Through the years, we’ve been gifted with so many photos of Suri Cruise in her immaculate little doll clothes, to the point where many of us realized, “Damn, that little girl never wears the same outfit twice.” She wears the same shoes occasionally, but never the same outfit. So we had a pretty good idea of just how spoiled Suri was. But this new story takes it to a new level. Apparently, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes bought Suri an iPad. She’s four years old. Ugh.
Along with having over 100 pairs of shoes and a wardrobe that would rival any A-lister, 4-year-old Suri proves once again she can keep up with adult trends—this time with her very own iPad!
An eyewitness tells Life & Style Suri played with her new iPad while at dinner at Il Cantinori in NYC on May 24 with parents Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Unlike most children’s toys which typically cost under $100, the iPad cost ranges from $499-$829 depending on the number of gigabytes.
The eyewitness tells Life & Style Suri put her stuffed animals aside to use a drawing program on the expensive piece of equipment while Tom and Katie carried on a conversation with dining partners. She played with the iPad for about 20 minutes before the family headed out of the restaurant just before midnight.
According to reports, iPads remain sold out in many locations and the wait list continues to grow. Suri is one of just 2 million iPad owners since the item launched on April 3.
[From Life & Style]
Well, at least she’s using it? I mean, I could see how it would beneficial, and it’s never too early to teach your kids about technology, et cetera. But can the child read? I know she’s a genius and she’s “amazing” and everything, but is she more than a perfect little doll for Tom and Katie to dress up? Still, is an iPad the most expensive thing in her possession? Probably not. Suri probably has coats and purses that cost more, stuff she’s only worn once.
“She played with the iPad for about 20 minutes before the family headed out of the restaurant just before midnight.”
MIDNIGHT?!!!
leave the poor girl home with a baby-sitter. children don’t need to be up, and OUT on the town, that late.
Didn’t they buy her a $30k “toy” car a short while ago? This kid is going to be a celebutard in a class all by herself.
Maybe the ipad belongs to her parents?
(all right, to the nanny who was surreptitiously seated at the next table and ordered the cheapest appetiser, no main course and only drank water).
I don’t think thats THAT bizzare, I bet alot of 4 year old children of rich kids have those
Eh, my 4 year old knows how to use my iPhone to draw stuff and play some age appropriate games, watch pre-loaded Sesame Street podcasts, etc. The thing has saved me more times than once from major meltdowns. The iPad seems to be an oversized version of an iPhone, and the Cruise budget is far bigger than mine so big deal. She seems like a happy, well adjusted kid.
Studies show that you should really teach your child how to use the computer before they are 5 as your brain changes after that and has less chance of retaining.
This article has a chart of when to start kids on certain PC functions:
http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/archive/cforkids/kid1597/kid1597.asp&guid=
If I had the money I would buy one for my 3-yr-old grandson.
I think the real question is why is a 4 year old in a resturant at midnight and not in bed?
my issue about the article is what the heck is a 4yr old kid doing at a restaraunt @ midnight…
ah little paris hilton in the making.
I agree with Atticus. My kids take my iPhone all the time and play the games. I keep a coloring book program, a couple of Dr. Suess read-along books, and some hidden object games, which are all useful on an educational level. Even Bejeweled 2 is a family favorite, because it doesn’t require any reading so my 5 year old can make patterns and entertain himself. I got an iPad for Mothers Day and have been using it for movies when I want to talk to another adult and let the kids sit quietly without constant interruptions.
So the clothes I think are really extravagant, but the technology, when used with consideration, can be a great tool that they don’t know they are learning from.
I’m ready to bet that the oldest Jolie-Pitt children already have an I-Pad – as most of celebrity kids. we don’t leave in the same (financial) world, that’s all.
I don’t really think there is anything wrong with her having an iPad; her parents are rich, that’s what they do.
I also don’t think it’s bad she was out to dinner with them until midnight. It’s good for kids to know that they’re always welcome where their parents are concerned.
My only beef is that I don’t like technology in restaurants. It’s tacky. They could be teaching their daughter to go to a restaurant and behave for two hours. I was a waitress so I know it can be done.
She looks so much like Katie. She’s adorable.. and she’s going to be a total BRAT when she gets older. :\ Too bad. Of course, could be wrong. Maybe she’ll actually manage to be a half-way decent person despite her idiot parents. 😀 (Though I tend to think it’s more Tom than Katie… Kate seems to actually almost have her head on straight, while Cruisey is just pure crazy XD)
Indeed an I-pad for a child is not appropriate but we’re talking about suri cruise. She’s super spoiled but al least if she uses it, that’s good!
