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?

I also never claimed anyone was the same age as my mother?

You said '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'.

If this was a thread about social media usage I agree most haven't grown up being plastered over the internet from birth like you possibly was but that's not what this thread is about.

@Leah5678 It was early 2000s

The Coronation Street Sarah Lou storyline where she met an internet paedophile was in 2001.

I only mentioned my mother because people were starting to bring up ageism. I wanted to make it clear I don't have a problem with older parents.
I stand by what I said though people born in the late 80s/early 90s don't have the experience of growing up with high quality video games and internet like someone born in the 2000s.

"notorious". Interesting choice of words. Might be worth you looking up sensory processing disorder. Even McCain's chips have helped increase awareness of the condition and how things like screens help in their advertising campaign and charitble endeavours.

the skills children need to learn are around executive functioning; attention; memory and learning and other cognitive domains - only ONCE you train these skills, can you handle a device. it is the biggest lie of 21st century that devices teach these skills - they STUNT development of these skills - it is worth reading some background how you develop executive functioning skills in a child for instance (this part of brain functioning is basis to most activities of daily living like planning and organising; rational thinking; analysing; problem solving etc). do not be fooled to think that outsourcing parenting to devices is a clever thing to do.

Edited to add that “not having an opinion” on how other people parent isn’t that straightforward - these children don’t live in isolation on an island - they’re part of our society. why shouldn’t we strive for the best for our future generations? and as the adults in society, isn’t it our responsibility to raise awareness/campaign on public health issues? when children’s mental health is in all time crisis, why do people get told “not to be judgmental” when we’re highlighting issues that should be addressed.

I dunno, I think depends on circumstances. I try to avoid screens in restaurants but used it recently with my 5 yo old.

Took a relative to a fairly upmarket place. Just me, DD and relative. Relative doesn’t talk much/initiate convo due to slight cognitive impairment but will speak when spoken to etc. Makes for a long, awkward time on my part
of one sided conversation at times and hardly exciting for a young child who only got a few sentences directed to her, but It was for relatives birthday, out of town and so I couldn’t leave DD with anyone. No other family close by. They don’t interact/speak directly much to DD but that’s not really their fault. We were in the restaurant for 2+hours, the colouring sheet they gave didn’t last long, maybe 15 mins and there was almost no space on the table for it or colouring books or toys/games with bits etc. Lovely table service but quite slow and so DD had her ipad on with headphones which she took off to eat, and was quite content the whole time other than to go to them loo and we walked a bit around looking at the decor. She was next to a window, tucked out of the way and could see ducks, wildlife etc as well but this didn’t keep her occupied for all that long. We all had a good 3 course lunch and my relative enjoyed being out and in our company. DD didn’t get up, run around, screetch, bash loud toys around or be pain in the arse for other the diners.

In more casual restaurants geared for kids I think it would be more acceptable but this was a high end one and fairly subdued mood/music, so noisy kids or toys/games would definitely be ‘noticed’. I do think there is a low tolerance kids generally in the UK and wish this was different.

@TheNinny I still feel like adults (without kids) going to restaurants with provision for children (even if it's just a kids menu) still act surprised/horrified when a young child there behaves like a young child... When my son was 2 he did a relatively ear piercing scream of delight in a pizza restaurant, and a woman whipped around with a look on her face like the place had just been bombed, and then glared at us like we were the terrorists 😂 But then if he'd have been watching Peppa on my phone at the table she would probably think I was scum for that too! You can't win with some people, they just hate children who aren't still and silent.

The problem is not the device the child is using if a parent so wishes to give them one, and I do understand when this is necessary , the problem is the device being used without earphones. It is extremely intrusive for other patrons !!! I don't know about you but don't eat out much, it costs a lot of money , so if there are ipads and phones blasting out all over the place I really loathe having to sit there trying to eat my meal with a racket going on after spendig a lot of money. It's very selfish. I would rather hear kids laughing and playing.

I feel very sad seeing kids on screens all the time.
I'm not sure why it's Either kids on screens at mealtimes OR badly behaved kids.
Surely all kids around the 80s/90s didn't run around restaurants feral? What's the difference now?
You see it all the time, little babies in pushchairs watching iPhones or iPads, on holiday when there is kids entertainment, games and things kids preferring to be on screens.
Surely it's better for young children to be interacting in the real world for the majority of the time?

Why aren’t your kids in school?

Why are you on here writing multiple posts instead of spending quality time with your kids? @Somersetlady

That's the whole issue - kids aren't 'badly behaved'! They're fun, excited, energetic, etc. They aren't kicking other customers, spitting on the floor and going through their purses under their table. They just want to play, or at least that's my experience. My son just wants to play, constantly, and it has to be physical. He isn't naughty, he's fun. He is only 3.5 now but getting him to stay still and eat a decent amount of food is essentially impossible without a screen 😂 I've tried, I've really tried. He's just too playful and giddy.

@DonnyBurrito no, I don't disagree that they aren't badly behaved. I was going off what some other people had written saying if kids didn't have screens at mealtimes they would be badly behaved.

I think there is a middle ground that's all.

There is, but some people don't want to acknowledge that. To them, anything that isn't a child sat down, quiet , maybe engaging in conversation (but not too loudly) is a badly behaved child, even toddlers. As a result, some parents have resorted to a "fail proof " method.

We had threads on here complaining about kids being entertained with stickers, colouring, engaging them in conversation/the world around them, playing games.

We had threads on here complaining about kids laughing, or babies/toddlers squealing in excitement.

Haven’t been on this thread for a year🤣 it’s a 2024 thread.

You do know that the UK school system isn’t the only one worldwide and that differing countries and schools have differing calendars?