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:I'm a child therapist and we are almost screen free. Last week we were on vacation and our almost three year old was just totally deregulated and a nightmare the whole time. I gave her Bluey on my phone at dinner so that I could have one meal that I could actually engage my older kids without focusing on my screaming toddler.

All that to say, you have no idea why someone is giving their kid a screen and what kind of day they're having. Give people some grace.

+1
I truly DGAF if it bothered some rando that I gave my jetlagged toddler a phone during a fabulously not child friendly rehearsal dinner for a not child friendly wedding

Maybe instead of "god how sad is it that kids have phones now" it should be "wow how great is it we have a way to quiet a screaming two year old so we don't have to leave the setting".

Back in my day, we would pick up the child, take a walk, and come back in 3 minutes. Do you not know about that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Hope you stepped up and took care of the toddler since you had so much extra time on your hands to judge.

I've had three toddlers, none of them were ever on my phone. There is something wrong with people like you who don't want to care for their children.

What is the difference between a kid on a coloring book while parents talk and a kid watching bluey while parents talk?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a child therapist and we are almost screen free. Last week we were on vacation and our almost three year old was just totally deregulated and a nightmare the whole time. I gave her Bluey on my phone at dinner so that I could have one meal that I could actually engage my older kids without focusing on my screaming toddler.

All that to say, you have no idea why someone is giving their kid a screen and what kind of day they're having. Give people some grace.

+1
I truly DGAF if it bothered some rando that I gave my jetlagged toddler a phone during a fabulously not child friendly rehearsal dinner for a not child friendly wedding

Maybe instead of "god how sad is it that kids have phones now" it should be "wow how great is it we have a way to quiet a screaming two year old so we don't have to leave the setting".

Back in my day, we would pick up the child, take a walk, and come back in 3 minutes. Do you not know about that?

And when you can't do that?

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Hope you stepped up and took care of the toddler since you had so much extra time on your hands to judge.

I've had three toddlers, none of them were ever on my phone. There is something wrong with people like you who don't want to care for their children.

What is the difference between a kid on a coloring book while parents talk and a kid watching bluey while parents talk?

Cognitively, the child with the coloring book is more actively engaged in the activity and is working on fine motor skills. A coloring book requires concentration and imagination (not as much as blank paper and crayons would, but way more than a TV show designed to appeal to children).

Screens are passive entertainment. They are also addictive. They train your brain to expect to receive entertainment without having to put any effort in. Kids who are constantly distracted by screens from a young age are going to struggle to be engaged by a teacher, a book, focused study of anything remotely challenging. Because their brains know if you would just hand them a screen, they could go into autopilot and it would be very soothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a child therapist and we are almost screen free. Last week we were on vacation and our almost three year old was just totally deregulated and a nightmare the whole time. I gave her Bluey on my phone at dinner so that I could have one meal that I could actually engage my older kids without focusing on my screaming toddler.

All that to say, you have no idea why someone is giving their kid a screen and what kind of day they're having. Give people some grace.

+1
I truly DGAF if it bothered some rando that I gave my jetlagged toddler a phone during a fabulously not child friendly rehearsal dinner for a not child friendly wedding

Maybe instead of "god how sad is it that kids have phones now" it should be "wow how great is it we have a way to quiet a screaming two year old so we don't have to leave the setting".

Back in my day, we would pick up the child, take a walk, and come back in 3 minutes. Do you not know about that?

And when you can't do that?

When can't you do that at a restaurant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Hope you stepped up and took care of the toddler since you had so much extra time on your hands to judge.

I've had three toddlers, none of them were ever on my phone. There is something wrong with people like you who don't want to care for their children.

What is the difference between a kid on a coloring book while parents talk and a kid watching bluey while parents talk?

Are you serious? If you don’t know the difference, maybe you shouldn’t have children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So their kid will be dumber than yours. Congrats. Why do you care so much?

Because these “dumb” kids without social skills will have a huge effect on our country. It’s not just one kid. It’s so many of this generation. It’s sad to see for their sake and problematic for our whole society.

That’s why it helps to judge less and actually offer to help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a child therapist and we are almost screen free. Last week we were on vacation and our almost three year old was just totally deregulated and a nightmare the whole time. I gave her Bluey on my phone at dinner so that I could have one meal that I could actually engage my older kids without focusing on my screaming toddler.

All that to say, you have no idea why someone is giving their kid a screen and what kind of day they're having. Give people some grace.

+1
I truly DGAF if it bothered some rando that I gave my jetlagged toddler a phone during a fabulously not child friendly rehearsal dinner for a not child friendly wedding

Maybe instead of "god how sad is it that kids have phones now" it should be "wow how great is it we have a way to quiet a screaming two year old so we don't have to leave the setting".

Back in my day, we would pick up the child, take a walk, and come back in 3 minutes. Do you not know about that?

Back in my day, you wouldn’t bring a 2 year old to a restaurant in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So their kid will be dumber than yours. Congrats. Why do you care so much?

Because these “dumb” kids without social skills will have a huge effect on our country. It’s not just one kid. It’s so many of this generation. It’s sad to see for their sake and problematic for our whole society.

That’s why it helps to judge less and actually offer to help.

+1. We live in a society. Stop judging and start helping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't eat at cava and I wouldn't give a kid a phone as they can use an ipad or kindle. You have no idea what they are doing on it. Educational stuff is fine.

No, not for a toddler.

[Anonymous]

We have kids in kindergarten who don't know how to peel a banana. They kind of swipe with their finger over it and expect the peel to disappear. And parents who put their children in front of screens in restaurants do the same at home. So don't tell me it's just for 20 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Babies should be nowhere near electronics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't eat at cava and I wouldn't give a kid a phone as they can use an ipad or kindle. You have no idea what they are doing on it. Educational stuff is fine.

No, not for a toddler.

Not any better for kindergarteners but that's what public schools use

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Teacher here and we have zero control over this. My kindergartens were on screens for math and literacy and I was told it was more important than teacher instruction.

These little kids come to school and have no idea what to do with a person talking to them. They are used to a screen and it’s BAD.

If you really thought it was so bad you would be organizing to get screens out of your classroom. Many of our kids get plenty of time with real interaction.

You can't bash parents for using screens and turn around and show YouTube videos instead of reading books to kids and have them play video games when you need a break.

Oh shut it. This is your fault, not teachers.

What is my fault? The fact that my kid gets so much screen time at school and there's apparently no way to stop it?