Children and Electronic Devices

[Mike]

The last time that I brought this subject up, I
got my face bitten off. I don't know if it was
here, or at the restaurant/café, that is used
and saw the daughter of the waitress on a
tablet, she was watching YouTube!

Today, in café, in town, I saw a child in a pram,
or a buggy, as they are called, starting to create
a racket, he/she was playing with a phone and
the pictures had disappeared, sister of this child,
rushed across and took the phone and reactivated
it, stopping the noise, the child who saved the day,
had to be only 3 or 4 years old, as I don't know how
old a child has to be, to be in school.

I know that the mothers, give the children gadgets,
to keep them quiet.

I also know that when we were babies, we were
brought up according to the times, my mother
told me that I was a good baby, she said that,
she put me out under the tree, she said, in the
garden and I just gurgled at the leaves moving.

Today I read in the paper and heard on the news,
that children are arriving at the junior/primary
school, without, any toilet training, or reading
abilities, this I find shocking, then we hear that
the teachers are not doing their jobs properly!

I ask you, where do we stop/start, the children are
in charge now and they have no idea, it is not the
teachers who are wrong, I don't think.

Mike.

 

[Sunkist]

It's not the teachers' fault.. and not the children's fault.. I don't know anything about your location, but as for much of the U.S. the problem starts with parents dumping their newborn babies in daycare and expecting everybody but themselves to raise their children for them.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Not much different than parking a child in front of the television.

I think adults need to provide a framework and a variety of options for kids that expose them to all sorts of age appropriate activities.

Screens are a fact of life and I’m okay with them but IMO screens and privacy are a dangerous combination for children as they grow up.

I would prefer to see children using screens in a family setting where what they are doing is in full view until they have developed some sort or moral compass along with an understanding of the potential dangers.

I suppose that there is no magic age, it depends on the kid, level of maturity, etc…

 

[January]

I think you are conflating separate issues: toilet training and reading abilities and electronic device usage really don't have any correlation to each other.

and we live in modern times. electronic devices are part of that - I don't have any issue with children using tablets and such. They can still play outside etc - room in life for many things. Just like here we are on an internet social forum - but it doesn't meant that is all we do in life.

A waitress working and her child being with her and sitting quietly at a table watching Youtube (as long as content suitable for children, of course) - not a problem.

 

[againstthegrain]

It's not the teachers' fault.. and not the children's fault.. I don't know anything about your location, but as for much of the U.S. the problem starts with parents dumping their newborn babies in daycare and expecting everybody but themselves to raise their children for them.

Did you forget that it takes 2 incomes to support a family these days?

 

[Dr.Colosso]

I don't know if it was
here, or at the restaurant/café, that is used
and saw the daughter of the waitress on a
tablet, she was watching YouTube!

That's sad. The mother gets paid lousy and is forced to do that work and take her kid with her. There's no way that you can wait tables and entertain your kid.

I let mine use my phone in the train, because in my country everyone is silent in the train and irritated when they hear kids, so eventually I let them watch Spongebob on my phone, so these whiny people would shut up.

Once there was a woman in the train with a kid in the middle part to not irritate anyone. I always sat there too with the kids. Now I was sitting alone. She was shutting the kid up for me. I was the only other person sitting there. I just played with the kid. Let the kid play and talk.

These barking men, encountered that twice. Once a barking old guy in the train, kids were playing, no device, I just stepped out. Another time in the bus, a kid was crying and a guy started to bark that the mom had to shut the kid up. She didn't respond. I talked to her when we stepped out to cheer her up. The kid was going to the hospital and in pain. That's why she cried. So no wonder everyone puts a tablet in their kids' hands these days.

 

[Rider77]

Those children are now adolescents and adults that will walk right through you on a sidewalk or in a hallway. I feel like it is up to the parents to teach good manners, that should include the appropriate and inappropriate use of electronic devices. I guess we boomers are fortunate that they didn't exist when we were learning to say yes sir and yes mam.