Wait, your 3 year old has a laptop already?
They can more easily watch with headphones, they can even watch in private if they're introverted, and I'd feel a lot better knowing they won't switch channels without my knowledge or watch adverts for stupid plastic trash.
At what point this becomes necessary is a matter of much argument. They certainly don't need it in the first few years, but I'd suggest they need to be at least aware by the time they are going to school.
It is difficult to separate this from entertainment, because being entertained/interested/curious is largely how our brains do some of their best learning at early ages.
> Kids lived that way for a very long time.
Be careful with appeals to tradition.
The world doesn't exactly work the way it did a long time ago, so we are not preparing kids for the same life they were expected to experience back then.
For now, it’s a small TV that receives one channel run by a station manager who has a thing for counting and the alphabet.
She quickly capitulated when she learned that iPads are magical nannies that will totally occupy your child and give you precious time to get other stuff done.
So "screen but only with approved content in moderation" became the norm.
If I had a child and I wanted to make sure that they could only watch the videos I chose for them then I would have a laptop for them to use, and I could absolutely see myself calling it "their laptop" in casual conversation.