And of course her clothes are far more expensive that an i-pad. I bet on it.
First of all, what is a 4 year old doing at a restaurant at midnight? Second of all, who feeds a child dinner that late? Honestly, whatever Xenu dictates is just nuts!
And don’t even get me started on teaching children that it’s acceptable to use iPads, cell phones, laptops, etc… at restaurants and other public venues. RUDE! When my parents took us out to a nice dinner for my birthday, our not-yet-one-year-old sat in a highchair and behaved beautifully.
Not to mention the fact Suri’s going to be hell on wheels when she turns 12 or 13, since she’s been handed anything and everything she ever wants or thinks she needs. What a disaster her parents are creating.
I cant stand it!! I just do not see Tom anywhere in that child!!! Someone point some of him out on here!! I cant see it.
ok, i know scientologists treat children like small adults, but a 4 year old should not be out at midnight. then again, i see people bringing their kids to inappropriate places all the time. just recently i was in a lounge with some friends and around 10:00 a couple came in with a toddler, who proceeded to screech and whine. yeah, that’s what i want with my $12 martini -a side of screeching brat.
I really don’t see what the problem is with this. It’s probably more educational than a DSi, which even my 2 year old has. Atticus is spot on-many kids her age play with a parent’s iphone. People really underestimate a child’s ability to understand these devices. Something that occupies a child while possibly teaching them something is a perfectly reasonable use of a parent’s resources.
I do think they’re overly indulgent with a lot of things with her, but I don’t think an ipad is such a big deal. A couple hundred bucks isn’t much to them, and it’s something she can use for a long time and in several ways. Maybe eventually she can figure out how to look up all the negative stuff about Scientology!
I too can’t imagine having a 4 year old out at a restaurant at midnight! I doubt she has a bedtime or is ever told to do anything though. She’ll probably be a mess as she gets older – if they don’t home school her, I’ll feel bad for her teachers!
Stop hating on Suri. Having an ipad is not a big deal. My 5 year old nephew knows how to use one. As others have suggested, perhaps it was Katie’s and Suri was just playing with it – Oh my god, thats SO shocking . Why is this inappropriate?
Maybe people need to mind their own business and stop worrying & criticizing how other people raise their own children. I’m sure Suri will turn out just fine. I can’t believe the amount of hate thrown at this little girl.
lio: I’m ready to bet that the oldest Jolie-Pitt children already have an I-Pad
=====================================
I am ready to bet they have a house full of iPads. As several people on here have observed already, the issue isn’t about a four year old having an iPad. The issue is what in hell is a four year old doing at a restaurant at midnight.
I’ll bet she isn’t the only four year old in the country with an iPad.
She’s going to be hell on wheels when she’s older. Either that, or she’ll be a mind controlled $cientology robot without a single individual thought in her entire head.
She needs it to stay in touch with the aliens back home. Plotters.
Suri is a precious little girl who is well loved and cared for by her parents. Many of us were not as fortunate when we were growing up and, perhaps, are bitter and envious. Hence – these ridiculous (and abusive, imo) tabloid stories about young children.
my little girl just turned 4 yesterday and she´s been using my lap top since she was like 1 yr old, she doesn´t know how to read, but she does identify the letters and the numbers, i live in mexico, so our first lenguage is spanish, but she plays sesame street and nick jr in english (those are much better than the latin ones), and although she doesn´t speak barely any english, she does understand what the characters are asking her to do, so i guess, as someone else said, an ipad is a larger version of the iphone, and i don´t see enything wrong with that gift, as long as it is being moderated and the girl can keep in touch with the real world (whatever it may be for her, if u know what i mean,haha)
and, as for the clothes, if i have their money i would buy all the clothes that i could buy for my two little girls, u don´t know if those clothes go to the nanny´s child or some other type of donation, so i don´t think we should judge so hard on them
@ least that´s what i would do, but like i said, i live in mexico, as we say over here YOU MAKE PESOS NOT DOLLARS, and there´s a BIG difference
I never see her smiling. She always looks lost in thought.
@Exiled : Before age of 5 I had barely touched a TELEPHONE , and I do extremely well with technology and new technology nowadays!
It´s completely natural for kids to have an interest in whatever the parents do, like using their Iphones, laptops and so on, but that should never become a main form of entertainment to a child.
@Dawn I agree I dont have a problem with it if she’s using it to play games or read. Itz not like she’s surfing the internet… atleast not yet.
she’s very cute.
but she’s NOT 4.
probably 5 or maybe older…
whatever the truth is about that whole story, she’s def. older than they say.
and for technology, there’s no freakin’ need to teach your kids by the tim they are 5, b/c their brain changes. that’s ridiculous!!!!
we all learned.
kids will know intuitively how to use this stuff, b/c they are around it from day 1.
