Okay, I know I ranted about handing your under-three-year old electronic devices, BUT I do make an exception.
When you use the device WITH them.
This means sitting with them as you touch the cow picture together and say "What does the cow say?" and it moos.
It's like the modern See-and-Say that way.
Though, unlike with the See-and-Say, I still wouldn't leave my baby alone with a $400 iPad.
Another thing I like doing with e-Devices is reading books.
I've read plenty of books for myself, but I was recently trying to find picture books for my baby so as to have a couple with me at all times, even when I don't have a physical book with me.
And, with smart phones in the house, an iPad and a gen-one Kindle, the one book I buy at the Kindle store can be shared among all the devices, so that's extra handy.
Well, I went to look for books and found exactly ONE that met my needs.
Funny Faces, by Todd Parr.
I was surprised that between the Kindle store and the iBooks store (which had NOTHING), this was the only option. Not that I don't like Todd Parr's work, it's great, but is his publisher the only one with half a marketing brain?
I may be sticking my foot in my mouth here, but I'd like to see more eBooks for babies. Picture books that Mommy and Daddy can read through with baby when they're on the road and forgot their trusted copy of Goodnight Moon or The Very Hungry Caterpillar or whatever.
Sure, it's not the same experience as the board book (and if I was in this business, I'd sell the eBook and board book as a bundled package for a few dollars more than the board book alone, but a few dollars less than the two separately), BUT it introduces technology to very young children in an interactive and appropriate way.
I still DO NOT advocate leaving children under 3 to their own devices with eDevices, but I'm a realist about the need to teach them techno-responsibility in this day and age of all things digital/electronic/plugged in, etc.
And under no circumstances is reading to or with your child bad...even if it's from your phone.
Peace
A Pink American
Like you say, sharing a reading experience can only be a good thing. It's when parents outsource their caring and responsibility to a machine (tv, computer etc.) that things go wrong.
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