Children on Ipads in restaurants

[Somersetlady]

Away in a resort. I am shocked by the number of children on ipads for the entire sitting of a meal. Breakfast lunch and dinner.

Buffet to fine dining.

From todlers upwards.

No social interaction with parents or staff and mindless eating whilst inhaling cartoons.

i understand that parents want a bit of a break but surely this is shockingly bad for the children?

Some of the most recent comments are reminding me of something a "friend" said to me when DS was 2 and a half and had not started talking at all (he never did in the end).

I was of course very worried and buying all kinds of advisory books, researching every possible cause, doing every possible kind of home therapeutic activity and reciprocal game out there, spending hours talking to him, arranging the paeds, SALT and ed psych assessments etc etc. She turned to me and said "oh, maybe I'm just crazy like that [tinkling laugh, toss of the head] but when my kids were little I talked to them like mad all the time! I must have looked mad! Maybe you should try talking to him sometimes, that might help!". I wanted to shoot her.

I didn't really talk to her again after that. Well once, after my son had been diagnosed as autistic and was still non-verbal and was by now severely self-harming all day. He was on a specialist therapy programme with highly skilled professionals working with him alongside the family and she came around and offered her services as a therapist. Her qualifications? "Oh, I've always been good with kids! I just love them to bits, how hard can it be if you are like that?".

The moral, once again, as I said before, you don't know what is going on in other people's lives so please hold back on the judgement (and ill-informed advice).

@TinkerTiger please explain to me WHY this is considered any better? I do the same, but we do also have a amazon tablet thing as well, which she occasionally uses. But on there I would say are pretty educational games. So what on earth is the difference? I just don't get it.

@Doone so my son is never allowed out then? An institution perhaps? Or shall we just keep him in a back room?

Its depressing. I know kids can be annoying but I would much rather that than see them ruining their eyesight in screens at an early age. My child was following conversations at the dinner table and understanding what was said well before the age of 2 because they weren't excluded with a screen shoved in front of them. Its a massive pet peeve of mine too!

My grandmother had a similar attitude to my mother reading in the 40s. It was total bollocks.

People eat in front of the telly for some meals and have since the 70s

@GoodlifeGlow what would you deem an "age appropriate activity" for a big lumbering almost-15 year old autistic boy? I'd say watching a YouTube video about bus engines or going on Wikipedia and memorising the names of the members of the Irish Olympic team for Paris is not too bad. He is sure as hell not going to be colouring in the pictures on the kids' menu.

What about a britvic 55! Now that was posh!

I didn’t say that. You’ve misread.

I think it's unfair to judge a small window of the day.

I used you tube to occupy my 15 month old out for dinner on holiday. Sitting waiting for food is not fun for kids. She's too young to understand why she has to wait for food or why she has to stay seated. It's hardly fun for other diners to listen to my child melt down because I wouldn't allow 10 or so minutes of screen time.

She also rarely has screen time in the day, so I'd hate to think I was being judged from a small snapshot of our day. Not to mention on holiday, when you're allowed as an adult to do whatever you want to relax!

Honestly, don't take it to heart. Some people on here love to bitch about kids and how awful OTHER parents are.

If the kids are chattering,laughing etc then there's threads about them being noisy,disruptive and so on.

There was a thread once about someone moaning about kids having stickers because they took too much space and were everywhere. Same with colouring/puzzles.

Then you have the kids playing and stuff and moaning , even when the venue advertises itself as family friendly. Or the whole business model is around having a play area.

Then you have the threads complaining about parents TALKING to their kids and that it's performance parenting and so annoying.

Then the threads about kids being absolutely quiet, not getting up or disruptive in any way BUT they're on a tablet.

Basically, if kids exist in public, someone will moan about them and their parents.

What's wrong with having it easy sometimes? Or does parenting have to be hard all the time?

Do you have children?

Learn how to spell toddlers and be glad all these parents try to keep their children quiet and behaving themselves when out. Would you rather they were running riot.

Generally I would agree, however I also recall being heavily criticised by a table of 3 who were very drunk and felt they could loudly discuss my children both engrossed in phones. Buy the alternative was, I removed the distractions to listen to the 3 drunken idiots effing and jeffin, calling each other c*ts . Not a chance, my kids thought it was Christmas as I allowed and actively encouraged using phones at the table !!!!

Personally I try to promote other forms of entertainment when out to dinner, like activity books etc, my child does have a tablet, but he rarely asks to use it, and we don't currently take out to dinner, but that could change as he gets older. It would be a last resort for me, we like to talk over our dinner about school and our days etc

@TinkerTiger what were you saying then?

When we're on holiday, any iPad time in a restaurant is the only screen time they would have all day.

They are tired, hungry and need some downtime, right before you head to the kids disco or whatever else is going on.

They wouldn't have it at breakfast or lunch, just dinner.

I'm ok with that.

Why would you take your children out for dinner if your not going to interact with them? None of my 4 children needed electronics to sit still and behave in a restraunt. My youngest waitresses at the weekend and she often remarks that children are given ipads to amuse themselves while the adults scroll through their phones!

Ahh I honestly wish people would just focus on their own kids if other peoples kids aren’t harming them

But how can they judge others, to appoint themselves the best mother ever, if they do that?

@NannieLou good for you and your kids. Mine does need his phone in the restaurant. Does that make you better than me?

My kids had the iPad when we went away, my Son struggles with social situations so it distracts him from people around him and my daughter is a toddler who wants to be running around after 5 mins, it's not to give me a break it's so not to disturb everyone else around them, the sound is always very very low.....I'm not a lazy parent, I also teach my kids manners and how to behave but I also consider their struggles and other diners

No it's not shockingly bad. I'm sure the have lots of interaction and do other things too. Yes, parents do need a break and want to enjoy their meal in peace. Stop judging.