Ban iPads & Tablets For Children

[londonmummyof1]

Is it just me, or does the iPad generation bother anyone else?

We went on a family holiday to Spain with my husband and almost 3 year old daughter, and at breakfast, lunch and dinner it’s the same sight - parents bringing out iPads for their preschool children to sit and watch - while eating!?! This is something I have never seen before and I absolutely do not agree with. I think seeing the scale of the problem during this one holiday shows what a problem this is. The thing is, the children aren’t even given the choice of asking for the iPad or to watch a show, it’s just slapped down in front of them and then they are glued. No interaction, just plugged into this simulated world, at the prime time in their life they are developing their language, speech, behaviour and personality - under the age of 5.

We did not bring an iPad for our child on holiday because we wanted to play in the swimming/splash pool, go to the beach etc and we spent such quality time with our child with memories we will keep forever.

This did not happen 20 or even 10 years ago - what did parents do with their children then? God forbid did they COMMUNICATE with their children at the dinner table?

What is happening to this world? Why not have a conversation with your child or bring a sticker book or story book for them to look at if feeding time is difficult. Every parent has been there with challenging mealtimes, but lugging the iPad around during 3 mealtimes, that’s a minimum of 3 hours your child is in a zombie state of mind, you’re starving them of developing their speech and ability to play by themselves and entertain themselves through play.

Do parents understand that too much screen time is extremely damaging to young children and can pave the way to obesity and development issues later in life?

I feel so passionate about this topic, as I’ve even seen some parents putting their children in pushchairs by the swimming pools glued to an iPad, when they could be swimming and having fun with their parents or siblings.

Parenting can be really tough, but somehow I think government intervention is required as this is such a vicious cycle, what future are we preparing our children for???

Simple alternatives to iPad/Tablet entertainment:

Play doh
Stickers
Books
Playing cards
Colouring books
Drawing

Absolutely BAN iPads & Tablets for children.

OP you have one perfect easy to train (hate that word they are not puppies) child - I'd like to see you manage the meltdowns of my middle child. I've been trying for years, on the surface he appears perfectly normal and I am sure you would judge, underneath he is a bubbling ball of anxiety and I am constantly on edge waiting for the next explosion

If it helps @GoatYoga most of us don't even notice what other parents are doing with their kids!

This topic is something that really interests me, as I work in this field. For what it's worth, anecdotally, overuse of tablets is a huge issue for the under 5's, which is translating to many problems when they attend school and are unable to do many basic things that they should be able to do. Sitting still and listening is a problem, holding pencils as they haven't spent time colouring and extremely low attention span is causing lots of teachers to worry about why this cohort have been impacted above others.

The main thing is moderation. An hour a day or so is fine, as long as the child is doing a mixture of other things that work on their motor skills, playing outdoors, colouring, crafts, reading etc. The problem we are seeing, particularly in more deprived areas, is that these children are not getting a mix of everything and there is a huge over-reliance of screens to babysit children. 20 years ago these same deprived children had to amuse themselves when out and about, yet now, they're handed a phone in the buggy, on the bus and at every other occasion when they might otherwise be stimulated by their surroundings.

but this is an issue and if it isn’t addressed it will change the future our children have.

Nonsense, their future is wildly different anyway. Kids are just going to need a different skillset than we or previous generations did. You're not teaching yours to make vellum or write with a quill, are you?

I have both given my kid an iPad when out for a meal AND taken him home in the middle of a tantrum. You can do both.

Before iPads restaurant meals out used to be constant battle of trying to keep the kids entertained whilst we ate in peace and keep them glued to the chair so as not to disturb other diners, this all changed when iPads came out, my children don't really use there iPads much but I would never go for a meal without one now as it a lot less stressful.

My DS has autism. His tablet gets us through meals out without bloodshed. So you can take you tablet van and shove it up your ableist arse.

Also, a question for everyone who says they couldn't manage without them in cars or in restaurants, how did others manage before phones/iPads?

I'm often out with my 5 year old and yes, it would be easier to give her my phone sometimes and I definitely have done it on 4 hour+ car journeys but 95% of the time I don't and I know it's better for her, as she has to then think of something to do herself.

