INDIANAPOLIS -
If you finally got that iPad for Christmas, or the latest iPhone, do you find your children spend more time on it than you do?
It's amazing how quickly even toddlers catch on to today's technology.
But can your child's "app addiction" be a bad thing?
Cooking up breakfast in his toy kitchen is a game little Mason Hunt likes to play with Mom, Kylie.
But lately his favorite toy isn't a toy at all. "He uses my iPad," says Mason's mother, Kylie Hunt. "He uses my iPhone."
Hunt says Mason, just shy of his second birthday, can can do pretty much anything with it. "It's quite incredible actually."
While at first impressed by his tech savvy, Kylie was also a little concerned. "Anytime it was out, he wanted to play with it."
With technology so readily available at their little fingertips, parents are faced with the dilemma - is my child better with it, or without it?
At the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, the answer is both.
"I don't think it's too early to get toddlers involved in technology," says Angie McNew, the museum's director of websites.
McNew points out the interactive use of technology at many of the museum's exhibits. "It's a skill they need to know."
But the museum's preschool classes focus on the fundamentals, like finger paint.
"To be able to feel what that crayon," says Cathy Southerland, the preschool coordinator, "that pencil feels like is a wonderful experience because it gives feedback to the body."
Southerland says smaller children learn better through a physical connection than a virtual one.
"He knows his colors, numbers, sings songs," Kylie says of Mason. "I don't attribute it all to the iPad, but a lot I do."
At the Hunt house, with Kylie's help, Mason's discovered other pastimes.
But his mom sees the benefit of app time too.
For Mason and Kylie, it's a puzzle - how to strike the best balance between toddlers and technology.
So, your child playing with your smart phone or iPad isn't necessarily a bad thing if they show an interest. There's no harm in letting them play age-appropriate learning games.
But the best thing for them is the physical experience and interaction with you as parent.
And if your child is not into technology at a young age, don't worry. They will not be behind the other kids that are, but experts say, once they decide they want to learn, they'll pick it up very quickly.
Does your child fall into the norm? Here's the percentage of Generation Y mothers whose children have used device by age 2:
Laptop--34%
Cell phone--34%
Smart phone--33%
iPod--21%
Hand-held gaming device--13%
