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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Hotel restaurant and iPads etc

439 replies

mckenzie · 31/08/2017 09:53

We are on holiday and staying in a hotel with breakfast included.
Settle nicely at a table this morning, in the shade, over lookimgbthe gardens, watching the birds on the ledge. A family then take the table next to us.

The older child (I'm guessing age 5) is given an iPad and starts playing a game with noice so we can hear ping and pong and clapping and other computer type noises.
The younger child (I'm guessing 18 months) has a phone propped up in front of her and is watching a video of some sort so we can hear high pitched animated voices and weird music.

AIBU to expect the family to think of others and provide said children with headphones?

OP posts:
user1471499792 · 31/08/2017 21:29

So were does it stop, the people next to you have a bad cough, a crying child, someone smoking, someone with bad body odour are they all second class citizens that you don't want next to you.

Maybe we should all learn to be tolerant about peoples choices and teach that to our children. Rather than I'm superior to everyone as I don't let my child look at an iPad once in a while

supermoon100 · 31/08/2017 21:37

It's ironic to talk about tolerance, user147, as I see it parents who whip out electronic devices for their kids at the first sign of trouble, have very low tolerance for thir own kids!

Sirzy · 31/08/2017 21:39

Or they know their own children and when to step in to make sure they are comfortable/happy/relaxed/not about to meltdown etc

Nofunkingworriesmate · 31/08/2017 21:44

iPads phones at breakfast WTAF??!!
Fair enough at an evening meal with adults chatting , it can go on and be boring for kids after a while, but bloody breakfast!!! Thats disgusting

Nofunkingworriesmate · 31/08/2017 21:46

Of course I'm not referring to kids with ASD

BlueberryPuffin · 31/08/2017 21:48

If you get annoyed so easily, try meditation. Life is too short to be pissed off all the time about how other people raise their kids or about a little cartoon noise at breakfast.

maxthemartian · 31/08/2017 21:53

I have noise sensitivities. Living in a world where people have constant electronics blaring with no headphones, or feel the need to listen to bass heavy thumping music at high volume, can be quite a miserable experience for me.

There's sounds that I can't zone out at all. They completely take over.

Why should people have to suffer other people's uneccessary noise pollution?

Whyisitsodifficult · 31/08/2017 21:55

Just plain lazy- can't be arsed -anything for a quiet life parenting! I've seen parents with young children in restaurants, as soon as they've sat down out come the devices, there they sit like bloody socially reclusive zombies. Why would you do this to your child? We are breeding a future generation of socially awkward kids, how will they know how to interact with others or waiting staff if they can't bloody see or hear what's going on around them? Also I've seen quite a few toddlers in pushchairs holding a device as heaven forbid they should actually see what's going on around them! Makes me feel very sad.

supermoon100 · 31/08/2017 21:55

Blueberry if you get annoyed with your kids so easily that you feel the need to tranquility them with ipads, maybe you need to try mediation! Or maybe even the kids need to.

BlueberryPuffin · 31/08/2017 21:57

Blueberry if you get annoyed with your kids so easily that you feel the need to tranquility them with ipads, maybe you need to try mediation! Or maybe even the kids need to

Who said I "tranquility" them with ipads? lol. Just because I don't care about something insignificant that other people do, doesn't mean I do that thing myself.

supermoon100 · 31/08/2017 21:57

Tranquilise *

FrancisCrawford · 31/08/2017 21:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sirzy · 31/08/2017 22:03

Those who judge the use of iPads, now ds can read he sometimes hides in a book instead? Do you judge that the same?

Bluelonerose · 31/08/2017 22:12

I was shocked to see kids around the pool with their tablets when I went away.
My kids were only allowed their phones/tablets before me and dh woke up in the morning or if we were taking a walk/going out so they could take pictures

HarrietKettleWasHere · 31/08/2017 22:12

No, because a book is a quiet activity that doesn't impede on others. There really is a difference.

Sirzy · 31/08/2017 22:18

An iPad on silent or with headphones is equally as quiet though

Timefortea99 · 31/08/2017 22:19

Let's face it. Kids rule these days. Their wants override everything including common sense.

gillybeanz · 31/08/2017 22:29

Let's face it. Kids rule these days. Their wants override everything including common sense.

Only if the parents can't give a shiny shit, are incapable or are that entitled they can't see

HarrietKettleWasHere · 31/08/2017 22:30

Headphones are fine! Some screen time is fine! Books, also fine.

Teaching children to be entitled and not being able to socialise or engage, not fine.

yikesanotherbooboo · 31/08/2017 22:31

My children are older and pre iPad generation so some of you may feel that this makes me unqualified to comment but I will anyway. YANBU
I am amazed to read people justifying devices with audible noises in public restaurants.it is obviously unreasonable. I can understand the desire to keep the children occupied during a long meal at the table once they have finished eating and the parents have further courses to go.., an iPad sounds a good idea/ treat for this situation if it works in the same way that sticker books or colouring works/ worked for t some children but headphones or no sound please.
Or have a different type of holiday/ outing.
There is a time and a place .
Why do the children have the devices at breakfast? That seems extraordinary to me has the world changed that much in the last 20 years?
By the way ... computers etc can be educational and expand bits of the brain but claiming they make kids smarter is stretching the truth.

umck2014 · 31/08/2017 22:33

Let's just agree on the fact that some people just don't get it.

Maybe I'm traditional. I'm fully aware how the technology takes over this generation but I do believe there's a time and place for it.

Not going to waste any more of my breath on this...Wine

HarrietKettleWasHere · 31/08/2017 22:33

I also remember absoloutley dying to read my book at various family meals and being told off for being unsociable!

ZucchiniPie · 31/08/2017 23:36

Also I've seen quite a few toddlers in pushchairs holding a device as heaven forbid they should actually see what's going on around them! Makes me feel very sad.

I recently saw a boy of about 4 standing sideways on a mini-scooter, which his mother was pulling along on a busy high street, while he had head down watching something on a phone. I was amazed he didn't fall off!

user1471499792 · 01/09/2017 05:48

For goodness sake it's not about being 'traditional'! Technology is rightly or wrongly a part of everyday life now. What makes your opinion / wants / needs more important than anyone else?

Everyone saying why don't the parents parent rather than being lazy. Your happy to look down your nose at their choices on this small snapshot of their life. How do you know they aren't at the end of their tether, have other stuff going on that they simply need 30 mins time out.

Or again there's no additional needs, as mentioned they don't come with a sign!

Yes the parents could turn it down so that it's not audible but maybe everyone else could try and be tolerate of others choices!

I cannot believe the snide remarks on this thread! We all live together and no ones needs are more important than the next

user1471499792 · 01/09/2017 05:52

And yes my kids have tablets, they are used v v seldom (actually not sure were they are). One child has autism and the other we try and treat the same wherever possible.

When used outside the house they are always very low but they are occasionally used! Am I a lazy parent? I work full time (single parent) regularly survive on 3/4 hours sleep a night and am also studying part time. So yes I must be accordingly to all you!