Meltdowns meet your match

Occasionally I write posts to my local Patch, a community-specific news information site (I highly recommend following yours if there is one). A recent post I wrote titled, Meltdowns Meet Your Match, was about how the iPad is the the single most important item to own if you have a toddler. And it's pretty much the only reason we are able to go out to eat.

It was a bit of a risk to write because our community is highly educated, very liberal and defiantly hippie so I wasn't sure how it would go over. Some of my neighbors don't let their kids watch TV or even own one. Fortunately no one wrote any angry comments - actually no one wrote any comments at all so I'm not sure if anything I write gets read - I could be talking to myself right now, but I digress...

Back to TV - Jordan turns into an actual zombie when the TV is turned on. It's good because I know that I have a tool that will get him to instantly calm down and be quiet. But it's bad because he is so sucked in and could sit there all day if we let him. So we set some rules - no TV during the week and we don't let him watch more than 2 'shows' at a time (shows like Elmo's World, Bob the Builder, Dora, etc. are all about 20 minutes each). We are a little looser with the iPad and will let him play games. I think there are a lot of positives and it's helped build his vocabulary, dexterity and patience.TV, on the other hand, we use more as a pacifier. Even though he is watching 'educational' and age-appropriate shows, we are not concerned about using it as a tool for learning. We decided that as long as Jordan keeps up his high energy and love for reading, art and social activities, a little appropriate TV won't hurt. If he turns into the heavy-set kid playing video games in our basement alone then I'll eat my words.

If you own a toddler and an iPad here are some of Jordan's current favorite apps:

• Learnl finger paint, $1.99 — Fingerpaint 20 animals that animate when shaken.
• PapaMama, $1.99 — Customize your own flash cards by adding your own images, text and voice.
• Go George Go!, $2.99 — Mix and match outfits to dress Curious George and help guide him through a simple maze.
• SoundTouch, $3.99, and Animal Fun, free — Libraries of hundreds of sounds with quality images of animals, vehicles, objects and more.
• Plic Ploc Wiz, free — Match color shape pieces over geometric drawings.
• AlphaBaby, $0.99 — Animated letters, shapes and colors appear at a touch.
• Parenting’s Birthday Party Playtime, $1.99 — Throw a virtual birthday party complete with clean-up at the end.