I never thought I would be "one of those moms"

I think getting the kindle fire is a good idea. My dd is 3 and at first we thought about getting leap pad stuff for her, but we were also looking at the kindle fire and other tablets too. Luckily her daddy won a ipad from a raffle at work and in retrospect I think it's worked out a whole lot better than if we had purchased her a leap pad, because eventually she will outgrow the leap pad, but with the tablet you can just find new apps which are often free to put on there when you let her use it. Also, it's nice to have a tablet that we can use as well.  

I didn't know I was looked at as "one of those moms", wow.

I don't see the big deal.

 I wont let my daughter play on my phone, her papa's IPad or his phone. So I brought her a leapfrog thingie, it's just like an IPad, but for kids her age. She is two by the way.

 I always wonder how parents do this. Do they not link their credit card? You'd have to not link your credit card or you kid can buy all sorts of things by accident (or purpose).

I have a kindle fire and I do have things on it for my soon to be 2 year old. We use them at restaurants or at the Dr.'s office to keep him calm and occupied. It's MY kindle though. I use it to read my books and he simply gets use of it when needed. I'm not sure I'd buy them one that is for them. Seems a bit crazy.

We have one that our girls use.  They have to take turns and they have to have earned the privlilege to use it.  I didn't want to be "one of those moms" either.  My girls do educational stuff on the media player.  I don't have anything on the desktop that I don't want them to have access too.  It is that simple.  They don't know how to navigate it so well that they can find the apps that are hidden.  I have downloaded a ton of books to it too.  So, now they can use it to read as well.

Our children are going to grow up in a very technological age. Keeping them away from technology will only hinder them these days. They're even using tablets in schools now.

That being said... the time spent playing with them should be limited. Nothing beats fresh air and physical activity :)

I agree.  My daughter does not even use apps on my phone on a daily basis.  Most of the time I have a project or homeschool preschool to finish during her brother's nap and she is only allowed to stay up 30 minutes later than her brother on an occasional basis when she's had a really good day and will just lay next to me.  Those are the only times she gets to use my phone and it will be the same when she gets a tablet of some sort, whatever I decide on. :P

Quoting Snapdragon88:

Our children are going to grow up in a very technological age. Keeping them away from technology will only hinder them these days. They're even using tablets in schools now.

That being said... the time spent playing with them should be limited. Nothing beats fresh air and physical activity :)

My 3 year old has his own iPad, he has the ipad1, I have the ipad2, and DH has the iPad3. He learned how to work it when he was one so when we got ourselves new iPads we passed it down to him.

I have to agree about the Leapster products. My son outgrew it so quickly because the games were too simple and it really doesn't do anything. You have to keep purchasing leaplet app things or expensive games, and it keeps telling you to connect it to your computer. My daughter liked it though from age 2-4.  My son enjoys using our tablet and as of now he is content with the free apps to download.

I know my grandpa wants to get DD a Ipad 2 for her for Christmas (She's 4.5) and I told him that if he's going to get her anything I would prefer it either be the Kindle or the LeapPad 2. I got told I'm overreacting. She's 4.5. I want her to have a learning pad of some sort, but she doesn't need an Ipad 2.