Did you need to take a class to learn how to use a VCR or answering machine? No! And certainly, there was no concern b/c you didn’t do it by the time you were 5.
That ‘study’ is the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever heard. It sounds like propaganda to get kids exposed to technology and media at as young an age as possible.
The real issue isn’t the technology, it’s the MATERIAL that comes via the technology. Are we raising robots, or humans?
My 5 year old nephew got one for his bday and he is far from a brat. He’s darling, sweet, sensitive, caring, and just … wonderful.
Okay I am no way a fan of their parenting style, but.. perhaps Suri was still on PST time? That would only be 8 PM in California.
I am betting it is probably Tom or Katies Ipad and I am sure they let her play with it to keep her entertained at the table. I can see that happening.
And I too have had my kids out way too late, but only on vacation never in ‘real life’.
Crap! I just defended the Cruises didn’t I?
What I find stranger than the iPad or the late night out is the pictures where she is still being carried around – at what age will that stop? Have a great time imagining her still on her mother’s hip at 12 🙂
I said this before, but the last picture of Suri, wrapped in a blanket is haunting. The look in her eyes just says ‘old soul who has seen way too much’.
biiiiiiiiiiiiiig deeeeeeallll!!!
there rich!who cares?!?
MJ’s kids had an amusement park in the back yard!!
A few days ago we saw Celine’s back yard with all the pools and a slide that the kid can have fun with.
THERE RICH…and we aint!:)
maybe there is a special ‘xenu app’ out there… this kid is going to be the next paris hilton for SURE.. just wait. i don’t see ‘normal’ at all here
@ Just a Poster:
June 3rd, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I was getting ready to go on a rant about the time…. Then I read your statement and it is a valid observation… damn you!!!! lol! jk. 😉
OT: As Suri gets older I really can not see any of Tom in her at all! Sure she favors KatIe heavily, but, I am really starting to wonder if I am seeing some Josh Hartnett in her?
@Krissy Kitty: Josh Harnett? I think you mean Chris Kline! I don’t see the resemblance at all! Suri looks like her mother.
Suri turned 4 in April. I am sad I know this. As for being out at midnight, she is out that late all the time. Scienos let children set rules as if they were small adults. Ive seen other Scienos like Jason Lee’s kid out really late, and at adult venues.
So much hate. Money is no object to them, so why not give their child things like an Ipad and beautiful clothes? I do as well for my children as I possibly can, spoiling them rotten by some people’s standards. My choice. My kids. And great kids they are, too, both in university and loaded up with extra-curriculat endeavors.
Leave this little girl alone. And she is being carried in one picture, she’s FOUR! There is NOTHING wrong with that. Sheesh.
25 years ago my 7 year old brother knew how to programme the VCR better than anyone of his older siblings… My 5 year old uses her ipod almost as slickly as I can… so really, I’m sure a 4 year old, given the opportunity, does not find using a ipad strange or daunting.
Out at dinner after midnight? She must be on Hawaiian time. I hoping she gets to sleep until 11am before her private tutor arrives.
We have two iPads at our house. The one with the lesser memory has all of my daughter’s DVD’s downloaded on it so she could watch them on long car journeys/flights. She also likes to play with the piano application, and she’s reading Winnie the Pooh at the moment. Saying that, my daughter is 8, so I am not sure if Suri fully understands how to use it yet. I guess it could be a good tool for kids if you used under strict parental supervision.
Well, the STORY is that she turned 4 in April. I don’t believe it. Everything about her birth is “off.”
You can tell when the nanny is around because Suri’s hair is combed.
And as for the clothes – my daughter has designer stuff as well, but she’s far from spoiled. She has to get good grades, and keep up with her extracurricular activities, do her chores (clean her room, clean out our car for extra money, clear the table, vacuum, throw out the garbage) and behave herself and not be a brat. We’re OK with her having nice things if she does what she’s supposed to do and is a good girl, but one shady look out of her and things get taken away until she earns it back.
My, quite a number of Suri Cruise apologists on board today! Personally, I don’t find spoiled children very attractive, but given her adult influences, losing herself in technology might be for the best.
Are Ipads that cheap? I had no idea…And what a gorgeous little girl!
That is one beautiful child.
Oh, come on… it’s not a big deal!
as someone said before, an ipad can be very didactic, even for a 4 year old girl.
I am from Argentina, and my little niece learned english by playing with my laptop ever since she was 4 (she’s 10 years old now).
