the dinner table is the dinner table, regardless of where that table happens to be)? I think my three year old's app addiction is a syndrome (for adults and children alike!) that is here to stay.

Studies and articles are out there now, addressing things like Smartphone addition. If there is a spectrum of addiction, I probably fall in the middle. When I am awake, outside of family time like meals, I do check emails, texts, etc. quite regularly. But nothing, and I mean nothing, interrupts sleep time -- mine OR the kids. In fact, I silence all things on my phone every night. But I think there is definitely something to this addiction thing. And I may joke about my three year old, but there is a small voice inside of  me that warns not to let his iPad time get out of hand.That same voice that warned our parents not to let us watch too much TV.

So, the detox will continue. And his time playing with his trains and cars, and yes, even his time bugging his sister, will continue and grow.

Plus, Mommy needs iPad time, too! After all, it is MY iPad!!

Share your thoughts on how you handle "app time" in your house. Is it allowed? Limited? What apps do you have for your children (our favorites right now (or prior to detox) are Shoe the Goose -- specifically Cake Doodle and Cookie Doodle)? Do you have a set time during the day when you will allow for "app time"? (We will save the discussion on at what age do you get your child their own Smartphone for another post!)

(Between the time I started drafting this post and when I published, I am happy to report detox is going very well. I do think he has forgotten about the iPad.)