I finished copying some videos on to the iPad this morning and when I accessed the Videos app, there was nothing. Then I couldn't exit the Videos app.
I tried rebooting the iPad and it got stuck on the Apple logo screen. I did a quick Google search and realized that I had to do a complete restore of the iPad.
So, it's two hours later and the apps are syncing to the iPad which has finally been updated to 5.1.1.
I was running 3.2.2. until now. I don't know if the new OS will confuse my parents since the apps can now be organized into folders and there are background processes and whatever else.
I will provide updates as necessary.