Loud Ipads/ phones being used to entertain children in restaurants

Well tough luck it’s not a choice… there is not much you can do about it! What you want/don’t want, doesn’t necessarily mean will happen!

Sadly, there's a lack of consideration and tolerance in all directions.

You're right in that these are shared spaces, but seemingly the spaces are only to be shared with people who meet posters requirements.

FWIW, noise bothers me; I have misophonia. I also have ND children. We do not use screens in restaurants. I don't think that means I'm a better parent than others, or that people who do aren't welcome in the space we're sharing, and I wouldn't begrudge a family using screens.

It's a sad state of affairs when we become a 'my needs trump your needs' group of people, rather than showing consideration to others.

Don’t go to family restaurants then. You’re more likely to hear other people talking loudly than hear my child’s iPad, as we keep the volume so low. My son also uses his iPad as an AAC device, so it comes with us no matter what.

But it's ok for other people to inflict their noise on others?

I see again it's very much tough shit for those of us with hearing impairments / find too much noise / loud noise painful

You don’t get to dictate what people do! There aren’t ‘rules’ for not using a phone in a hospital waiting room, and all the other patients were unwell hence why they were. Some were probably waiting for very long. You have obviously ‘survived’ the incident! Jeeeez

I still don't want to hear your child's iPad.

Oh no! They can do what they want, it’s none of your business!

You’re right! The parents allowing their kids to do this are incredibly inconsiderate. They need to be way more considerate of other people and understand that their precious little child and their need for 24hr screens and the laziness of not parenting doesn’t come before others in the shared space.

For the parents that say their children don't wear headphones at restaurants/buses because they don't like them, I take it they don't wear noise cancelling headphones then? Noise doesn't overstimulate them or is this selective?

I just LOVE how tolerant and considerate everyone is. 😬

Headphones. It's very overstimulating and annoying for others having to listen to Cocomelon or whatever annoying cartoon it is, whilst trying to talk and eat a meal. We all know that.

We all love our children and we think they're the most important things in the world, but the reality is that other people don't love our children in the same way and they don't have to. It's a hard lesson to accept but accept it we must.

Believe me, it’s still disturbs people! Either volume off completely, headphones, no iPad and your teach him how to behave by entertaining him, or you don’t go.

100%

I was also in a hospital environment waiting for my child to come out of very invasive surgery. And a young teen had their volume on their home. It was ME that had to put MY headphones on the drown out it their noise.

I want this on billboards everywhere. Had to sit with my very unwell child in a hospital waiting room where at least six different devices were all playing different things at full volume - YouTube, games, tiktok videos, all inane and irritating. It was the most stressful, overstimulating environment and my child found it totally intolerable. If everyone stuck a pair of headphones on, they wouldn't be inconveniencing anyone else at all.

Headphones headphones headphones.
Big ones, small ones, soft ones, furry ones. Ones adapted for kids with sensory issues. Little in-ear ones. Big comforting fluffy ones.
Just. Use. Headphones.

Also on public transport. Use headphones or don’t use it. But certainly don’t play it out loud (whatever the volume)! Lazy parenting.

Yes, it does. My 8 year old is profoundly autistic. He cannot tolerate headphones, colouring would hold his attention for all of a minute, oh, and here’s the kicker, conversation is right out because he is minimally verbal and does not have the cognitive ability to understand everything we say.
So yes, we give him an iPad if we go out for a meal. It means he will sit at the table and eat. Volume is kept to a minimum. This way he disturbs no one, and we get to eat our meal.

"Here we go another one of these posts. Yes, you don't get to dictate that sort of thing. Would you rather have heard the kids shouting and screaming?"

There will only be a tiny number of children who cannot be managed in a restaurant without the iPad on and without headphones.

Yes, I have five children. We went to restaurants maybe every other week. Not an iPad or phone in sight. I didn't really care for colouring sheets either.

Eating together is about participating in each others' lives. It was the same at home - no TV dinners or eating in bedrooms.

Yeah, and we both had full-time jobs but still had the time to prepare and eat meals together.

why is that your business?! This thread is just full of so many judgemental parents (if you are even a parent)
and no I won’t reflect so petition away. But now I best go and badly parent my kids some more as they’re awake. Hope you get your quiet time from now on in every place you go out to eat

Are you also accepting of people playing loud music at the back of the bus? Yes it's not illegal, but public spaces are shared and it's inconsiderate.

Children need to learn to sit nicely at a table for a while. Boredom is part of life and sometimes we have to do things we don't like. Hardly anyone needs screens to get through a meal, FFS. And before anyone mentions SEN, the vast majority of children are capable of sitting for a meal and being entertained with teddies, colouring, or etc. If you need to use an Ipad, put ear phones in and don't put it a volume where others can hear it.

Also, watching an Ipad may help regulate one child, but may be overstimulating for another!

Whilst it's not a parenting choice I would make, if you need an iPad for your child, at least have the courtesy to not disrupt other diners.

And yes, I would rather hear a child having a tantrum and a parent parenting them. Because tantrums and crying are normal childhood behaviours. Shoving a screen in a face to stop your kid kicking off isn't.

We had a similar situation in a restaurant, assumed it was a child somewhere, couldn't see but could hear. DH asked a staff member if they could ask the parents to turn off the noise, or put headphones on. She said it's actually a man in another part of the restaurant, and she wasn't sure if she could ask him to turn it down. DH quietly mentioned that it was very annoying, people on adjacent tables agreed at that point, and that if they didn't ask for it to be sorted, we would leave the restaurant there and then. (We had ordered our food, but not received it). Shortly after the noise disappeared.

Maybe it will make you reflect...

Touchy!😉