If you prop up an iPhone in front of your toddler at cava, I’m judging the heck out of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brilliant SIL taught me about keeping a ziploc bag of crayons, coloring books, sticker books and a thomas the tank engine catalog for my toddler when we went to restaurants.
Always got compliments on how well behaved they were.
But no, it as the ziploc bag they needed to compliment.

Ha. We called them “sugar toys” - little dump trucks and the like that we would bring out at the table while waiting for the food. Open the sugar packets and have at it!

Rude, wasteful and gross. Who does that?

You’re a riot.

Answer - many creative, resourceful people in the good old days before toddlers (like yours, obviously) became screen zombies!

No.

-Someone who worked in restaurants where a holes like you let your kids make a mess. (And now I have a DCUM prestigious job after going to an HYP and can smell this kind of entitlement a mile away during the hiring process.)

+1 yeah when my kid starts playing with salt/pepper/sugar we give her a screen to play the same "educational" games she plays at school

Hilarious to think the only two options are "let your kids make a giant mess" and "put them in front of a screen."

OP I'm with you, I also judge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brilliant SIL taught me about keeping a ziploc bag of crayons, coloring books, sticker books and a thomas the tank engine catalog for my toddler when we went to restaurants.
Always got compliments on how well behaved they were.
But no, it as the ziploc bag they needed to compliment.

Ha. We called them “sugar toys” - little dump trucks and the like that we would bring out at the table while waiting for the food. Open the sugar packets and have at it!

Rude, wasteful and gross. Who does that?

You’re a riot.

Answer - many creative, resourceful people in the good old days before toddlers (like yours, obviously) became screen zombies!

No.

-Someone who worked in restaurants where a holes like you let your kids make a mess. (And now I have a DCUM prestigious job after going to an HYP and can smell this kind of entitlement a mile away during the hiring process.)

+1 yeah when my kid starts playing with salt/pepper/sugar we give her a screen to play the same "educational" games she plays at school

Hilarious to think the only two options are "let your kids make a giant mess" and "put them in front of a screen."

OP I'm with you, I also judge.

You're misreading

When DD starts playin with salt/sugar/pepper and won't stop it means we have already tried:
1. Having her simply sit with and converse with us
2. Color/play with toys
3. Take a walk outside and come back

It usually means she's a bit wired and dysregulated. We try to prevent this from happening, but it does, and in those situations (maybe once a month or every 2 months) I really dgaf if a stranger has a problem with her screen use. That's a them problem.

[Anonymous]

Lazy parenting to put a kid in front of a screen at such a young age.

I really hate to see kids on a walk in a stroller with an ipad in their face. That and at restaurants.

People just can't be bothered with simple parenting

[Anonymous]

IME nosy b!ches like OP are insecure people who want to find things parents are doing wrong to cope with their own parenting regrets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am well aware of the exceptions:

We only had a few minutes to talk and needed out toddler to be quiet.
Our toddler has XYZ diagnosis.
And on and on.

But the research is there and the pendulum is swinging the other way. There are few legitimate reasons to prop up a screen in front of your 13 month old at cava while you lunch with your partner. It’s 20 minutes tops.

Knock it off, people.

Who the H do you think you are telling other people to "knock it off"? Keep this up and someone might swing at you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I’m with op. Maybe you don’t get a quiet lunch/shopping trip/stroller walk, but all that screen time at an early age is really bad for developing brains.

But what's great for kids is judgy losers that give their parents the stink eye

Sorry it hits a nerve. Nobody is perfect, I know I’m not either, but this is a very clear place where you can make a choice that can affect your child’s brain development, attention span, ability to self regulate emotions.

Girl I hate screens for kids. My kid's behavior vastly improved when we took away her tablet. You are preaching to the choir. But I don't think giving a random parent the stink eye for giving their kid a phone for 20 minutes is okay either, I think it's really rude and unhelpful behavior (and the parent doesn't notice but look, you're still stewing about it, which can't be healthy)

Wrong. We need to start judging these parents and make it socially unacceptable in our culture to give these kids screens. Hold each other to higher standards

I agree. It's so strange that we know screen time is bad, but try to defend it. Should I judge parents giving Mountain Dew in bottles? Yes. I hate to say it, but screen time is literally the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I’m with op. Maybe you don’t get a quiet lunch/shopping trip/stroller walk, but all that screen time at an early age is really bad for developing brains.

But what's great for kids is judgy losers that give their parents the stink eye

Sorry it hits a nerve. Nobody is perfect, I know I’m not either, but this is a very clear place where you can make a choice that can affect your child’s brain development, attention span, ability to self regulate emotions.

