Children swiping books to turn the page

[wondering7777]

I just watched a news report on Channel 4 where a primary school teacher was saying she’s come across children who use a swipe motion (as you would with an iPhone/tablet) to try to turn pages in a book.

It was part of a wider report saying that there’s been an increase in children who aren’t ready for school on their first day - they’re still using bottles and dummies and wearing nappies.

AIBU to be shocked and saddened by this, particularly the book thing?

To be fair I’ve just started using a new work laptop, whereas before I was just using my own surface pro at home - I regularly tap the screen or try and slide a page up and down out of habit. Easily done I think.

dolly is right, DS2 is 2 and has never read a book on a tablet, and he turns pages in paper books by essentially sliding the page. I think because they're too thin for his current motor skills? He turns card book pages properly, so it's definitely the book rather than him.

It seems like I'm going against the grain here but I just can't see the need for tablets for under 4s.

I think at that age most, if not all their learning needs can be met in play. The three most important factors at that age are communication, social development and physical development. These skills are inherently important before you start to learn at primary school aged 4 onwards.

An awareness of tablets and computing is fine, I'm just not sure why they need to be regularly using it themselves at that age?

Perhaps I'm a dinosaur, but I just love to see children really engaged in play.

@sawyersfishbiscuits tablets are a life saver to stop older pre-schoolers falling asleep in the car and then refusing to sleep at night, we got to the point prior to this where we were housebound after 2.30pm as even 30 seconds of shut eye seemed to result in two hours of not going to bed!

‘Particularly the book thing’?

Why?

Children reading a book might try and swipe but they know how to turn a page. They’re still learning to read. Reading on a kindle or iPad is still reading

The children will be using e readers when they become accomplished readers so I can’t really see the issue?

It’s nothing like 4 year olds in nappies/ with dummies

We have had DS1 swiping a book and also trying to turn over the iPad to turn the page on an ebook. None issue. Read to every night. Free reader in Y1. All things in moderation.

I’d been working on a project using my computer for days once and when I knocked over my coffee I grabbed my mouse and went to click delete it using the screen (as it continues to spread everywhere).

I teach in a very deprived area and there is a huge increase of children - who are developmentally able - starting school not toilet trained and with dummies. Most of them can figure out an iPhone and swipe pages. It's our job to teach them early literacy skills, so that's not a major issue, which is addressed easily.

I think at that age most, if not all their learning needs can be met in play.

Sure, they can, but they don't have to - a tablet is another tool for play, so why limit their experience artificially just because it has a screen? My son is 3 and he has learned a lot of fine motor skills from games on a tablet - tracing letter shapes and matching shapes is developing the same skills that they would if he were doing it on a paper page, but the tablet has 25 games on it, whereas I wouldn't take 25 games in the car and I certainly wouldn't take pens and paper whereas the tablet allows him to colour and draw to his heart's content, so if anything it's broadening his experience.

Done similar myself and I'm pushing 50. Tried to make the words bigger on a magazine article and have scrolled down when I've read a column in a newspaper.

I read a lot of paper books but have never swiped.

Ok, this is embarassing.

A few years ago, at work, I was getting right wound up. My mouse was refusing to navigate to my calendar and i was fed up. About to pick up the phone and complain to IT when I did a final run through and spotted the problem. My mouse works on my computer screens, my calendar was pinned to the wall Only took me 20 mins to work that out!

My son is 3 and he has learned a lot of fine motor skills from games on a tablet - tracing letter shapes and matching shapes is developing the same skills that they would if he were doing it on a paper page, but the tablet has 25 games on it, whereas I wouldn't take 25 games in the car and I certainly wouldn't take pens and paper whereas the tablet allows him to colour and draw to his heart's content, so if anything it's broadening his experience.

I will never believe that the minimal fine motor skills you can get from swiping, pinching or tapping a screen will be better than the physical benefits of climbing, hanging, building, threading, rolling, using tweezers, cutting with scissors etc. Young children need to develop gross and fine motor skills, upper arm strength and strong pincer grip before they can develop the strength to write.

Sadly they are expected to write at a younger and younger age these days. ☹️

I also think that there's a whole lifetime to play with technology but they won't always want to play in the sand.

