As I write this post with my husband mercifully en-route home from a business trip, my three-year-old is playing with his latest obsession (toy crocodiles) and my one-year-old is looking through photos… on my iPhone (that’s him above). It’s rather a relief to know I’m not alone when it comes to handing over a smartphone to a child in need of distraction.
I must admit I was blown away when I first handed my youngest my smartphone, and he proceeded to, quite dexterously (albeit with chubby little digits) slide the screen across and peruse a variety of apps he had no hope of understanding. Of course, I’m well aware this behaviour is not innate – but it may as well be. Research has revealed more than one in four mothers hand their bored or restless child a smartphone, rather than traditional pacifiers, like toys or dummies.
The UK study found that while forty percent of mothers who give their phones to their children restrict playtime to no longer than ten minutes, one in ten mums admit to leaving their children to play with the device for up to two hours.
It’s an interesting concept. There’s a school of thought that indicates this is the way of the world, and smart devices give children a head-start in hand-eye co-ordination. A sign of the times, or a sign of relaxed parenting? What are your thoughts?
Take a look at our previous posts on apps if you’re keen to see just what kids are doing on their parent’s smart devices.
(via Gizmodo)
5 Comments
As a few have said everything in moderation and you do what you can to have five minutes peace. Personally I won’t be allowing my little one to play with any idevice until she is about 4. I am just worried that there are no long term clinical trials out there about radiation from these devices. Is there going to be a higher incidence of juvenile cancers in a few years time? We don’t know. My advise is wait until your child’s fontanelles have closed (more protection for their brain)prior to handing them an idevice. Yes apps are marketed as educational but what is wrong with toys that do the same thing? What happens when these kids go to school and they are so used to being entertained by these devices? Many schools can’t afford each child to have access to these devices.Are we breeding a generation of children who won’t be able to function without an idevice in their hands?
I know I’m gonna be the spoil sport in this party, but what has happened??! My son is 2 and a half, and apart from when he has grabbed my phone and run away, he has never played with it and would have no idea how to use it!! Does that mean he is going to be dumb or backwards???! NO!! My 2 and a half year old can sing a variety of songs, recite the alphabet, count to 20, knows all his colours and a lot more! Don’t take this as bragging, but he learned all that without the help of a “device”…. When he’s bored, he has toys to play with, or he can go outside. If he needs distracting while out, I keep special toys that are for just that occasion! I know a lot of parents who are buying their children iPads for their 6th birthday!! What happened to getting a bike??!
Surely I can’t be the only one who thinks these things are for grown ups only??!
I’m with April all the way….. I have a 22 month old and there’s no way he is playing with my phone. We take cars or crayons and sing and play when we are out if we need to distract our lil one. I am worried that we are creating a generation that won’t function without the aide of an i device. I also have 2 teenage boys and now they have iPods and video games but even at their ages we still limit the time spent on them and when the sun is out we encourage them to be outside riding their bikes, scooters and skateboards and they are fit, happy, healthy boys for it. I must admit the radiation factor is also of concern to me and I feel Jo might be onto something.
My 5 year old son regularly uses my iPod Touch to turn photos he takes into Lego images, or plays kid-friendly apps on it for 10-15min. Lately, however, he’s rather choosing my Mahjongg app. My 18 months old feels super brown-up whenever he manages to get his hands on my device, as I don’t willingly hand it over to him. He’s had it for up to 5 minutes until I have reclaimed it, only to find he’d been opening about any app he could click on!! Of course he doesn’t understand what he is seeing, but the bright colours and the user-friendly surface really seem to appeal to him.
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt as a mother is you should no longer judge what another mother/parent will do to get a few minutes peace. We aren’t perfect all the time.