To think this is a bit daft?

[Fluffcake]

Just popped to Tesco to get some lunch and saw a woman pushing a trolley with a baby sitting in a car seat in it. The baby was about 4 - 6 months old, I would guess and facing the mum. There was an tablet facing the baby blearing it out Finding Nemo.

Is that not a bit too young to be relying on an ipad to be entertaining your child and is not a missed opportunity to by interacting with your child?

The child, quite rightly, was looking at everything going on around them and gave me a lovely big smile.

YANBU OP!!! A four month old baby does not ever need to be entertained with an ipad, whether in the supermarket or otherwise. Definitely a daft mother!

I'm a nursery nurse and you can absolutely tell the difference between the children who are interacted with and those who are not. Then parents blame nurserys and schools for children who are slower than there peers. I'm not saying this mother in particular as she was only seen for a second but generally speaking it's bad for children.

Princess, I hate to upset you but recent research has shown your talking rubbish and that - within reason - use of technology by children doesn't have a negative impact upon their development.

PrincessVikki evidence? Again what's with the false assumption that parents who use technology aren't interracting with their kids?

No one would be saying anything if she'd given her child a book or another object to occupy it, but because it's electronic the moral outrage starts. Cut the crap, there is nothing wrong with technology in moderation.

But princess you are talking about this mother as your first comment said 'the mother will be moaning....' after the one snapshot of information. I hope the nursery nurses at my child's nursery are not as judgmental as you.

I'm a nursery nurse and you can absolutely tell the difference between the children who are interacted with and those who are not.

Which ones use the correct plural for 'nursery' and the correct 'their' for their sentence?

is it so hard to give the child a box, packet, toy or anything to look at and keep her busy.

What benefit do you perceive a box, or packet to have over an ipad as a distraction method?

I don't see the difference between a book and an ipad. Also, the baby was looking at Finding Nemo, a wonderfully colourful film, he wasn't playing GTA.

I'm a nursery nurse and you can absolutely tell the difference between the children who are interacted with and those who are not.

What relevance does that have to a 30 second glance at a 4 month old who wasnt even looking at the screen?

Are people afraid of their DCs catching some screen disease or something? Tvs and computers are not the fucking devil. YOU ARE AT A SCREEN RIGHT NOW!

I hear judgy pants are BOGOF at Tesco this week. Don't miss out!

Any item a child has never seen before is something they can learn from, it's sensory development, use of tv ect is proven to slow talking development because it's 1 way communication. And since when did expressing an opinion give those who claim not to be judgemental the right to attack.

At GTA

Yabu for judging.
But no way would I give an expensive gadget to a baby or young child.
I don't agree with children playing with adults phones or gadgets mostly because they see it as a toy that they will want to play with at their convenience.
It's not a toy and is an expensive thing to break.

I let my 5yr old play kids games on my hudl
And only since January.
She still isn't allowed near my phone.

Princess, you realise ipads can have interactive things on them where it's not 1 way interaction? And so I suppose you're also opposed to children watching films, documentaries, playing video games and using electronics AT ALL? Seeing as a child watching a film while it's parents did the shopping is obviously so horrific

Any item a child has never seen before is something they can learn from, it's sensory development,

How do you know the baby hadnt seen it before? Also. I believe sight and hearing are also senses. Are you sure youre a nursery nurse?

I had very bad PND with my boys and admit to letting them play with my phone from a very young age. DS1 is in Reception, could read fluently before he started school and has now read nearly every book in his school. He is a confident, sociable, intelligent little boy. DS2 is the same, he's 2 and knows his shapes, colours and numbers. I dread to think how much I've damaged them

im not against screens for kids, my girls watch tv and have access to the computer (supervised) but I think its completely unnecessary in a supermarket at any age.

what would happen if they knocked ot onto floor? tried to chew it? Someone decided to take it when mum turns to pick something off a shelf? gets overheated on their lap?

I have many things in my bag to entertain children when we need to go somewhere 'boring.'

and I agree a 4-6month old has no need for screens - its not hard to have a few toys they can look at in your bag.

Fucking hell you'd better phone ss on me then! My sociable happy chatty 4yo has been watching stuff on the iPad since she was a baby. Better report her nursery too while you're at it seeing as they let them play games on the iPads and photograph each other

Tbh I've found many of the kids TV programs educational. My dd has learnt things from them that I definitely hadn't taught her . She's not glued to it all day . I don't see any problem with screens in moderation

I let my 8mo watch the Twirlywoos on my phone (I was holding it though) on the bus the other day. She was screaming like a banshee and her toys weren't doing a thing to console her.

I'm a terrible, terrible mother in your eyes OP, clearly.

Meh I'm with you op why the fuck would anyone think that appropriate or necessary for such a young child

So you have to "interact" with a 4-6 month old while popping into Tesco now? It's obviously not enough to communicate with them at other times, but you need to treat a trip to the shops as an opportunity to show off your loud parenting skills to satisfy other shoppers too?

Well I'm glad I missed that memo.

Princess, you're talking rot.

Maybe the baby has learnt something about marine life while watching Nemo. Maybe the baby will for ever more love turtles and become a world famous marine biologist. My point being is that you know nothing about this family's life. Nothing. And have no right to judge.

The evidence base on screens and under-2s is shaky because most of it pre-dates iPads etc. There are increasing efforts to separate out the interactive from the passive when it comes to cognitive effects of screen use.

Interesting study on passive (DVD) watching compared to playing with blocks and relative cortisol levels (done at the Seattle Children's Research Institute, the lead author wrote to JAMA Pediatrics last month saying that he felt judicious use of interactive media could be beneficial for under-2s, but drew a clear distinction between interactive and passive.

Anyway - a snapshot of this woman's life, who knows, but I can't say I ever found nattering to my baby while we did the supermarket run particularly difficult or onerous. But I didn't have PND, for example.

After about 18 months that changed and I became an online shopping devotee.

Then parents blame nurserys and schools for children who are slower than there peers.

Fabulous irony.

I would far rather see a baby with an ipad than have to listen to a baby screaming the place down while the mother shops, any day of the week.