Girl I hate screens for kids. My kid's behavior vastly improved when we took away her tablet. You are preaching to the choir. But I don't think giving a random parent the stink eye for giving their kid a phone for 20 minutes is okay either, I think it's really rude and unhelpful behavior (and the parent doesn't notice but look, you're still stewing about it, which can't be healthy)

Wrong. We need to start judging these parents and make it socially unacceptable in our culture to give these kids screens. Hold each other to higher standards

I agree. It's so strange that we know screen time is bad, but try to defend it. Should I judge parents giving Mountain Dew in bottles? Yes. I hate to say it, but screen time is literally the same.

Lol

Did you ever let your kids watch TV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and I agree. It’s not so much the screen time. It’s the fact that parents are spending so much less time talking and interacting with their kids. Even in the checked-out parent years in the 1980s, kids were talking and interacting with other kids. Some of the kids in this generation seem to just be learning to be human at age 5 when they come to school.

do your part and get screens out of your classroom

Seriously. The only screen time my kid gets during the week is at school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brilliant SIL taught me about keeping a ziploc bag of crayons, coloring books, sticker books and a thomas the tank engine catalog for my toddler when we went to restaurants.
Always got compliments on how well behaved they were.
But no, it as the ziploc bag they needed to compliment.

Ha. We called them “sugar toys” - little dump trucks and the like that we would bring out at the table while waiting for the food. Open the sugar packets and have at it!

Rude, wasteful and gross. Who does that?

You’re a riot.

Answer - many creative, resourceful people in the good old days before toddlers (like yours, obviously) became screen zombies!

No.

-Someone who worked in restaurants where a holes like you let your kids make a mess. (And now I have a DCUM prestigious job after going to an HYP and can smell this kind of entitlement a mile away during the hiring process.)

+1 yeah when my kid starts playing with salt/pepper/sugar we give her a screen to play the same "educational" games she plays at school

Hilarious to think the only two options are "let your kids make a giant mess" and "put them in front of a screen."

OP I'm with you, I also judge.

You're misreading

When DD starts playin with salt/sugar/pepper and won't stop it means we have already tried:
1. Having her simply sit with and converse with us
2. Color/play with toys
3. Take a walk outside and come back

It usually means she's a bit wired and dysregulated. We try to prevent this from happening, but it does, and in those situations (maybe once a month or every 2 months) I really dgaf if a stranger has a problem with her screen use. That's a them problem.

If she cannot handle playing with toys, reading books or coloring she's at an age where you shouldn't bring her out. I don't get the issue with screens with headphones for these situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I’m with op. Maybe you don’t get a quiet lunch/shopping trip/stroller walk, but all that screen time at an early age is really bad for developing brains.

But what's great for kids is judgy losers that give their parents the stink eye

Sorry it hits a nerve. Nobody is perfect, I know I’m not either, but this is a very clear place where you can make a choice that can affect your child’s brain development, attention span, ability to self regulate emotions.

Girl I hate screens for kids. My kid's behavior vastly improved when we took away her tablet. You are preaching to the choir. But I don't think giving a random parent the stink eye for giving their kid a phone for 20 minutes is okay either, I think it's really rude and unhelpful behavior (and the parent doesn't notice but look, you're still stewing about it, which can't be healthy)

Wrong. We need to start judging these parents and make it socially unacceptable in our culture to give these kids screens. Hold each other to higher standards

I agree. It's so strange that we know screen time is bad, but try to defend it. Should I judge parents giving Mountain Dew in bottles? Yes. I hate to say it, but screen time is literally the same.

Oh my... silly.

And, yet here you are on screens. Should we judge you for being on screens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I’m with op. Maybe you don’t get a quiet lunch/shopping trip/stroller walk, but all that screen time at an early age is really bad for developing brains.

But what's great for kids is judgy losers that give their parents the stink eye

Sorry it hits a nerve. Nobody is perfect, I know I’m not either, but this is a very clear place where you can make a choice that can affect your child’s brain development, attention span, ability to self regulate emotions.

Girl I hate screens for kids. My kid's behavior vastly improved when we took away her tablet. You are preaching to the choir. But I don't think giving a random parent the stink eye for giving their kid a phone for 20 minutes is okay either, I think it's really rude and unhelpful behavior (and the parent doesn't notice but look, you're still stewing about it, which can't be healthy)

Wrong. We need to start judging these parents and make it socially unacceptable in our culture to give these kids screens. Hold each other to higher standards

I agree. It's so strange that we know screen time is bad, but try to defend it. Should I judge parents giving Mountain Dew in bottles? Yes. I hate to say it, but screen time is literally the same.

Oh my... silly.

And, yet here you are on screens. Should we judge you for being on screens?

Ooh sick burn. Guess I’ll put down my glass of wine so I can pour some into a sippy cup for my toddler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I’m with op. Maybe you don’t get a quiet lunch/shopping trip/stroller walk, but all that screen time at an early age is really bad for developing brains.

But what's great for kids is judgy losers that give their parents the stink eye

Sorry it hits a nerve. Nobody is perfect, I know I’m not either, but this is a very clear place where you can make a choice that can affect your child’s brain development, attention span, ability to self regulate emotions.

