There's absolutely nothing wrong with iPad at the table at a restaurant after a child centric day

[moomoomouseey]

Imagine a day, filled with child friendly activities on holiday. Think beach, biking sandcastles, swimming together, pool, diving, playgrounds, reading books together, drawing, child centred show in the evening, fun fair, trampoline jumping.. etc etc..

At the end of all this, you go out for a meal. You bring crayons and paper etc and other toys, but after a while, your children are restless and bored but you want to enjoy your meal. You get out the iPads with headphones and let your kids watch for a bit/ play educational games, while you enjoy your meal in peace.

Some judgy judgerpants walks past and thinks you're a bad parent.

Kids are 2 and 4 or 3 and 5.

What do people like this get out of being so unpleasant?

@SwingTheMonkey

I really wish I knew.

My worry is that I haven't been around here much but already I see a pattern of people who are unsure and introspective posting genuine questions and concerns, who are then almost preyed upon by another group who seem for some reason to delight in looking down their noses at their parenting and making them feel inadequate.

Perhaps it makes them feel superior, or perhaps they already believe they are. I can't work it out. Perhaps they are bored and enjoy the drama. Perhaps they have frustrations in their own lives that they cannot address and this is an outlet. Perhaps they feel threatened by seeing alternative approaches as it makes them question whether their own is wrong. I just don't know.

But it does feel very toxic to treat others that way, online or not, and I worry that someone feeling at rock bottom could be faced with this kind of response and really suffer as a result.

I'd take a book, comic, small game, or even chat to them, over a screen personally, but then I'm not a fan of young kids having screens at all.

They may have been thinking that the iPads were a good idea. Sometimes we eat later on holiday, an iPad is a great idea instead of story time, before bed. This is all a tempest in a teapot. Adults like a leisurely dinner, children like Peppa Pig

If they had the sound on then that would be unreasonable, otherwise I wouldn’t judge.

We’ve never done it, but fire away yourself.
I’ll plonk my kid in front of the TV at home…

To anyone who comments just reply' You'd judge us even more negatively if we didn't let them wind down for an hour or so on the IPAD. Would you prefer them to be whingy, loud & bored because they're tired after a busy day of doing lots of activities?' if A child is sitting nice & quiet watching/playing on the IPAD then it's no one else's business.

Those aren't the only two options. If you have tired and potentially whingy children, why subject them to a long and boring evening meal? Get some food in them quickly and get them off to bed.

As long as the sound was low or they had headphones on, crack on.
Far better than listening to whinging unruly children.
I don't care about your kids on tablets. I imagine most people feel the same.
As long as I can eat my dinner in peace, everyone is happy.

As long as there's headphones (though there never are...) then it's not going to actively annoy me, though I don't think it's good for kids to be heavily reliant on screens.

The thing that winds me up though is when parents act like they're doing us all a favour because otherwise their kids would be running around screaming.

It just highlights to me that some parents rely on screens to avoid actually doing some parenting, and think that it's OK because their kids aren't actively annoying every single other person around them.

Nobody has the right to judge you or your parenting. Hats off to those of you who would never let your child use a device at the table.
Could someone pass me the charger please…