Well off children & children who attend private school spend alot less time on screens?

[Ewetoo]

www.screenfreeparenting.com/rich-get-smart-poor-get-technology-new-digital-divide-school-choice/

Interesting article & I agree.. Well off parents can spend more time & money on enriching educational after school activities & sports. It's a no brainer... My wealthier friends are all off hiking, camping or biking with the kids who do a host of extracurriculars during the week & also happen to read loads.. My normal circles kids like my own love roblox & Minecraft & don't have the same after school activities & weekends spent chilling...

Everything you listed is very low cost yabu.

Private school children seem to often have longer school days , they don't all do cheap camping and biking either
Horsseriding , sailing etc are expensive hobbies , many can afford swimming lessons and many extra circular which people on lower incomes can't always

Well yes. Money buys privilege.
Longer days. Long journeys. Loads of clubs. Money buys endless enriching activities. Money buys nannies & holiday clubs.
I'm comfortably middle class.
My kids do stuff every night.
But walk home by 3.15-4pm
So yes screens it is as I'm working

We talk about books a lot. they listen to us chatting about books and see us charge into bookshops all the time especially second hand ones. If you genuinely love reading they will pick up your enthusiasm anyway!

It's always been the case that Montessori etc were low tech, as were Silicon Valley schools. I don't think it crosses over to private schools in the UK at all. Most of them are very tech dependent for homework and in-school work.

Yy DC at our private school have clubs and hobbies but they also tend to have mobile phones from a young age; and age inappropriate social media. The parents refuse to limit electronics or put parameters around social media.

@CantFindTheBeat mine played football for a team and it costs money to play sometimes up to £5-8 a week , plus travel to games which can be far away , football boots aren't cheap either and mu dh coaches rugby and again fees ( although cheaper ) travel and time , lots of parents now have jobs that involve working weekend , this we found is why many parents cannot commit to a weekly game and training nights

You don't get kids who "happen to read loads". There will be a reading culture within the family and there is likely to be a strong parental example to follow.

Not always. My parents didn't read at all, and were glued to the TV my entire childhood. I devoured books. I was a kid who 'happened to read loads'.

Mine both went to state school and we live on a council estate fo further add to the stereo type
We had no real screen time limits as such , but mine played rugby and footie so took up a lot of weekend , also they often played out at park with mates etc , so naturally they just didn't over a year have tons of screentime
I also have never taken phones at bedtime , they just know they have to switch off and get up in the morning and manage it themselves
They do know I would step in if needed though
So some weeks mine might of had a fair bit screen time and the following couple weeks nothing , its all evened itself out

I really resent the 'uneducated poor use devices to entertain kids' line.
The truely poor do not have iPads / PS / Xbox. They can barely feed & cloths their kids. In vast numbers.
I know a lot of private school kids who have all the screens and games as play on them plenty

*For those who have a culture of reading at home, how do you do it?? Our kids aren't on screens much at all but I'd love to know how you carve out time to read in front of the kids?

We read to them absolutely loads, and have plenty of books around the house. But I don't think I've ever had time to set an example of reading for my own enjoyment in front of them (apart from on holiday). Kids ate 5 and 7 btw.*

My kids are far younger (2 and 3) but if they're playing nicely with their trains or on the garden, I'll open a book. There 3 year old often asks me about what I'm reading (the 2 year old wanders over and peers). We take books in the car every day. Today we went to a cafe and my 3 year old asked if he could bring his book. We read it while waiting for the food to arrive. It might all go wrong for me but at the moment I'm just trying to embed reading into day to day life as a normal thing we do. We strictly limit TV. Long way to go I know...

Start a separate thread on this topic! But at that age (ms DC are a year or two older) start with comic type books for the younger one (Dogman, Catkid) and ones with lots of pictures (eg Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the 7 sorry treehouse books) for the older one.

