Dave DeLong:
I have to conclude that iPads were not meant for kids. It boggles my mind that Apple pretends that they are, because everything about iOS leads you to the inevitable conclusion that unless you’re the tech-savvy adult using the device, it’s just not for you.
DeLong makes a great point. For those of us with children, Apple’s parental controls for the iPad are a blunt instrument.
I’d love to see some of these ideas implemented.
I think a lot of his points are good but what boggles my mind is that, know all of this was missing, he bought one. For his kids. Can’t be all bad.
Several good suggestions, but some of his gripes are remarkably granular, especially regarding the ability to block specific Youtube content.
Maybe I was a bad parent. Yea probably. But I would never have dreamed of locking down my kid’s stuff like that.
If this guy was meant to parent … he wouldn’t be such a dick. Giving time limits on how long a kid can use a device? Lame. How bout they use it until they’re done the task they’re trying to accomplish?
“My kid likes to sneak into our room and take his iPad and play games on it late at night.” Maybe that’s because you keep him up because everyone else in the house is being too loud? Maybe he’s not tired enough to fall asleep? Maybe you need to talk to your child instead of expecting a device to moderate itself?
What’s clear is not that the iPad wasn’t made for kids, what’s clear is that the iPad wasn’t made for lazy assed controlling parents.
Fun fact, you know who else has a need to have a lot of control over children? Pedophiles. Do the research. Parents need to provide structure and guidance for kids, but they don’t need to be controlling, and being controlling is harmful.
It’s not all bad, no. I got them iPads for a variety of reasons. I just wish the parental controls weren’t so laughably inadequate.
The broader point is the ability to refine what my kids see. The youtube example was specific, because it’s an example I’ve dealt with.
Understood, but (at the risk of speaking as a non-developer) you may be asking for capabilities that require more levels of content-provider/developer cooperation than can actually be negotiated. I’d be happy to be proven wrong, however.
Wow. That was a lot of work just to sling some careless insults. What’s your experience as a parent with small children?
Brilliant article. Not a word wasted. Wow.
0_o
I believe the point is that ultimately, you need to teach your child to place appropriate boundaries, rather than have an outsider do so. Each of your paragraphs about the iPad has parallels in other instances. Giving your child the tools to make the appropriate decision themselves, rather than relying on others swill make them a stronger teen and adult.
I’m a dick and comparable to a pedophile because I want to regulate what my six-year-old does on his iPad?
I’m a bad parent because he sneaks in to my room at 10pm to take his iPad when we’re all in bed?
I’m like a pedophile because I don’t want my six-year-old having complete access to all of youtube?
I’m a lazy-assed controlling parent because I want the tools to provide structure and guidance for my kids so I don’t have to hover over their shoulder 24/7?
Before you decide to insult and disparage someone you’ve never met, why don’t you try to have a little compassion and empathy?
DMac & davedelong,
At ease. Smoke ’em if you got ’em.
Your ideas are excellent. I hope Apple sees them.
I’ve always thought iOS and macOS could use “kid mode” as well as “old fart mode” although they overlap enough so they might be the same.
By the way, I’m an old fart who doesn’t need OFM but I help a lot of other folks who do.
I’m curious. Are you speaking from personal experience as a parent who might need to also maintain a full-time career?
What’s interesting about his article is that no device has these features. But hey, damn you iPad.
Should Lego have parental controls? What’s stopping my kids from sneaking out to play with it?
That’s right, me. I am the parental controls.
The iPad is a damn fine device for kids.
Legos are meant for kids, and you can’t do all these things. You can’t say, “They’re no made for kids because they don’t do everything I can think of.” Certainly in the pre-ios 7 days, it was astonishing to see how fast a kid could pick it up and start using it. One of the problems is that every year, our expectations go up. And sometimes that’s appropriate… but just because our expectations go up, doesn’t mean the object of our expectations went down.
Are you a parent?
Wow. You went to a lot of effort to be insulting.
“How bout they use it until they’re done the task they’re trying to accomplish?”
What if that task is open ended, like a game?
“Maybe that’s because you keep him up because everyone else in the house is being too loud?”
That doesn’t even make any sense. You’re making assumption not based on anything the author wrote.
“Maybe you need to talk to your child instead of expecting a device to moderate itself?”
He’s expecting no such thing. He’s looking for tools to moderate it for himself.
“the iPad wasn’t made for lazy assed controlling parents.”
That’s just pointlessly insulting.
“Fun fact, you know who else has a need to have a lot of control over children? Pedophiles.”
And that is incredibly offensive. You think parents who want/need to “control” their children are poedophiles? That may be the most ridiculous generalization I’ve read all weekend.
