Kids and iPods

My parents bought my six-year-old son an iPod for Christmas. I was lukewarm about the gift, although it was something he had specifically requested after experiencing his seven-year-old cousin's iPod. Now that he has it, he only listens to it for maybe a half an hour a day and only when we can supervise him, but he still really tunes out and is hard to reach during that time. How do any of you handle the tuned-out kid?
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posted on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 12:41 PM
Kids and iPods byJohn Neustadt, ND7 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
Being a parent myself, I can empathize with the "tuned out kid" concern. A half hour a day is not unduly long in my opinion. What is more of a concern for me with iPods and children is the volume of the music they're listening to. The newer iPods have the ability to set the maximum volume. All parents should do this for their children to make sure that the music they're listening to is not too loud. Young ears are quite sensitive to noises and having the volume too high can damage their hearing.
Kids tuning out byMeganR7 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
As a parent of older boys, this concern about "tuning out" has only increased for me over time and across various media...My approach thus far has just been to let them know when I notice they've been on the computer, texting, ipod, etc. too long and ask them to choose another activity, but it would be good to see some informed guidelines/advice from experts. I'll be sure and share if/when I come across a link to some!
We LOVE our IPOD and our 4 year old uses it A LOT, but not with earphones! bymtmotherhubbard5 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
We discovered that our son, age 4 LOVES audio books. He/We listen to our ipod for 2+ hours a day.

You can download books from http://www.montanalibrary2go.org for free if you are a member of the Bozeman (or another Montana) Library. He listens to it at rest time, breakfast time, snack time, in the car (on road trips not so much around town) and so on. It is GREAT! We all get to hear great stories and sometimes great kids music.

You can pick up speakers that plug into the headphone jack for under $10 at WalMart or Target, or there are many more options offered for more money at Costco, WalMart, Target, or online. If you have an old Cassette/DVD converstion tape (you know the ones that went into the headphone jack of a portable DVD play and then had a tape that went into a cassette player in a car) that will work too. Just plug it into the headphone jack and into a stereo w/a tape player and you are good to go.

Audio books engage the mind, help increase vocabulary, stimulate imaginination, and make us laugh. Although they don't have the exact same effect on the brain (or on relationship) that reading out aloud does, they are a great alternative when reading out aloud isn't an option. (more on reading out aloud from http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/ ) The use of the IPod for audio stories engages my kiddo and gives me the a needed rest as well. Furthermore, it totally replaces any DVD player in the car for long road trips too.

On another note, the ipod w/speakers has changed clean-up from dinner and dish duty from a chore to a pleasure for me. I have some podcasts I subscribe to and I listen to them as I clean up. It is "personal time" for me as well as clean-up time for the house. My husband uses it too and now sometimes we fight over who does the dishes (no dishwasher in our house) and who puts the kids to bed!!!
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