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?

Go read any number of threads about primary school behaviour on here - many are written by teachers and shows that this kind of crap behaviour is commonplace, even in naice areas.

@shockeditellyou really? I'm not so sure!

I'm with you op. I'll start by saying exceptions for kids with autism and other special needs if it helps them I don't have a neuro diverse child so I'm not going to speak on something I haven't experienced. But other than that I don't even understand why people buy neurotypical kids under 8 their own iPads? Just don't get it. My son is six and never had one never needed one. Maybe because I'm quite young compared to other parents of six year olds (2001 born) so I know how bad vegetating in from of a screen is for young kids (and that was the Nintendo Wii not even as bad as an iPad). I think it's mostly older parents who buy their kids iPads because they don't really understand the dangers.

Games consoles existed before the millennium. My older brother had a Segaaaa, then we had PlayStation. I spent my evenings as a teen getting home from school, logging onto the Sims and MSN. I think most parents have a kids Kindle Fire rather than an Ipad.

Oh and game boys. I loved mine!

Yeah and the quality wasn't anywhere near as good as it is today, modern tech is way more addictive
And yeah I stand by what I said it's always the older parents who don't understand this. Younger parents know the dangers of letting their kids roam the internet from personal experience. You see people on Mumsnet who think their children will be the next Steve jobs and learn how to code if they give them an iPad to watch Coco melon at age 2 lol

Letting your DC roam the internet is very different to letting your DC play an age appropriate game on a kids tablet during a meal out.

I still think it's bad. Many have mentioned on the thread neurodiverse children so exceptions for them. But if the kids neurotypical they shouldn't be vegetating in front of an iPad instead of experiencing real life. I feel like shit when I waste time on my phone but hell I'm an adult and know how to self regulate kids don't know that.
Like I said though I don't even understand why people buy neurotypical young kids iPads. Absolute waste of money and that's the least of the issues with it

The vast majority of us are far too addicted to our phones. We know this instinctively. We sense that it’s getting harder to pick up a book and focus on reading, or do anything that requires concentration, than it is to scroll through multiple apps.

These new deceives have been designed to consume our attention and to be addictive. But somehow we’re in denial about this for our own children.

There’s no point in judging any individual family as you have no idea about their circumstances, but as a collective, of course course we’re resorting to too much placatory screen time. It starts from toddlerhood, but it’s not contained to unruly children. There’s a risk of a seamless migration from iPads to phones on the dinner table unless boundaries are set.

My parents were once berated that we had our noses stuck in a book at a restaurant. Times have changed, the methods haven't. It is not that different when a kid is playing with a toy or an ipad. I detest kids having access to social media, but there are plenty of educational fun apps for children.

@Outofideas79 I was saying that the PP's choices (who's reply is in this thread) weren't any better, not that one is better than the other.

It was one of many points in response to “Saying that we don’t really eat out, we just get good fresh produce from the local market” as part of a description of the especially perfect people who are apparently the only type of parent to engage with their children rather than stick them in front of a screen at restaurants. Try using some context when you’re reading.

I am also surprised at the number of children who can’t be taken out without and iPad/can’t behave at the table.

Yeah and the quality wasn't anywhere near as good as it is today, modern tech is way more addictive

Pokémon on the Gameboy was deffo addictive! I once walked into a lamppost (whilst on holiday!) because my nose was so buried in it 😂 I was the same with the Harry Potter books. Completely obsessed and nothing else mattered whilst I was reading those.

Sorry but I think this is uninformed and presumptuous.
As someone who has taken on many apprentices and industrial placement students, I am absolutely floored by how savvy the young generation is. Precisely because they started young and pursued it. Do you work in IT?
And just to state again. The modern tech is an absolute godsend for my Sen DD.

@Leah5678

You do realise it’s the older parents who ‘invented’ the tech?

Again with the ageism!!

The ones who invented the tech don't allow their kids on it

Um is this supposed to be a "gotcha" question?
A handful of people also invented rocket science that doesn't mean every person in that generation understood it

I think I already said about three times that I aint judging any parents of Sen kids if they need to use tech.
Yes I agree younger people are more tech savvy. That was exactly my point tbh younger parents know the dangers of the internet which is why my 6 year doesn't have his own iPad but I see older parents who let their kids roam the net 24/7 without understanding why thats dangerous.
Just an observation based on my own experience 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Leah5678 I understand you may not like it but you’re being called out by posters for making a rather rude and sweeping generalisation.

.

Those people are free to tell me why they disagree I honestly don't mind tbh. I see people are dropping "thanks" on my comments so not everyone disagrees with me anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️It wasn't really a generalisation it's just an observation based on my own experience. My mother was 40 when she had me and she was a wonderful mother so I'm not trying to disparage older parents. However it is true they didn't grow up with tech like us younguns did, so dont have the personal experience of growing up in the tech age, which is what this thread is all about really

@Leah5678 agree they are not digital natives
, that’s a fact, however I would say the thread is also about parenting, human interaction and engagement with children. Especially in what is a traditionally a social setting.

The tech aspect is an aside.

@Leah5678 your mother may have been 40 when she had you, but given you said that she had you in 2001 that would make her 62 now. I doubt many of the parents in your 6 YOs class are 62. They're not from the same generation as your mother. The example you used was that you're more tech savvy because you had a Nintendo Wii as a child.

Yes the others mothers in your DCs class are likely older than you. But they're really not as old as you think. They likely would have grown up with games consoles and the Internet.

The closest parent in age to me in my son's class is still older by an entire decade. Technology is changing rapidly so that makes a pretty big difference. The internet became mainstream in the late 00s so that ten years is the difference between being an adult when it became mainstream or a child