"Ipad Kid" ??

[Becc91]

Worried I'm going to be grilled for this 🙈... But has anyone else noticed that whenever you go out to eat there always seems to be a sticky toddler with an i pad?!
After seeing this for a 3rd time this week , complete with spaghetti hoops on the screen , a nasty cough and vacant parents who could care less - one of whom was ON THEIR PHONE 😱 i made what I thought was a reasonable request

to turn off the loud video of dancing fruits , only to be looked at like I'd grown a 3rd head?!?! DS (19) typically embarrassed- says I was out of order , but I just can't understand the laziness of it all.Is it just me?😲

We took DGS (15mths) out for lunch, with his parents, last weekend. He’s not allowed screens at all. He doesn’t watch the TV, phone or iPad because DDIL has read a lot on child development so now knows that it’s not great for children under 2. He sat in his high chair and played with some farm animals that we’d just bought him. He babbled and chatted away, he waved at the other people in the cafe and watched the birds and dogs outside. His speech and language development is very good. He absolutely loves books so DDIL & DS2 always have a selection in his bag just incase, but we didn’t need them on that day.

I hate hearing the noise of Peppa Pig or whatever else when I’m trying to eat my dinner. I get that every child is different, some have special needs and some can’t wear headphones, but turn the volume down, please. We don’t all need to hear it.

I don’t see it as a good thing, for children or families, and don’t do it. BUT I try not to judge what other parents do to survive as having young children is fecking hard! And I certainly would not feel I had the right to tell someone else to turn it off. People do all kinds of things in public I wish that they would not but generally it’s none of my business.

The volume needs to be off.

What so it's ok that your child has some bloody annoying iPad video on full blast and everyone else has to listen to it? I less they have headphones on, then Pig ignorant and entitled springs to mind.

I saw the weirdest thing in a supermarket recently.......one family with 3 dc and 2 shopping trolleys. 1 trolley had a child in the basket and one sat in the toddler seat. Second trolley had a dc in toddler seat and food in the basket. All 3dc were glued to their tablets, absolutely no interaction from parents towards them. They were like zombies.

Once I'd unhoiked my massive judgey pants I couldn't help but wonder what future those kids have in store for them.

I don't care how long other parents choose to put their child in front of a screen so long as they use headphones or put it on silent.

Why not? This is what parenting sometimes is

I have a 2 and 6 year old, eldest has adhd. I have never, ever used screens while out at a restaurant. They don't get them at the dining table at home (but then I think this might be some of the problem, lots of families don't eat at the dining table). I do take colouring or some little toys while we wait for food to arrive, but then they go away while we eat and we... God forbid... TALK! shocking. So I completely agree with OP.

I was gobsmacked the other day in Tesco. A baby lying in a basinet with a phone on a little stand attached to the pram's handle. What the actual... madness.

There are evenings where DC has finished school, gone to after school club because their parents work FT. Then, they go to their extra curricular activity - one night it’s dance, another it’s singing and another it’s running around in a forest.
you don’t know that when you see them watching an iPad that this is ‘them’. I used so be so judgemental but it’s not always as it seems.
perhaps seek to understand…

The reactions on this thread astound me. No child ‘needs’ a screen at dinner. They need to learn how to sit at a table and eat dinner. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility is it? They sit at tables without screens at school? How depressing that something so mundane is considered too hard for people to teach their children.

My child is five & has never used an iPad.
But that’s my choice. Use one if you wish.

I dislike screens being played at loud volume in public but this also applies to adults. Too often people play videos on their phone full blast with no headphones!

However if you’re using headphones then who cares?
I really don’t see any difference to bringing out a load of toys and colouring books to distract and entertain a toddler or child because they don’t have the attention span to sit for a meal 🤷‍♀️

I wouldn’t expect anyone to rock up to a meal and place something on the table that played music, whether it’s from an iPad or not. I have kids and we used to resort to screens sometimes but never with the sound on.

I couldn’t care less what other parents are doing with their kids as long as it doesn’t affect me.

Loud iPad music/videos in a restaurant is bad etiquette and kids YouTube is so annoying. If they have headphones or it’s muted then I wouldn’t bat an eyelid. I am partially deaf and background noises are difficult enough as it is. I’m very sensitive to sound as I can hear high pitched things fine, but I’m not great with other frequencies, meaning the kids video on the table next to me sounds HD, meanwhile I can’t hear a thing the person in front of me is saying.

@ArtTheClownIsNotAMimeit absolutely doesn’t

I have noticed but can't get too worked up. Sometimes they're useful. Sometimes they're overused. Sometimes there are really good reasons for them, and people wouldn't be able to take their kid out without, as per some examples above. Parents deserve to be able to do that. I hate cocomelon, though. It's ugly as hell.

My family are autistic, and we struggle immensely when people bring kids to restaurants and let them play videos, music and loud games on phones or tablets. I'm also hard of hearing so there's been too many times when it's destroyed my ability to enjoy an outing.

It's not all about you. Do what you have to do but maybe choose places that are definitely kid focused, and encourage gentle use of headphones gradually over time, or wean them onto something non invasive to other diners.

I think it’s lazy too, but I try to remind myself that for some autistic children it’s the only way the families can access experiences like a restaurant. You are 100% not unreasonable to expect the volume to be off or headphone use though. A full volume phone or iPad in a public place is rude and antisocial whether it’s an adult or a child.

OP surely you mean that the parents couldn't care less?

I have toddlers so I only knew it was a joke because dancing fruits is not 'Cocomelon' it's 'Hey Bear'. 😆

My child can't speak, play games, have the motivation or interest in colouring in due to his severe autism and learning disability. Letting him watch an iPad (with headphones) when we are out is literally the only way we can enjoy a once in a blue moon bit of a social life.

It does if you give a shit about other people.

Actually...

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/could-couldnt-care-less

Interesting read!

Agree with have a "pub bag" which has colouring in, Uno, dobble etc for my child and phone is last resort. But just last week (during school holidays) when a hotel/pub we were staying in food was taking forever (1.5 hours) my son was happily playing games with us at a normal level of volume, the couple next to us I could tell were annoyed as apparently they expected a quiet meal at 5pm. Sometimes you can't win now a day's. Either kids are being noisy or they are wrong for watching screens.

That's lazy ass modern parenting for you!

I popped to the shop the other morning, encountered a toddler in a pushchair with a phone blaring out and some show or game on it. Lovely bit of noise pollution 1st thing. No head phones and little interaction with the child