• tablet BAN

new bloody phone doesn't like the sound of a ban either

Zzzzzz - seriously you are blaming tablets for dyslexia, dyspraxia (I suspect you have no idea what this is), ADHD, ASD?

the incedence of ASD, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and many othe neurological differences is increasing (and NOT just because of better screening). Children go to school younger, and stay at school for longer each day. Are tablets the issue here?

I'm not in the UK so I can't comment on their school practices, but why do you think these neurological differences are increasing, if not for better screening?

I find it worrisome that the iPhone was invented 10 years ago and there has been huge increase in childhood issues over the same period.

When I say issues, I'm not talking about autism, of course this is a separate topic. I'm more concerned re language delays, developmental delays, childhood obesity rates. All things that were never as prevalent as they are now.

mariemalade some people didn't go out or they found going out a distressing experience or they coped in other ways that people generally didn't like.
Public areas have become more sensory stimulating over the years ( eg busy large supermarket blaring out music and announcements rather than little shop) so this has also made it more difficult for those with sensory difficulties to cope.

I understand if your kids has special needs but the vast majority do not

ASD is not increasing. Diagnosis is. Prevalence studies done in the UK back that up. Perception is that it's increasing but that perception is wrong.

20 years ago there were no cases of autism in my family. Now there are 6. OMG an increase. Except if diagnosis had been done at the right time only 1 would be recent, 2 would have been 20 years ago, 2 would have been 40 years ago and 1 would have been 60 years ago.

How did others manage before phones or iPads? Simple, I didn’t go to restaurants nearly as much when i was a kid as I do now with my three year old. Going to a restaurant was a much bigger deal than it is now so parents would take the kids out only very occasionally. Holidays didn’t involve going abroad and staying in hotels because it was too expensive. A lot of my holidays and special occasions involved being at a family member’s house so a lot less pressure for the kids to be quiet. If you got bored at a big family dinner you could go off and play in the garden or something.

I understand if your kids has special needs but the vast majority do not

So when you see a child with an ipad in the cafe, how do you know whether to hoick your judgy pants or to be understanding?

Sleepyblueocean I'm not talking about children with sensory issues, obviously that's different. But what about the other children?

I do think we are out and about a lot more than our parent's generation. This means a greater need for kids to be quiet in public spaces.

I don't think a bit of use of the i pad is bad at all - my son is 3 and watched things on the i pad and play the C Beebies educational games. However, he also loves drawing, writing and craft activities and also running around outside and climbing trees! His latest nursery report has said he has an extremely wide vocabulary - some of which he picks up from tv programmes which he will watch on the i pad. Moderation is the word.

For what it's worth, anecdotally, overuse of tablets is a huge issue for the under 5's, which is translating to many problems when they attend school and are unable to do many basic things that they should be able to do

The issue is, the OP didn't come on to discuss overuse which is - of course - an issue.

I mean how does OP know that the children are allowed 20 minutes of screen time a day and they happen to use that in a restaurant?

It is a very slippery slope if we start taking a snapshot of a family's life as a daming indictment of their use of tech.

Mimpi - you're right - it's a judgey pants nightmare - very hard to know how high to hoik them! But lets just say statistically most kids on ipads do not have special needs

Zzzz, thanks for that. Hadn't heard of the Valproate scandal, dreadful to think pregnant women were given that drug.

Outside of the ban for under 5's , I think there is definitely a discussion to be had over the usage of smartphones and tablets by the under twelves. If we could create a culture whereby it is not socially acceptable for the young to own these devices, and they would be used only under supervision, we could then halt some of the massive problems concerning sexting, social media addictions and exposure to pornography that is quite clearly causing young people to have very warped ideas around sexual behaviour.

As an aside, I find it very interesting that many Sillicon Valley executives send their kids to anti-tech schools.

www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/sherry-turkle-why-tech-moguls-send-their-kids-to-anti-tech-schools-2017-11

I don't think it matters if any child uses an ipad for a small period of the day.