Does anyone else have no tablets/iPads/screens etc for their children?

[WellErrr]

Mine haven’t had screens, ever. And they won’t be until they can buy their own.
However - as they’re getting older, more and more people are pressuring me to get them. Apparently they need them for educational purposes and to not be the odd one out at school. I don’t agree.

But then I got thinking - I don’t know any other children without them. Is there anyone else out there with screen-free children??

Ok Billie if you had said in your first post that you live in Spain....

Technology is a fantastic servant....but an awful master. Kids have questions about the world.....and they can be answered at the touch of a button. Yes - you could look up the answer in an encyclopaedia/go to the library to find out etc, but some things are very time consuming and you run the risk of losing the child’s interest in the process. Maths homework becomes fun and interactive, rather than writing sums in an exercise book and having to wait for the teacher to mark it before you get to see if your answer was right.

On the other hand, I do agree that it’s a real shame that some kids can’t eat a meal without Peppa Pig. But then it’s your job as a parent to set appropriate parameters and boundaries. And there’s a huge risk that you turn it into a forbidden fruit for your kids. My friend often talks about her friend who has a similar view to you on tech; when the techphobic parent’s son comes over to play with hers, he doesn’t want to do anything but play on the iPad because he can’t at home. And her son, who’s excited to have his friend come to play, is left bitterly disappointed that this child is glued to the screen!

Yes the forbidden fruit!

popcorn what difference does living in Spain make? My Dsis is head of English in a top uk School. They also do this.

It is utterly commonplace. You rent an ipad for 30 pounds a term or whatever. I buy my own for 200 euros (so far lasted 3 years)

You are a bit out of touch.

Mine aren't 'screen free' but they are only allowed on their handheld games console on Saturdays and Sundays. They don't ever use our laptop or computer. We don't have tablets and aren't allowed on our smart phones. They do watch TV everyday using the xbox to access Netflix and now TV. They use computers and ipads at school which I don't mind. My dd in year 3 is given all of her homework online which I really object to. She just doesn't do it. Dd is also the only kid in her class who doesn't have a playstation/xbox which I find bizarre! (DH has an xbox that the DC play 'just dance' on. I don't mind as it's an active game and probably play once a month, if that) I suppose when you write it down like that, they do have quite a bit of screen time. Still. Alot less than most.

My two DS are doing well at school, have a great circle of friends, do activities like biking, swimming, self defence classes, walking. Visit lots of interesting places. They have good social skills and can have a mature discussion at the dinner table (or not so mature depending on their mood!)
They also have pretty much unlimited access to screens in the form of tablet, phone and X Box/Play Station.
We have had conversations about when screen time becomes a problem e.g. staying on too late, become obsessed or addicted, if it affects their behaviour etc. Also lots of reminders about online safety. They know that if they push the boundaries they will lose screen time or other privileges.
You can raise decent human beings and allow screens too, they are not mutually exclusive.

People are happily spending the time to help their dc learn reading, writing and maths etc (all good of course) to help them on their way in the world yet forbid something which could also advantage them in the future because they think it's bad.

It can be bad agreed if used excessively and irresponsibly. But if used in moderation and responsibly then it can be a great asset.

Sending you support, OP. t's very telling that the parents in IT in silicon valley don't let their kids have screens. You might like no screen parenting group in FB

My dd only got a tablet at 11 and a mobile phone at 12 but their childhoods where pretty tech free .Are they going to be aloud a phone in secondary school?

OP Im with you, I did the same with my DD until she was 10 (now 15). Then she has limited screen time. Guess what? She's bright, sociable and doesn't feel left out. Ironically she is top of her class in computer science (and spends very little time on a computer for it). She had a phone when she started secondary, she is on it nowhere near as much as her peers. She leaves it on the kitchen side and it goes off all evening until the early hours of the morning and has done since she has had it - she finds the group convo's inane - if I ask if she wants her phone,she always says she will speak to them the next day at school. She doesn't use her phone at meals - every time we go out to eat there are tables full of children in prams to teens on their phones, which I think is sad.

I would allow them limited access once they are towards the end of primary school - my DD only completes maths online but I know some secondaries use them more.

Billie I really don't think a child in England can be denied a place at a state school because the parents can't afford or won't pay for an ipad.

