Kids these days: they get everything they want. I mean, smartphones before they hit puberty is not unheard of and just look at the gaming systems they get to enjoy – Xbox 360s and PS3s. My childhood was Super Mario 3 and Oregon Trail. Well, on second thought, my childhood was pretty awesome.

And now, Nielsen is reporting that 7 out of 10 kids in households with tablets use them on a regular basis (Nielsen defines “kids” as those aged 12 or younger). This is a 9% increase from stats reported a year ago.

The majority of these children use tablets the play games, but a high percentage (57%) also use them for educational purposes. 43% of the kids use tablets to watch TV shows and movies, while 41% of parents distract their children with tablets at restaurants and other events.

When you think about it, there’s really no computing unit more suited for kids than a tablet. It’s a giant touch screen, for one. That, coupled with the fact that tablets are app based, makes it a very intuitive experience – much more so than a computer running Mac OS or Windows.

Tablets in education seem to be where the future is taking us. Many school districts have begun initiatives to provide students with iPads for the classroom. A school system in Sweden recently proposed to take it a step further by replacing all textbooks with iPads – meaning that the tablet wouldn’t simply be a supplementary educational device. Educational apps have also been linked to improved test scores.

Of course, using tablets for educational purposes is great and all, but let’s not forget the most compelling reason to put an iPad in a youngster’s hands:

Do you have a child that regularly uses a tablet? Do you think that tablets will play a huge part in education going forward? Let us know in the comments.