Girl I hate screens for kids. My kid's behavior vastly improved when we took away her tablet. You are preaching to the choir. But I don't think giving a random parent the stink eye for giving their kid a phone for 20 minutes is okay either, I think it's really rude and unhelpful behavior (and the parent doesn't notice but look, you're still stewing about it, which can't be healthy)

Wrong. We need to start judging these parents and make it socially unacceptable in our culture to give these kids screens. Hold each other to higher standards

I agree. It's so strange that we know screen time is bad, but try to defend it. Should I judge parents giving Mountain Dew in bottles? Yes. I hate to say it, but screen time is literally the same.

Lol

Did you ever let your kids watch TV?

No answer because of course they did! And they also walked two ways up hill in the snow to school!

[Anonymous]

I'm with OP. I have a sibling who brings out a screen for her kids whenever we go to a restaurant and they make any fuss whatsoever. I have had to ask sibling to take out the screens when we go out with them, as I don't want my kids thinking it's normal/appropriate. Sibling's kids are several years younger than mine and are used to daily screen-time for hours on end. It's ridiculous. And sibling just says "this is the only way I can talk" at a restaurant. As if my kids started off knowing how to behave at a restaurant at age 1?! No, I had to teach them what to do, and now they are capable of ordering for themselves and entertaining themselves with small toys/coloring (which I bring with me). We had many meals where we left immediately after scarfing down our food. We had many times when one parent had to walk the kid outside the restaurant because they couldn't sit still. In some situations, I even resorted to showing my kid pictures of their family on my phone to entertain them. So yea, I judge parents who turn on a tv show at restaurants for all to hear because they can't or don't want to parent appropriately.

(And I'm not anti-screens. My kids love movie nights and get free reign on road trips/airplanes.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm with OP. I have a sibling who brings out a screen for her kids whenever we go to a restaurant and they make any fuss whatsoever. I have had to ask sibling to take out the screens when we go out with them, as I don't want my kids thinking it's normal/appropriate. Sibling's kids are several years younger than mine and are used to daily screen-time for hours on end. It's ridiculous. And sibling just says "this is the only way I can talk" at a restaurant. As if my kids started off knowing how to behave at a restaurant at age 1?! No, I had to teach them what to do, and now they are capable of ordering for themselves and entertaining themselves with small toys/coloring (which I bring with me). We had many meals where we left immediately after scarfing down our food. We had many times when one parent had to walk the kid outside the restaurant because they couldn't sit still. In some situations, I even resorted to showing my kid pictures of their family on my phone to entertain them. So yea, I judge parents who turn on a tv show at restaurants for all to hear because they can't or don't want to parent appropriately.

(And I'm not anti-screens. My kids love movie nights and get free reign on road trips/airplanes.)

I don't let my kids use a lot of screens, but to judge someone for letting their kids use a screen in a restaurant, and ask your sister to change her parenting so that you don't have to parent your own kids and teach them that they follow their family's rules even when other families do things differently, and then to turn around and say you give your kids free reign on road trips and airplanes, which are exactly the same thing (giving kids screens because you don't feel like entertaining them, or teaching them how to behave, in a situation where you'd rather do something else) is so hypocritical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm with OP. I have a sibling who brings out a screen for her kids whenever we go to a restaurant and they make any fuss whatsoever. I have had to ask sibling to take out the screens when we go out with them, as I don't want my kids thinking it's normal/appropriate. Sibling's kids are several years younger than mine and are used to daily screen-time for hours on end. It's ridiculous. And sibling just says "this is the only way I can talk" at a restaurant. As if my kids started off knowing how to behave at a restaurant at age 1?! No, I had to teach them what to do, and now they are capable of ordering for themselves and entertaining themselves with small toys/coloring (which I bring with me). We had many meals where we left immediately after scarfing down our food. We had many times when one parent had to walk the kid outside the restaurant because they couldn't sit still. In some situations, I even resorted to showing my kid pictures of their family on my phone to entertain them. So yea, I judge parents who turn on a tv show at restaurants for all to hear because they can't or don't want to parent appropriately.

(And I'm not anti-screens. My kids love movie nights and get free rein on road trips/airplanes.)

But your whole post gets to the exact crux of the issue. You let them watch Bluey for the time it takes to order and eat at a (presumably, since these are little kids … if we’re talking fine dining that’s a whole different can of worms) casual, family friendly restaurant. You can somewhat take your time eating and not have to shovel food in your face and maybe you and your spouse/friend can chat for 10 minutes. Or you do it how you described, scarf down your food, leave immediately, spouse takes a kid outside to run around while you wait for the food or pay your bill. The first scenario is obviously more pleasant. The second is stressful and annoying. I’m also unclear how the second scenario is teaching your kid anything.