My DS (age 9) has a hand-me-down ipad and an Xbox. He plays both, sometimes a great deal.
However, he works his socks off in his current chosen sport (8-10 hours of coached training a week), does 2 other sports clubs plus the usual stuff at school.
He's sometimes so wiped from 3 hours of sport on a weekend morning that he just wants to be a couch potato. His BMI is 25th centile despite being a couch potato for most of that afternoon.
He plays outside after school, he does his homework (begrudgingly), he builds Lego models etc
He does have ASD, he struggles to talk to his friends in person (at school or sport) but over the Xbox he can talk for Britain. He has a social life online.
A blanket ban on electronic stuff would not work for him. You know your own child and what their needs are. Mine needs downtime and a social outlet with his gadgets.

PopcornZoo

It is conditional at DD’s state grammar. Pupils on pupil premium don’t have to pay (quite rightly), the rest pay a nominal amount a month for 18 months then we own the laptop.

I would have loved all the tech when I was a child.

I'm not an outdoor person, more of a bookworm. Some kids really don't want to climb trees and play rounders so don't assume everyone's children are like yours.

I think you sound incredibly smug and would like to see your household when they're 12 plus, whittling wood and sewing.

That's awful Jaques, education is meant to be free!

That's awful Jaques, education is meant to be free!

I don’t think it’s awful at all!

Especially given we had to pay for primary anyway given the lack of “choice”.

I think the op should come back when her dc are at least 5 years older before she makes a pledge about them not having technology until they can buy it themselves.

Theres a difference between a child being on an ipad all the time, including meal times at home or out and not being able to function in anything without it to a child who enjoys technology in moderation with clear boundaries.

You don't have to link them all in together. I used to have a games console 25 years ago! I can't say I don't know how to function in society now!

Thank you Jacques I thought I was going mad.

It's not awful Popcorn it save reams of paper notification from school, books etc and is a nominal amount as both Jacques and I have said.

Not to mention some very good interactive revision sites.

Plus lots of help with her different languages.

They start with the expectation you'll use an internet-enabled device to access online homework when they start juniors here.

The iPad is a godsend for DD2 with dyspraxia - very academically able child, frustrated to hell with her physical writing ability causing her massive discomfort and lagging way behind her cognitive ability. She still records some work by writing physically but does about 25% and longer pieces on her iPad and it's got a little girl's sense of self esteem and being able to achieve equal to her ability at school back on track when she was becoming distraught at the thought of having to go in and struggle to write a few letters again.

Incidentally the dyspraxia diagnosis came along way way way before the iPad before the smuggery starts. The house is also infested with plastic Playmobil people who have very elaborate lives and names and preferences and backstories - not mutually exclusive.

I quite like the school letters being emailed now. It means I don't miss one anymore.

Communication from the school is also so much better since they went paperless.

Exactly Daisy you don't miss a piece of scrunched up paper at the bottom of a bag, or miss an important meeting with the school, excursion etc...

At age 8 my sons school issued all Homework to be completed online via laptop or Tablet
For those who didn't have it at home they were told to use local library. Some homework was very game like, but was for quick thinking maths etc.
Now in secondary everything is online.. All letters, all forms and h9meowkr.

I think my child is to young to be really affected by this. My Dd is only 4.5yrs and whilst I don’t ever put YouTube on for her, she will watch Disney movies with me. We go to the cinema as a family and she will watch milkshake in the morning before preschool.

However the enjoyment she has for watching tv, she also has for very physical activities such as climbing,we go running together in the evenings, (she can run 2k without stopping!) we go swimming once a week, and she enjoys going for long walks.

I wouldn’t buy her an iPad and I wouldn’t let her sit in front of a screen for hours on end. Actually I think it would bore her, going into the garden collecting leaves, grass, flowers and then sticking them in her notebook is far more entertaining to her I think. She currently loves writing which is great as she is starting school in September.

You have to find what works for you. Children should be exposed to a variety of activities including technology. However childhood obesity is on the up, in my borough it’s something like 26% of children are obese, which is higher than the national average. That deeply concerns me. I’m a childminder and OFSTED have a guideline of 3hours outdoor play everyday. It very easy for me to achieve this as I love being outdoors, but I know many CMs who don’t, and even more parents who don’t.

Homework even

Not none. I just think they’d be better off with someone listening to them read and helping them rather than handing them an iPad and letting them get on with it.

If that is how your school teaches the computing curriculum nd handles iPads then I can understand your concern.

However, in my experience, that's not how I teach the computing curriculum - which is a CORE subject by the way, along with English, maths and science.

It's also not how I make use of iPads and computers at school, nor how our teachers and LSAs make use of them in class either.

That's far more about the primary curriculum that reading and writing.