My toddler has one. It was not purchased specifically for her — my partner is a web developer and bought one early on, only to be given a spiffy new one for work, so she inherited it. We’ve loaded it up with toddler games, e-books, Pixar shorts, and sing-along songs, and she loves it. We don’t use it much at home, but it was great over the holidays (lots of travel and a hospitalization). It’s an extravagance for sure, but when I think of all the money that the grandparents spent this year on toys that she played with for 5 minutes and then discarded, I can see the value of investing in something she will use as much as we’ll let her. If you have a child who has health problems and spends a lot of time in hospitals or if you can convince your family to pool resources and get an iPad instead of an avalanche of stuffed animals, I say go for it.

I feel that as long as the time is limited and they are engaged in other activities, it is great. This can be a great device to teach children that there is a time that they need to sit down and concentrate on something that is educational and giving them the tools to function latter when they start school. I have a 4 month old son and I plan on having an age appropriate one for him. We do have some health issues with him and I will do what I can to entertain him when we go to the various appointments.

“Need” and Ipad? Not in a million years.. It is like a pacifier for the normal toddler/child/adolescent.
I can understand Plunderb having it for her purpose but in general? No.
Once we keep giving our children all their “wants” and keep calling them “needs” we are going to end up with a society full of children/adolescents/young adults who have some sort of sense of entitlement where nothing will ever be good enough for them. Always needing the next new and expensive gadget to pacify themselves.

I must confess that my 2.5 year old has his own iPad. It was a gift from his grandparents and I myself don’t have one. He uses it once a day for his quota of screen time (when my infant goes down for a nap) and absolutely loves his talking books and games.

I wouldn’t get one just for her, but did consider purchasing one for the family with the idea that my toddler could use it. I have a smart phone and have downloaded some apps that are useful in situations where we are waiting and I don’t want her running around… but she probably has used it for less than an hour total, and at 18 mos her attention span for it is usually less than 2 minutes. My mom got a Kindle Fire for her birthday and downloaded some talking/animated books and games and we used it on a recent cross country 6.5 hour flight to distract my toddler… but she really prefers tactile books etc.

I do think that tablet computers can be a tool in the educational basket, but I don’t like the idea of kids having a ton of time interacting with electronic equipment when there’s a big world to explore. A little bit of exposure is good, but as long as it’s balanced.

No. I have let my toddler watch a movie on mine but it is NOT his! No toddler needs an iPad.