Under 2's and TV

Listerbelle

onlyroz wrote: »

Do people seriously let their under-2s use an iPad unsupervised? I'll let my 3-year-old play Peppa Pig under extremely close supervision, after carefully washing her hands - but I wouldn't trust a toddler to run around with a £700 device.

Yep. From 16 months old. She's almost 28 months old now - hasn't destroyed it yet

mildred1978

dizziblonde wrote: »

The number of women I see at baby groups letting their baby happily chomp away on their iPhones is quite startling! I have at least one friend who had to get her phone repaired because of teething baby slobber.

My son had an iPod touch at about 9 months which for chewed but not destroyed (still functioning perfectly). He's had pretty free use of an iPad since about 14 months and it's still in perfect condition. He knows how to use my MacBook to Skype his grandparents.

If we're out he can play with my iPhone.

I haven't had to replace anything because of him, but if I did it wouldn't be a big deal.

Air_Cooled_75

Nicki, did they charge you? It cost me £250 to get DH's replaced

Nicki

Yes . But less than you. £199 for a replacement IPad 2

milliebear00001

onlyroz wrote: »

Computers and consoles have been fairly common in the home for at least 20-25 years. When I was a kid many of my friends had some sort of games computer (back then it was the Amiga, Spectrum or the NES) and the Gameboy or Atari handheld thingy was extremely commonplace.

Perhaps you come from a somewhat more affluent area than many. Clearly TVs in bedrooms, computers, consoles, handhelds etc, were nowhere near as ubiquitous 25 years ago as they are today. They also were absolutely unusable by your average two year old, being aimed squarely at children of school age, in a way that today's devices are not.

Quite simply, 25 years ago, you'd have found very few pre-schoolers with a TV in their bedroom, or watching for many hours a day (nothing to watch), and even fewer playing a Gameboy or Atari - particularly the handhelds as these didn't actually become available until 1990, and were prohibitively expensive for many families until quite a bit later than that.

Person_one

I think its still very rare for pre-schoolers to have TVs in their rooms or their own iPads. I don't know of any that have either, never heard of any that had either before this thread.

onlyroz

The Gameboy release price was apparently $90, and would have dropped considerably below that after a few months. I remember at Primary School we would have days where we could bring in our own toys - and the ones with the consoles would find themselves surrounded by a cluster of curious kids begging for a go. Sure, they weren't as common back then than they are now, but I think that by the mid-nineties it was more common than not for a child to have *some* sort of gaming machine in the household. Remember that consoles are and have always been cheaper than buying a full computer.

I also don't think that advances in technology are a bad thing. Most of the games and programmes are educational in some way (particularly for younger children), and it has been shown that gamers have better hand-eye-coordination and logic skills than non-gamers. It's about striking a balance. It is not surprising that a kid left to vegetate in front of the screen all day will struggle to thrive, but I don't think that disinterest in your children is a new thing.

milliebear00001

onlyroz wrote: »

The Gameboy release price was apparently $90, and would have dropped considerably below that after a few months. I remember at Primary School we would have days where we could bring in our own toys - and the ones with the consoles would find themselves surrounded by a cluster of curious kids begging for a go. Sure, they weren't as common back then than they are now, but I think that by the mid-nineties it was more common than not for a child to have *some* sort of gaming machine in the household. Remember that consoles are and have always been cheaper than buying a full computer.

I also don't think that advances in technology are a bad thing. Most of the games and programmes are educational in some way (particularly for younger children), and it has been shown that gamers have better hand-eye-coordination and logic skills than non-gamers. It's about striking a balance. It is not surprising that a kid left to vegetate in front of the screen all day will struggle to thrive, but I don't think that disinterest in your children is a new thing.

LOL, I think you're rather missing my point. It is not screen use that is the problem. Indeed, some screentime can be very useful, not to mention fun, for all children, including pre-schoolers.

My point is that screens will not teach your preschoolers anything useful at all that could not be learned in other ways, and may actually be of detriment if used too often. Time in front of a screen, is time that would otherwise have been spent doing something else, were that screen not available. The question is 'what things'?

Unofrtunately, it is not just poor parents whose children are using screens much more often than they used to - it is caring parents' children too. Many of whom fall into the trap of thinking a screen is 'beneficial', or 'educational' for a preschooler. They often have no idea how much is 'too much', or are unaware that they are spending less time talking and reading with their children than they need to be - screen distraction (for both parent and child) are a major factor in this. It is also true that a preschooler who is exposed very early to screen visuals, is hard to 'wean off' when it comes to encouraging them to look at a still image on a page instead - I see lots of children from caring, professional backgrounds who cannot tell me the stories of the common fairytales, but know the 'story' of 'Shrek', or 'Tangled'.

I am not telling anyone how to bring up their children, but I am giving you the benefit of my generalised experience of working with young children. You won't find many Reception teachers who disagree with me either. It's never a popular view with parents who allow their children screentime, because they feel they are being judged. It's not about judging - it's quite simply what we observe in our classrooms - too much use of TV and other screens decreases the amount of conversation preschoolers have with adults and has an obvious and detrimental impact on oral vocab and later reading ability.

milliebear00001

Person_one wrote: »

I think its still very rare for pre-schoolers to have TVs in their rooms or their own iPads. I don't know of any that have either, never heard of any that had either before this thread.

I wish this were true. I know of several preschoolers with a bedroom TV, and many parents who find it useful to lull their child to sleep. Admittedly, I don't know of many parents who risk an individual Ipad, but I know plenty who allow their preschoolers to use theirs - along with their smartphone, Ipod etc, which was what I was suggesting.

[Deleted User]

dizziblonde wrote: »

Used to go out with a guy who did a stint working at CBBC... wouldn't nick me a Blue Peter badge and wouldn't kidnap Gordon the Gopher for me either!

Maybe Gordon is not only a gopher ...

http://www.lyricstatus.com/jilted-john-jilted-john-lyrics

Apparently he is a moron too!