Rocknrope I'm using the whiteboard. It's pretty amazing. I use it to teach handwriting, math, science, reading etc. Our school was lucky enough to get a grant. We just purchased two more and have a total of 6 in the building.

Children need to work on their ability to deal with boredom, otherwise they're never going to be able to hold down a job when they grow up.

I agree. I also read recently somewhere implying that all this stimuli and constant txting, IMing, FBing, multitasking, etc. is causing children's inability to learn how to focus.

My son has already used my husband's blackberry to make a few dents in the coffee table when we weren't looking. There's no way he could, as a one year old, appriciate the delicacy of such an object. He's much better off slamming my pots and pans into the floor. iPot.

....Right.

Parenting is easy, they just had to invent an app for it....It sucks when parents refuse grow up.

Its no different than an old fashioned tv/phonecalls/walkmen/gameboy at dinner, except PBS has been replaced by PR blitz's.

Get off your I Products, get a life, and come up with some interesting conversations to have with your kids.

Most babies have almost nothing interesting to say. Throw in the atrocious table manners and they actually make terrible dinner companions.

Jen Chung, is that your baby? How adorable.

Q:

Are iPads the answer to keeping the kids quiet when parents bring them along for a nice civilized dinner, or beer?

This is, presumably unintentionally, asking whether iPads are beer.

A: No, iPads are not beer.

Actually some kids learn better from technology and don't even know they are learning. I teach my autistic kids on a smartboard and their academics have taken off. Technology is a beautiful thing but it doesn't substitute for social interactions.

What smartboard are you using?

badness.

young children should be interacting with real humans and real objects to promote tactile learning. the whole Baby Einstein thing has been thoroughly debunked. they'll have plenty of time later in life for the virtual world to turn their brains to mush -- these early years are too important to their development.

From the photo, it looks like someone may have some first-hand experience on the effectiveness of the Ipad as a babysitting tool. What say you, Jen?

It's not really a baby-sitter...yet. It's more of an aid: It's my dad's iPad and we use it to play songs, use the "baby piano" and look at pictures of animals, or even pictures of herself (she cracks up whenever she sees the photos we take of her). Overall, it amuses the baby for like 10-15 minutes and then it's on to something else!

Must get one! For my daughters use, of course...

;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age

I see you're putting the kid to work early for Gothamist!

Ah, yes, FIPS. It's called satire. And not always a very good job of it.

If there is some system for anchoring an iPad to a table, I say go for it. But I foresee one of two things happening in that picture: 1) cute kid flings iPad halfway across the room onto the floor; 2) cute kid grabs anything within reach (spoon, fork, salt shaker) and bashes that screen to a thousand pieces. Either b/f a parent can even register what's happening.

There's gotta be less expensive ways to distract/occupy a kid.