Electronic babysitter

[MobilityCat]

Can’t believe what l saw , someone with her 18 months old baby sitting up in the buggy playing with a phone. She should just talk to her baby instead as they go along, or give it a proper toy to play with like we did when l was a mum in the 80s, this baby is already hooked.

Shocking. Youth of today.

What's the difference between "a proper toy" to play with, and a phone? I assume the baby wasn't calling people and running up a huge bill.

There is one great piece of advice I’ve learnt since becoming a mum….

Never judge another parent on a snapshot of their day. You have no idea what else they do with or for their child or what kind of day/life they are having.

This. No one is chatting with a baby in the buggy for every second they're in there, and if it's giving a minutes peace to a stressed out mum, I couldn't get worked up over it.

And your point is?

As I understand it, until a child is at least 18 months old before introducing any screen time, and even then, it should be viewed together with mum. For babies, screen time can interfere with healthy brain development, sleep, and parent child interaction. Letting your child play with a phone you should really wait until they are 2 years old or older, and even then, limit the amount of usage. There's nothing wrong with conventional toys.

I haven’t resorted to this yet but it’s come close: parenting can be hard and sometimes life throws extra shit at you. So I wouldn’t judge another parent in a one off moment, you don’t know what they’re going through.

Was the baby posting on Instagram?

Was the baby Gambling ?

Was the baby shouting loudly? 'Buy!' 'Sell!'

Baby posting on MN!

Come and work in a nursery and see for yourselves the consequences of this early screen time. Keep burying your heads in the sand 🙄

The dopamine hit, which then has a negative impact on the babies brain. A toy doesn’t give the same brain reaction

I feel your pain; I never had to face these choices, but I survived.