Category: Technology

 I’m a big fan of Apple products.  My kids have been big iPad users for the past three years.  We’re always trying new apps designed for learning or for gaming and my profession has taught me a thing or two about how to manage my kids’ iPad time.

My fascination with Apple started back in the early 90’s when I was working for a major computer chain.  The store sold about 90% of IBM PC machines compared to their 10% of Macintosh machines.
As a salesman, I noticed that most of the other sales people avoided selling Macs because they didn’t understand them.  They would turn the sales over to the one Mac person and move on to the easier PC sales.
The average PC sale was around $1500 while the average Mac sale was around $2500.  So rather than chase the lower price sales with everyone else I decided to learn more about the Macs and make larger sales with virtually no competition.
The first Mac I had was the all in one model called the Classic.  It had the little 9” black and white screen but oddly enough I got more use out of that machine then any of the compatibles that I had.
The real selling point was that I was able to put the Mac in front of my wife and she worked it with no problems.  With the PC, I was constantly hit with questions on how to do something.  On the Mac, well, it just worked and made sense.
Now, zoom forward to today, and that story still stands true.  iPods, iPhones, iMacs and now iPads are all successful products because they simply work and are understandable.
When my daughter, Hannah, was three she started playing with my iPad and I was just amazed how well she understood it.
She was swiping, playing and reading anything she could get her hands on.  I gave her my first iPad and moved on to buy a 2nd generation iPad for myself.  Today, my fiancé, April and I both have newer model iPads, Hannah has a new iPad mini and Noah, who is now three years old, has my older 2nd generation iPad.
After three years of having iPads in the hands of my children I have learned a couple of things I would like to share with you.  Here are 11 tips (and warnings) about how best to connect your kids with iPads……