The article is from a web site called 'screen free parenting'
In most high schools everything and homework is heavily on devices

@surreygirl1987 at that age mine also loved books , by 7 /8 hated them , I blame you accelerated reading
Both had very high reading levels throughout school though
Now as older teenagers barely read a book at all

I live in a fairly wealthy part of London, and it would be socially unacceptable to give you kids a free home or iPad to entertain themselves in a local cafe or restaurant. People would be judging you for sure! Books, colouring in, sticker books, etc, but no devices.

Another vote for all the private school parents I know are strict about screen time, at least during primary school. But they have longer days. I'm always amazed by the Mumsnet threads about families where the kids watch TV in the morning until they leave for school at 8:45. Mine have to be at school by 8:15 at the latest!

We are not wealthy and DS doesn’t go to private school. But he goes to after school club most evenings, and does a few evening a weekend activities during the school term.

most other spare time he’s at play dates, parties, playing with his cars or just activities (ie park, science centre, day trip, beach, walks, museum, zoo etc).

we aren’t rich, but not poor either, and only have one child, so that helps lots

My children (state educated and a toddler) don't have limits to screen time but they do do a range of other things. Lego building, playing in the garden, wild swimming, country walks, creative play, E.t.c...

State school here. Lone parent household so just me and DS. One income and social housing.

DS 8 does, rugby, boxing, boys brigade, church on Sundays.

He's not a reader mainly because he's dyslexic, but what he does love is Lego!! He spends most if not all his free time building with Lego. He does have a Nintendo switch which has Minecraft and Pokémon on it, but it probably gets used once or twice a week. He might watch the odd hour or two of TV now and again, but mostly it's Lego.

I've never really had to put a screen time limit on, or have a rule. It's never been needed. I do however spend far too much money on Lego 😳 if only I was a shareholder!! Lol

I can’t speak for anyone else, but certainly one of the reasons my kids are “bookish” is that they don’t have tablets. It’s not a private school / middle class / money thing, it’s a choice we’ve made based because we don’t want them idling their childhoods away on screens. Things like reading, junior parkrun, scouts/guides are all low-cost or free. The correlation of making these kinds of choices is the education level of the parents or their engagement at least, not private school.

Okay so IF it is true what is the reason?

Is it that wealthy people have the privileges that allow multiple extracurricular activities/hobbies/sports, days out away from home/screens at weekend, holidays, large gardens, free time and correct clothing/equipment to utilise outdoor space and go on hikes/bike rides.

Or is it that they are just inherently ~better~ than lazy poor parents?

My kids have as much screen time as they want.

They don't do any extra curricular stuff (other than swimming lessons to learn how to not drown).

DS1 is a very academically able student, works hard, enjoys school.

Ds2 I has an intellectual impairment and screen time, along with crafting are the only two things he wants to do.

DS3 is rarely in the house, preferring to bike outside and do all the things we used to do in the 80s like building a camp and playing out with friends.

They are all awesome kids who make me proud. They have each learnt young to work out their own thoughts and feelings and take responsibility for their happiness.

I was a middle class child who did every extra curricular going. My abusive parents farmed me out and kept me so busy that I was well into adulthood before I could work out what I enjoyed and who I was.

I feel sorry for some of these hot houses kids whose time isn't their own. I remember it being stressful and exhausting.

My toddlers are 2.5. They've never seen the TV in our house turned on (they think it's broken). They LOVE books. Their favorite thing is to sit on my knee and read books.
However, I sometimes let them watch Peppa Pig on my iPad, and they'd happily spend hours doing that if I let them. I restrict it to the weekends. I want them to be outdoorsy kids, rather than glued to screens.

@ElspethTascioni and how ild are your children ?

@Apollonia1 come back to us when they are 9/10

18 down to 4

i always remember that screens were barely even a thing when I was little- certainly smartphones and tablets didn’t even exist!

Yet despite having zero exposure to iPads or phones during childhood I struggle with screen addiction and being glued to my phone as an adult.