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.

I agree with you , my son is 7 and doesn't have one . He has special needs and LoVES an iPad but he had one for a while and got completely obsessed. It caused upset and we felt it would hold his development back even further so binned it. He has very limited speech and learning difficulties but can sit in a restaurant while we have food with a mixture of chatting and colouring .. in not a militant And I believe what you do with your child is totally up to you ( it ultimately doesn't affect my life ) but I can't help feeling it's a bad idea...😬😬

I can't get overexcited about what other people entertain their children with.

Believe you me we ain't over excited

"He has very limited speech and learning difficulties but can sit in a restaurant while we have food with a mixture of chatting and colouring"

But perhaps doesn't have the severe sensory difficulties that some children have.

How strange. You'd almost think that children with additional needs are all different and some are much more or less severely affected than others wouldn't you?

I would also be careful getting to stuck in a “he doesn’t need it” hole.

Ds didn’t need it 3 years ago. A year ago he could generally manage a meal out without it. Now if we manage to get him out the house at all he needs It.

I will forever be grateful to the family fund for proving it!

I think they're a wonderful invention.

Perhaps you have a very calm child who enjoys play dough, stickers, colouring etc. Our table/plane seat would be covered in bits of playdough, crayon scribbles, decorated with stickers. She would be bored after 10 minutes and start squashing play dough into the floor or dropping into the vase/my wine glass to see what happens. Then she'd start climbing, running and talking to other diners.

I restrict her tablet time and it goes back in my bag when the food arrives.

I was making the point that if my son is has pretty severe sn can do it then typical children should be able to . My dd always did . We have taught him to , he didn't come trained ! 🙄

No if your son can do it it simply shows that he can. No two children are alike!

Zzzz - they are a great tool for kids wit special needs.
Stepsideways - have you ever thought there may be a connection between the so called 'calm kids ' and they're lack of screen usage

*their

I agree with the OP completely.

I was in Pizza Express recently and there were three families sitting at the next table with a bunch of kids, all under 8 I'd say. The youngest kids were on phones, the older ones mostly watching iPads (not the same one). I could hear which episode of Peppa Pig was playing, it was that loud.. One set of parents were cringing because of the impact on our enjoyment of a meal out, but no-one else cared one jot.

Ditto on planes.. No-one bothers minding their kids or trying to get them off the screens. Instead the smallest of kids watch iPads at volume with no headphones.

My kids are low double digits and like gadgets as much as the next kid. But until they were 10, they had 40 mins screen time a day. The rule is still never at meals inside or outside the home.

That makes me feel like a dinosaur but I don't care.

The OP isn't talking about the nuisance of noisy tech. She is talking about banning something that makes the lives of some people much better because she doesn't want her child to see one.

*I was in Pizza Express recently and there were three families sitting at the next table with a bunch of kids, all under 8 I'd say. The youngest kids were on phones, the older ones mostly watching iPads (not the same one). I could hear which episode of Peppa Pig was playing, it was that loud.. One set of parents were cringing because of the impact on our enjoyment of a meal out, but no-one else cared one jot.

Ditto on planes.. No-one bothers minding their kids or trying to get them off the screens. Instead the smallest of kids watch iPads at volume with no headphones*

So the issue was abuse of the tech rather than tech, right?

My DD likes to use her iPad on planes. She isn’t a great flyer. We have a headphone splitter and watch movies together. Doesn’t affect anyone, makes our life more pleasant.

Op, I can't wait for you to try to take Playdough onto an airplane. I think orange is a nice color for playdough, no?

Yabu. My oldest DS (4) has ASD, SLD and severe sensory processing difficulties. He’s non verbal and has a very limited understanding of language i.e can’t follow verbal commands. He would never be able to sit and colour (doesn’t understand it) or read (can’t do it and gets bored of looking at pictures after a few moments). He would eat or throw play dough even if he was shown how to use it and no amount of ‘chatting’ or interaction would sustain him for long, his attention span is non existent.

So yes, when we are out he had his iPad with his favorite shows on loop (certain episodes of certain things with certain moments) because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to bring him out to the likes of a restaurant. I’d get anxious that he’d meltdown, that he’d constantly want to wonder about. No amount of ‘stern talking’ or the likes will work because he doesn’t understand why he isn’t allowed to do certain things or why he has to sit.

How do you propose banning them??

They are like anything else in life: a good servant but a poor master.

We don't let Dd(2) have much iPad time, but what she does get is in a restaurant if she's being a pain because it's going on a while and she's bored. Because other diners aren't paying to hear her screeching she wants to get down or throwing food on the floor or to see her chucking crayons around or to hear us telling her not to do any of the above! Plus, you know, we like to eat dinner too.

However there is a happy medium and yes I think it's sad when you see families where everyone is on a tablet/iPhone for the entire meal.

Smuggity McSmugness from Smugsville.

Dd gets aggressive when using iPad or afterwards so usage is limited. If out at cafe/restaurant dd draws or does colouring . I personally think it's bad manners to be continually using device or phone at mealtimes whatever age .

Rose - we are in the minority

And Rose spectacularly misses the point some of us are trying to make.

So the issue was abuse of the tech rather than tech, right?
Right. Now that the above posters point it out, my rant is about noisy tech that affects my enjoyment of restaurants or flights. Quiet ones don't bother me (I can stick to my rules for my own kids).

I think your reservations are completely valid op.