Looking for the right cover for me??!!??

I am planning on buying an Ipad 4 for our family for Christmas. I know that for sure I want a case for it, but I am torn between what exactly I need. I have an iPhone and love my Otterbox Commuter case for it. Unfortunately that exact model of case does not exist for the iPad 4. Because of that case, I originally looked at the Defender case by Otterbox for our new iPad because I thought that I needed that protection. On the other hand, I have also looked at the Apple iPad Smart Cover. I know that these are at two opposite ends of the spectrum, but I really am not 100% what I need. For the most part it will be only my wife and I that use the iPad, but we do have a 2 month old that a year from now might be wanting to play with it. It will only be used in our home, not out and about. I like the protection that the Defender offers, but I'm not sure I like the bulk that it adds and I'm not 100% sure that I like the fact that it has a rigid screen protector. Does that affect the display quality at all? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would love to hear what you people think we should get.

Certainly complicates things when you have to share your devices. Even more so when you have young ones.

There is the Griffin Survivor. It uses military grade standards. It's around the same price range as the Otterbox Defender actually slightly cheaper.

Not being a parent, I wouldn't let a child anywhere NEAR expensive, difficult-to-replace equipment without a VERY strong protective case. So **if** you're going to let a toddler play with your iPad, I'd suggest an Otterbox or Griffin Survivor as suggested above.

I would think that a better idea would be to not use the iPad around the child until they get to the point where you want to get an iPad mini (in a similarly child-proof but perhaps more child-friendly encasing, as seen below) for the child to use.

Something like this: iPad Cases & Covers | Speck Products