Anonymous
05/05/2026 21:27
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
I'm guilty of defaulting to an iPad as a babysitter from time to time, but my kid is happy, has friends, scores in the 99th percentile on MAP tests, and plays multiple sports. They've also learned a lot of random but cool stuff on YouTube Kids, especially interesting science. It's not ideal, but probably not much worse than the bad TV I watched in the 90s.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 21:17
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I grew up watching TV all the time in the late 90s - early 2000s and I turned out fine as an adult.
Not the same. At all.
Agreed. I teach kindergarten and the longest attention span for any kid’s movie is about 15 minutes. Kids can’t even get halfway through a Disney or kid’s movie anymore. They can’t follow a plot. They rarely read for fun. I’ve had grades 3-5 in the after school program for years and hardly anyone wants to borrow my books anymore. It’s sad.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 20:59
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Anonymous wrote:This is the worst generation of parents. I cannot believe the number of young children I see staring at a screen in grocery stores, parks, restaurants and more. They are literally damaging their kids’ brains but they’re too lazy to do the job.
are parents still spending a lot of time playing. with their kids
Parents today spend significantly more time playing and engaging with their children compared to 50 years ago, despite feeling higher levels of exhaustion. Studies show that modern parents, on average, spend roughly 104 minutes a day on childcare activities, almost double the time spent in 1965.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 20:29
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
This is the worst generation of parents. I cannot believe the number of young children I see staring at a screen in grocery stores, parks, restaurants and more. They are literally damaging their kids’ brains but they’re too lazy to do the job.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 20:28
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I grew up watching TV all the time in the late 90s - early 2000s and I turned out fine as an adult.
Not the same. At all.
Yeah, unless this poster carried their TV into restaurants, on playdates, into the car, on the airplane, it's not the same at all!
I do seem to remember people carrying around giant boomboxes in the early 90s... but no televisions.
I remember my cousins carrying a GameBoy everywhere too!
Anonymous
05/05/2026 20:23
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I grew up watching TV all the time in the late 90s - early 2000s and I turned out fine as an adult.
Not the same. At all.
Yeah, unless this poster carried their TV into restaurants, on playdates, into the car, on the airplane, it's not the same at all!
I do seem to remember people carrying around giant boomboxes in the early 90s... but no televisions.
Ghettoblasters were more of an '80s thing.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 20:16
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:As a parent concerned about screens it feels like a constant uphill battle. DH doesn't seem to care that much and when he hands DC a screen at a restaurant or decides to use his time with DC to watch tv there is not much I can do. I have talked to DH about it before but it is like we are speaking a different language.
And that is just at home. DC only likes the library for playing computer games. At school when they do open houses invariably within 10 minutes of me being there they turn on a video for a brain break. Why do they need a video for a brain break? Turn on some music ffs
That sounds very frustrating. My wife definitely spends most of her evenings doomscrolling social media, but at least we're on the same page about not giving devices to the kids and have been since they were born. I wish that she'd get off the phone herself, but I understand that she's exhausted from work, and the kids (preschool and kindergarten) are happy to be read to by me, so it works out all right.
So sad
Anonymous
05/05/2026 18:51
Subject: Re:Giving young children screens all the time
My 6 year old only watches tv, but 20 minutes of occasional scree time isn’t problematic.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 16:29
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Anonymous wrote:As a parent concerned about screens it feels like a constant uphill battle. DH doesn't seem to care that much and when he hands DC a screen at a restaurant or decides to use his time with DC to watch tv there is not much I can do. I have talked to DH about it before but it is like we are speaking a different language.
And that is just at home. DC only likes the library for playing computer games. At school when they do open houses invariably within 10 minutes of me being there they turn on a video for a brain break. Why do they need a video for a brain break? Turn on some music ffs
That sounds very frustrating. My wife definitely spends most of her evenings doomscrolling social media, but at least we're on the same page about not giving devices to the kids and have been since they were born. I wish that she'd get off the phone herself, but I understand that she's exhausted from work, and the kids (preschool and kindergarten) are happy to be read to by me, so it works out all right.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 16:12
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
As a parent concerned about screens it feels like a constant uphill battle. DH doesn't seem to care that much and when he hands DC a screen at a restaurant or decides to use his time with DC to watch tv there is not much I can do. I have talked to DH about it before but it is like we are speaking a different language.
And that is just at home. DC only likes the library for playing computer games. At school when they do open houses invariably within 10 minutes of me being there they turn on a video for a brain break. Why do they need a video for a brain break? Turn on some music ffs
And that is just at home. DC only likes the library for playing computer games. At school when they do open houses invariably within 10 minutes of me being there they turn on a video for a brain break. Why do they need a video for a brain break? Turn on some music ffs
Anonymous
05/05/2026 15:20
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Anonymous wrote:No bueno, why do parents do this? My kids once had a play date with the kids of an acquaintance and the mother plopped tablets in front of her kids at a restaurant table and my kids were expecting to have conversation. It was the ditziest thing I have ever seen in my life, it’s almost like she felt superior that she had tech for her kids and my kids didn’t. There are potential friends for your kid that can detach from devices and engage. You or child will find them.
Your kids were not disappointed, nice try. I agree that bringing iPads to restaurants is a bad idea. They need to learn to wait patiently for their food and focus on their meal when it comes.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 13:46
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We know a family whose child is constantly wanting an iPad, tv, video game, iPhone. The kid can’t eat without watching a video. As soon as we sit down, the kid says he is bored and is asking for a screen. When they have play dates, kids all play on their iPads. When we go to their home, my child is the only one not on a screen. Kids are age 8. My kid is age 9.
Is this just lazy parenting to just allow kids to be on screens all the time???
Do you need a 🍪 for your awesome parenting skills
And here we have the parent who sends their first grader to school with an iPhone while hissing “Don’t judge me.” You’ll be sorry.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 13:41
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Absolutely lazy parenting, they don’t want to deal with a tantrum. These kids have lower attention spans, lower frustration tolerance, and don’t have the opportunity to be bored and delay gratification.
It’s really really bad.
It’s really really bad.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 13:12
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I grew up watching TV all the time in the late 90s - early 2000s and I turned out fine as an adult.
Not the same. At all.
Yeah, unless this poster carried their TV into restaurants, on playdates, into the car, on the airplane, it's not the same at all!
I do seem to remember people carrying around giant boomboxes in the early 90s... but no televisions.
Anonymous
05/05/2026 12:12
Subject: Giving young children screens all the time
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I grew up watching TV all the time in the late 90s - early 2000s and I turned out fine as an adult.
Not the same. At all.
Yeah, unless this poster carried their TV into restaurants, on playdates, into the car, on the airplane, it's not the same at all!