Actually we had the same thing happening with my son - when he was about 3 he would run up to my brother as soon as he saw him, borrow his iphone, play games fo

Actually we had the same thing happening with my son - when he was about 3 he would run up to my brother as soon as he saw him, borrow his iphone, play games for as long as he could and ignore everything else around him. When he had to return the iPhone he would not be happy... So for his 3rd birthday we bought him an iPod touch! It sounds kind of crazy doesn't it - electronic devices prompting bad behaviour, so we go out and buy him one of his own! However we thought really long and hard about what to do. We felt that throughout his life he will be presented with an endless parade of addictive electronic amusements. An important life skill would be is ignore them and learn to focus on other activities that are less immediately engaging but have a bigger long term reward. We figured that since it was already becoming an issue the time to start teaching this was now. We also felt that with his own device we could better control the programs installed on it and when he can play it. It turned out to be a great purchase! We worked hard to teach my son to play only for limited times and to have balance in the activities he pursues - some playing outside, some time on the iPod touch, some time with legos. We were also able to install some great educational programs. The final kicker was when age 3 and a half he started to learn how to spell and type, so he could search for "lego", "cars" and "aeroplanes" on youtube! All up buying him a device of his own (and putting in some rules and parenting time around it) was a great decision.