Last evening my family headed out to the store to purchase an iPod Touch for my 7 year old. My husband and I did not, however, buy it for her. She paid for the entire thing, including the case, with her own, hard-earned money. She was so excited. Months and months of putting every penny she got into her piggy bank had finally paid off.
Much to my nervousness and wanting to wait until at least 8 years old in a few months, Nutty has definitely earned the right to own an iPod of her own. She is, for the most part, a well behaved child, gets near perfect grades in school, and she has proven responsible with the other tablets and computers we have throughout the house. However, is she really old enough to have such a small, portable device of her very own? Is she going to continue to be responsible once this device leaves the house with her?
So far, the rule is that she can only bring it out of the house when she goes somewhere with us. I realize that this will probably quickly change as more and more of her friends are also getting iPods and they will want to play with them together. In fact, I spent a good amount of time last night texting Nutty’s friend’s mom, trying to figure out why iMessage won’t work between the two girls’ iPods. I’ve got parental controls set up and Nutty does not know the password to change them. I worry however, that those controls are not good enough and that she’s somehow going to get on a social network and/or the internet and get herself in trouble. She’s only 7 and already begging for an Instagram account (like mother, like daughter)! I quickly squashed that dream.
I guess this is the age we live in and I will need to get used to it. I can only do so much to keep her in a protective bubble. For now, I’ll just keep tabs on what she’s doing with her iPod and look on the bright side…I can now text her to tell her to come home from playing around the neighborhood instead of going out searching for her. I really just wrote this post to vent my nerves about my daughter taking one more step up the ladder in growing up.
What are your thoughts? Do your kids have iPods? At what age did they get them?
My boys never had an ipod but they do have phones.
I am thinking of giving my six year old my iPod Classic or my husband’s iPod Touch. We don’t use either any more and she loves listening to music. I am going to need to get a good case for her to use though. She’s pretty responsible for being six but accidents happen.
My kids don’t have iPods, but they do have tablets. I try to limit their time on them, though, because they could happily play on them all day.
We don’t own Apple products, so our kids would never have an ipod per say. However, my oldest is seven, and I feel like she’d be okay having her own tablet right now. I think it’s different for every child though.
My daughter is six (soon to be seven) & she has both an iPad & iPod. Of course she is autistic and the iPod is strictly used as a communication device, but she has taken good care of it.
Our 11 and 9 year old daughters inherit our electronics as we upgrade. They had an iPad to share a few years ago.
They are remarkably responsible with them but we don’t let them leave the house except when we travel. Our rule is they have limits to how long they can be on them and when they have to be turned off.
Good for her on setting a goal and saving up for it!
That is so awesome that she paid for it herself. I like that you still keep ground rules on it too, that’s smart.
My 6.5 year old daughter plays games on my old iPhone 🙂 She doesn’t know how to text and thankfully doesn’t use the browser. You are getting FAB advice in here 🙂
My kiddos are 3 and 4 and they have nabis, although my daughter does play with my ipad often. I think its awesome that your daughter saved the money to buy her own! Thats amazing for a 7 year old. I can’t give any advice, but good luck! 🙂