Parents playing videos to children loudly in public places

[Tootytata]

I have a 4 year old and a 10 month old so I am constantly surrounded by nursery rhymes and cartoons at home!

I am waiting for a doctor's appointment in the waiting room by myself (mobile phone usage is allowed). There is a lady playing nursery rhyme videos loudly and holding the screen up for her baby. The whole waiting room is currently listening to B-I-N-G-O. Now it's "if you're happy and you know it".

I'm probably unreasonable but I have no kids with me so I was hoping to escape nursery rhymes for 30 minutes!

Is it reasonable for parents to play devices loudly in public? Wish I brought my ear phones.

No body is asking for a deathly quiet waiting room. Yes 2 year olds should be perfectly capable of waiting and playing with a toy.

Yes 2 year olds should be perfectly capable of waiting and playing with a toy

Where did the two year old come from? Regardless, your lack of imagination as to why this might not be a universal truism is revealing.

If the child isn't old enough for headphones then the volume should be off.

It seriously gives me the rage, there is no escape these days. We went to a v famous 2 Michelin star pub for lunch for my FIL's 70th birthday (you have to book months in advance) and on the next table was a couple with a toddler playing Peppa pig episodes for her on their phone. I wouldn't consider taking a child somewhere like that in the first place, but if its unavoidable, try to entertain them quietly for goodness sake! What made it worse was the child didn't seem to be that interested in it and was actually behaving pretty nicely anyway.

So damn annoying! Adults do it too. In the staff room at work. No one wants to listen to some crappy YouTube video.

Aw, lazy parenting is all over the place.
Yes, kids were raised for thousands of years without screens and parents making a nuisance of themselves.

God that is my pet peeve and it's everywhere these days. We're just back from holiday and ate in this expensive restaurant as a real treat, the table behind us had two kids with screens up loud. Same on the plane. Same at the fucking waterpark, for god's sake! Same in many other restaurants.

Note I don't give AF if you use a screen to keep your child occupied - but either give them headphones or turn the volume OFF!

That all ranted said, I think I'd probably be more forgiving in a surgery and assumed the kid was distressed. But you are definitely not BU.

BlueSkiesLies not putting headphones on my baby sorry!
Yes peekaboo worked at 3 months, my 2 year old just wants to walk around and touch everything

Play something very rude just as loud, well, that's your taste as peppa pig is the parent's choice.

@Baguetteaboutit someone upthread mentioned a 2 year old. But if it was really a baby, then playing peek a boo or giving them a teething ring is better.
What do you think parents of SN kids did before the internet? They had to try and entertain them using other methods along with all other parents.

playing peek a boo or giving them a teething ring is better. How could you know that? Why wouldn't you assume the Mum was doing the best she could with what she had available while it's likely either her or her child are unwell?

What do you think parents of SN kids did before the internet? I think they probably tried their best with the resources they had available and faced the scorn of do-gooders telling them what they should be doing...

Without exception they're all ignorant selfish pricks

No problem with parents (incl me) using screen time tactically when needed, but always at the lowest possible volume when in public. It's the same as people who listen to music on their phones at an obnoxiously loud level. Nobs.

Why don't parents buy children's headphones? I had it on the train and thankfully the guard told the parent to use headphones before I got too annoyed and said something

This is about adults who put their wants and needs before everyone else. Yes it may be easier to use a screen. But there are other people waiting some of whom might be very ill, and who do not need a oud playing kids video.

Why don't parents buy children's headphones?
Because the minimum age is about 3-4 years old. If someone can tell me where to buy safe headphones to fit a one year old I’ll gladly buy them.

@baguette no scorn at all. They just tried to entertain their kids as best they could.

And I accept that a baby will cry at times and I just need to put up with that. I very much doubt this was a tiny baby.

Ps I managed to keep my autistic child content before they invented smartphones - books, colouring, hangman, failing that you take them for a walk etc whilst you wait. Our gp had toys (now removed because kids weren't using them except 6+ year olds as projectiles!)

Well, if they can't tolerate the sound of nursery rhymes the sound of a crying baby won't be any better.

You might as well sit in a restaurant and sing loudly.
Or you could do as the two tossers did at the Farm shop cafe we visited one lunchtime, and prop up your laptop on your table with sound turned up to eleventy and have a full-on business-related conference call about progress on your IT netwrork upgrade. Tools. What in fuck is wrong with everyone.

Someone was doing this at dc3's nativity play last Christmas

absolutely Unreal

Weren't toys removed from surgeries because they're a biohazard?

Also, I used to give mine a book 😬

I hate the noise of children playing

but I would rather listen to children playing, squealing, whining etc than a video being played out loud.

l've encountered a new one I think - someone brought a baby in the pub and they had a white noise machine playing to keep the baby appeased. As soon as they walked in, I was like "wtf is that noise" - I couldn't believe it. FFS.

Also, I used to give mine a book

When they were a baby? That's impressive, even by MN standards. I just use to let my kids pour over sheet music and had them imagine what it would sound like.