And I don’t know if it’s similar to how it is in the US, but in Argentina (especially in Buenos Aires) little children stay up with their parents late at night all the time, anyway… we argentinians have dinner VERY late, and only a few children have baby sitters watching after them at night, because most of them only work during the day, when the parents are at work, so I guess i can’t say much about THAT, but in general… i don’t think there’s something wrong with it.
I’m a demon parent too. My son (who’s starting college in the fall – graduating Sunday, WAAAH!) had a laptop by 4 and will be studying biochemistry. I also let him stay up until midnight during the summer if he wanted, let him drink soda, eat Cheetos and Twinkies and cut his own hair once.
Of course, I also made him study, play sports, get braces, wear good shoes, have friends and go to a decent church, so maybe he has a leg up on Suri. 😉
Suri’s a mix of normal kid and Damian/creepy kid. I never know whether to feel sorry for her or to break out the holy water.
We have money and our family has money and I just don’t think its appropriate for someone that young to own their own iPad. We have one we let the kids use under supervision but I’m not ready to buy them one. I didn’t let my in-laws buy them the big motorized car until they learned to ride a trike and bicycle. They bought them tvs for their room and we still haven’t put them up. They have to earn the right to have that responsibility. My kids have the best designer clothes but when my 7 yr old acts up she’s not allowed to wear them. She also got a Coach bag for her bday and I haven’t let her use it yet either. THEY’RE kids! My kids color at restaurants, play and dig outside, and make cookies to take to the fire station down the block. My child will not be able to wear high heels walking around town either. Let these kids be kids for a while!
I wish they would do a real-life “All Dogs go to Heaven” and she would play the little girl…whatever her name was.
My 4-year-old has an iPad. It keeps her off my 7-year-old’s laptop, which he uses to develop Flash games or teach himself Spanish.
I’m not joking.
They’re limited as to the time they can each spend on their electronic devices, no more than one hour a day of any sort of screen time including television. With the iPad and the laptop available, they’d rather do something educational than watch cartoons.
Meh, so she has an iPad. Her parents can afford it and it’s educational.
The Ipad is hardly the issue here. What I find remarkable is that anyone thinks this girl is 4 years old! She looks way too big for that age.
Someone upthread quoted some article that said you needed to start your kids on computers early…OR ELSE. That is total and complete bull. Kids today have access to more technology than you can shake a stick at and many of them are dumber than rocks – and are dropping out of high school and college at record rates. When will these magazines and so called pundits stop trying to disguise mass consumerism as “good parenting”. The important things can’t ever be bought. Never have, never will.
Sorry for the rant, but just had to say that.
She looks four to me!! Is she a tall girl? I don’t know, but her mother certainly is.
Some people are anti-tech for their children and it’s certainly within their rights as parents to make that decision.
But other parents are fine with technology. I hardly think an Ipad for a four year old is spoiling them.
These celebrities have more money than sense it would seem.
My niece is 4 and she uses her dad’s laptop and her own DS all the time. She’d LOVE the iPad, and wouldn’t be surprised if she got one for Christmas.
I have a hard time buying that she’s 4, as well. ESPECIALLY buying that she just TURNED 4 a month and a half ago!
And I DO see alot of Cruise in her, especially in profile.
lol of course she gets an ipad… they’re billionaires. My neices and nephews are nowhere as rich and they got all kinds of gadgets… kids these days *eyeroll*
I’m with the meh on the ipad – depending on what you have on it (eg drawing prgms) it’s far better than all the kids having DS’s. I think kids with DS is not good, mainly because I see kids all the time sitting at tables playing them, speaking to parents without looking up etc. I think all kids should learn appropriate technology – actually my main tip is don’t let kids have networked computers in private parts of the house – computers need to be in public areas so while you don’t hover you get an ambient view of what they’re up to. This is the only reason I’d be not getting a kid an ipad.
that last pic is terrible…hahahaha
it’s like some weird (don’t hate me) pre-lolita, calvin klein ad. ewww. 🙁
but, seriously….what pervvy photog took that near up-tha-skirt shot??? he needs a punch in the nose!!!
really, i wish they’d stop taking pics of this kid.
*ugh*
Were Tom’s two older children with Nicole Kidman photographed as much when they were Suri’s age? I swear every week it seems like a new photo of Suri appears in the tabloids.
I have an ipad and I let the kids use it in restaurants to keep them entertained after they eat. What’s the big deal? They are richer than crap so they can afford to buy her whatever they see fit.