The screen will entertain them, but it's so important that they learn to play without that too.

I can also understand that things can be fine in very small doses.

Totally agree with you @sawyersfishbiscuits. Each to their own but I’d really like to bring my child up with minimal screen time before they start school if I can. I also worry that too much screen time is bad for their imagination.

I certainly wouldn't take pens and paper whereas the tablet allows him to colour and draw to his heart's content, so if anything it's broadening his experience.

Colouring on a tablet is just using the tip of a finger. It's nothing like holding a pencil or crayon, so how is it broadening his experience?

When my aunt started school age 5 in the 1940s she had a dummy on a string under her clothes. My mum used to guard the toilet door for her so she could have suckon a dummy. My mum said it was like a smoker desperate for a fag.

Secondary IT is interesting, kids used to arrive never having used a PC,then they all knew how to, then they started arriving knowing how to use a tablet but needing to be taught how to use a mouse.

dollydaydream114

I was taught how to turn a page in infant school.

I don't know enough about the production or manufacturing of books or electronic tablets to thoroughly argue which is environmentally more harmful - but a PP saying that a tablet is better for the environnent than a book????

A sophisticated piece of electronic equipment with hundreds of components, sourced and manufactured across the globe...

@sawyersfishbiscuits makes some good points about motor skills - fundamentally people need to develop a whole range of skills and techniques to see them through life, swiping and jabbing at a touch screen only will not be enough to learn through.

My kids are teens, but we definitely had a bag of coloring books and pens to take out with us, when they were toddlers and primary school age.

I will never believe that the minimal fine motor skills you can get from swiping, pinching or tapping a screen will be better than the physical benefits of climbing, hanging, building, threading, rolling, using tweezers, cutting with scissors etc. Young children need to develop gross and fine motor skills, upper arm strength and strong pincer grip before they can develop the strength to write.

My point is that he can use a tablet to do things in situations where there isn't an opportunity to play in the sand or get out a set of paints, hence I said that tablets are an addition to the raft of tools we have at our disposal to help children learn in different situations.

Colouring on a tablet is just using the tip of a finger. It's nothing like holding a pencil or crayon, so how is it broadening his experience? confused

Had I said that I never let him hold a pencil because he could learn everything he needed to from a tablet, I could understand your confusion, but I was quite clear that it's a chance to practice some fine motor skills in a situation where he would probably be bored rigid otherwise.

Actually DS's fine motor skills improved by using the tablet simply because he was really interested and very keen to persist, beading and the like didn't have the same appeal at the time. I now occasionally rope him in when I'm using little fiddly beads as he's got perfect sized fingers.

Same with phonics- tried teaching him with a book and he was rather 'meh' about it, however he picked them up straight away using a game. And he now also wants to use the book.

Clutching at straws but perhaps they use e-readers instead of actual physical books?

Like I posted upthread, DS school doesn't use physical reading books, all of their school reading scheme books are on tablets/ereaders.

I do that, I read mainly on my ereader now and far less paper books. I've found myself swiping a paper book on occasion. My daughter reads a mix of ebooks and paper books and I don't have a problem with that

I agree about fine motor development, but I think that you can't correlate swiping with literacy skills, especially as when PP have said, that could indicate a high access to literary resources (certainly more than children who've not read or been read to at all before school).

The cognitive gap about what is or isn't swipeable is a small one, and one that can easily get missed as an adult.

(the first time I went to a football match, something happened and I stared at the spot where it had happened, waiting for the replay! Iwas 25. I also have a mental tic where I know Alexa isn't at work or at my friend's houses etc, but I always think she'll be there when I'm abroad somehow...)

I was reading a book this morning and came to a word I wasn't sure about, for a split second I thought of pressing on the word to access the dictionary although I didn't actually do it. I'm 64.

YANBU. When I was in Reception a child was in nappies and he was still teased about it in secondary school!
Unless SN, I feel nappies are just for babies & toddlers, so children under 3. With mine we were always told just before coming home they don't recommend dummies (we didn't ask, didn't want to use anyway), but why don't people follow the advise and not give them dummies at all? Or get rid of bottles at 12 months as per HV advice? It's setting their child up to be bullied if they start school like that