“Parents need to provide structure and guidance for kids”
Agreed. And that’s exactly what the author is looking for – ways to provide structure and guidance.
“but they don’t need to be controlling, and being controlling is harmful.”
Parents “control” their children in hundreds of ways every day. If you think “controlling is harmful”, your children must run around all day butt naked, eating chocolate bars and not going to school.
Children (and adults) *need* structure, guidance, rules and expectations. They way that is done is by “controlling” their environment.
“Giving your child the tools to make the appropriate decision themselves” That’s exactly what he’s looking for. The point he’s making is that the iPad as it stands is a very inexact tool. He and many other parents would like that tool to be sharper.
Can you access porn or damaging content on your Lego? No? Then your comparison is rather silly and not relevant to what the author is trying to accomplish.
Yeah, I think your ideas are spot on. It’s just SUCH a long list that, if it were me with that list, I might have actually passed.
“Why back in the day I didn’t have an iPad! Our books were PAPER and I had to walk to the TV! Both ways! UP HILL. IN THE SN… wait…”
I don’t think you live in the real world. Never once has a kid said “I’ve finished Minecraft, here’s the iPad back”.
Legos have a single function and it’s very good at that. When a kid is playing with Legos, you know exactly what the kid is doing, playing. There’s no homework Lego that is alongside the toy Lego.
doesn’t matter if he is or isn’t, that’s arguing the man — an ad homenim logical fallacy.
there are software tools today for blocking porn on our devices. 1Blocker, for example.
blame youtube. unless there’s a rating flag on every video the ipad can’t know.
I absolutely want to limit my kid’s device time. If I left him to make his own choices, he’d be on every waking moment. And he’d short his sleep over it.
Also, your post does not belong here. That last paragraph is beyond the pale.
That image made me laugh out loud. I’m sure there’s one child somewhere in the world that’s done exactly this, but he’s not normal. I envy his parents. 🙂
Google will say, “That’s what YouTube Kids is for”
As a parent, YouTube is my biggest online concern by an order of magnitude. Other risky sites I can block, but there’s just way too much good content at YouTube. But none of it is rated properly. Bottom line is I have to trust my kid to stop racist, sexist, conspiracy, profane and violent videos on his own, and that just doesn’t work.
It’s definitely a YouTube problem, though, and I think sooner or later Google’s going to end up owing millions of dollars for it.
I see both sides here. In fact, i flip between both of these daily as I frequently think about taking the iPad away…
This is what I use on my son’s iPad. Works pretty well, sometimes some non-kid videos sneak through, but overall, pretty solid.
“The iPad is a damn fine device for kids.”
What’s that assertion based upon? Watching commercials?
Just a few of the things my kid has wanted this week:
Clearly I am a control freak.
Exactly what I was thinking. Same thing goes for kids games and consoles, kids books, kids TV shows, NERF guns etc. Exactly *none* of these have any controls like what is apparently ‘required from any device made for kids’.
Can Apple do better controls – sure! Will they – probably, in time, yeah. Does not being there* right this second mean the iPad is clearly not for kids? Uh, no!
* ‘there’ seems to be rather subjective too. The controls that were there when my young men were kids were completely fine – though I also had wifi access controls in place for the timing portion of it.
They are all single function tools. You can control what games your kids have access to by not buying them or putting the disks away. A Nerf toy or Legos do what they do every time.
BAM. And absolutely spot on.
Single function tools you say? Kinda like an iPad in guided access mode (which can even have a time limit set). ?
Chill, DMac. Kids grow. But what’s cool for a three year ols, vs an eight year old, or a twelve year old are DIFFERENT. Parenting is a thing. For reals.
So I didn’t let my guys cross the street by themselves till I was sure they’d look both ways, either. They didn’t get to watch TV till after homework. They earned trust and privileges as they grew. And I certainly do believe in the idea of “age appropriate.” God knows the little pair of geeks were tech savvy.
I would like Apple to implement multiuser accounts to iOS for iPads similar to macOS with administrator/owner account and with guest account for lending iPad for one time only and with user accounts with parental control… I don’t need (nor can’t afford) to buy iPad to my kids, but I love to lend him my for appropriate time within their own accounts and with Dave’s ideas implemented…
And, I would add that even though the parental controls aren’t great, they are *worlds* above the alternatives available on other devices…
I am curious about why you say device supervision is a “complete pain”, while implying that using an MDM isn’t. I find the two to be about equal (not “straightforward” or “simple”…but not exactly a “complete pain” either).
I actually quite like the built-in MDM that is included with macOS Server. Simple and easy to understand…just enable supervision with Configurator, and *bam* – you’re in control.
I do wish that profile manager could be loaded from an iPhone though…I don’t always have my iPad available for landscape view… ?