There’s no standard size for a 4 year old. My friend’s 3 year old daughter gets mistaken for being 5 all the time. I once met a 4 year old boy who was so tall he looked about 7. Really hard for his Mom as people kept expecting him to behave in a more grown up way. I don’t doubt that Suri is 4 – her entire life has been documented since she was a few months old!
As for staying up late – in some cultures that’s not abnormal. In Spain you quite often see kids up late. Because it’s not the way you were raised/raise kids, doesn’t make them unfit parents. She doesn’t look like she’s unloved, malnourished or unhappy does she?
An iPad? Buy the kid a laptop, for Christ’s sake. An iPad is a piece of crap, it’s useless.
girl please…that little girl is going to make some divorce lawyer very rich….she doesn’t have a chance of a successful marriage when the day comes. Her parents being the Two Mrs. Grenvilles LOL
It’s interesting to see the way that this culture clash plays out over child-rearing. I come from an immigrant family and when I was high school I was lucky enough to go one that was very multicultural. Obviously, each culture has its codes and mores, but one thing that I noticed–as did my other first generation friends–that very, very frequently North American-born parents are often (not always) quite a bit more permissive about raising children.
We would all have really illuminating conversations about this phenomenon and the pros/cons of the different parenting styles (I am taking youth into account). They seemed more self-confident and assertive, whereas we were always carried around a really ponderous lifestyle and history. This would lead to a lot of ‘poor me’ behaviour that almost wasn’t interested in growing past these lamentations. Conversely, many of them were materialistic, lazy, entitled and very self-absorbed.
I’m just imagining the dialogue that would pop up if there were some way to get these viewpoints to debate each other. Is there any reason to justify the harrowing strictness? Do you really have to be so strict that your child is so confined and sometimes joyless? And the rejoinder would be along the lines of, why throw your kids a parade every time they’re not being actively destructive? These kids are in shallow puddles and can’t (or won’t) pull themselves out of it.
I don’t know, moderation’s the key, I guess. They were fascination discussions nonetheless.
wow! I never realized that she never wore the same outfit twice. what do they do with the “wore once” clothes? Give them to poor?
totally agree, Mama.
Different cultures, different mores.
My 9 year old’s bedtime is 8:00 because he has to wake at 6:30 for school. But I see nothing wrong with a 4 year old staying up late, as long as she gets enough sleep.
As for this conspiracy theory over her height, you sound like a bunch of uneducated hysterical paranoids. My 9 year old is one inch shorter than me (he’s 5′ 1″) and will probably grow taller than me by year’s end.
Kids are just getting taller these days, esp. with good nutrition.
Leave this kid alone. She’s fine. She’s adorable.
Well it’s their money, even if you could feed a small nataion with the amount spent on her. I just hope the reports about her being a brat aren’t true.
The only thing that bothers me is to see parents reward their children’s bad behavior by giving into their wants. Or to see parents bargain with their children.
We don’t have much money but we got a really great deal on an Itouch for my two year old daughter.
She also stays up past 12 often. We’re night owls and my husband works nights. Eventually she will have to start going to bed earlier for pre school but I don’t see it as a big deal. Her sleep schedule has always been easy to change when needed. (I hope this comment doesn’t come back to bite me on the ass when it’s time! Lol.)
I’m PISSED. I’m eighteen and I JUST got my first cell phone.
My daughter has been using my iPod since she was four, and she reads and plays piano and socializes just fine. She’s hardly a tech head, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Suri having an iPad.
The out at midnight thing makes my right eyebrow twitch, but that’s about all the negative vibe I get from any of this.
And what is the DEAL with people griping about mothers carrying their children? Why do you care? What harm are you imagining comes to children who are carried around by their parents over the age of two?
My daughter is six. Soon, I won’t be ABLE to carry her anymore. So, if she wants Mommy to pick her up, she gets picked up. If you think that’s a bad parenting method, then don’t do it with your own kids. I personally think the idea of someone refusing to give that closeness and support to a tired kid who’s still small enough to receive it is really sad.
And…that child looks EXACTLY like Tom Cruise. So many people say, on every single Suri story, that she looks nothing like him, and I seriously don’t get that. This child could not look more like her father unless she were a boy.
@Aspen – Suri doesn’t look like Tom…she looks like Tom’s cousin, William Mapother. I think he’s her biological father.
tom seems a little high-strung, big deal – and katie appears to be very well grounded; why would you haters expect suri to be anything less?
grow up.
@Gatsby: Children often look like extended family members instead of their parents. Saying that Tom’s cousin is Suri’s biological father just because you think she looks more like him than Tom is plain vicious.
That little girl does not look happy.
She has a sadness about her. I bet she’s lonely being around adults all the time.