Comment by immawizard
6 hours ago
If you’re not a parent, you're probably only seeing children in places which are not designed with children in mind - places where there’s no place to run and play, and kids have to be quiet. In those places you have to pacify child somehow, a lot of parents use digital entertainment. If you go to child friendly places, you would see it much less.
Our child has maybe 1 hour of tv a week, but if someone sees them only on a plane, they would guess it’s an iPad kid.
Another big part of this is the lack of support structures. As a family we need to get things done, toddlers often prevent that. When there's no grandparent who is able to be there and help watch the kids, what really is the alternative?
Books? Coloring in? drawing? Audio books? Duplo? Magnatiles?
There are any number of alternatives that don’t involve a screen.
books are fine once you hit 6-7 years old, before then they'll get bored of them after 15-20mn since they can't read comfortably
colouring in / drawing great, but same thing, 15-20mn
construction games are great but they need to be carried about, they require space and there are parts you can lose
in places that aren't adapted for children (e.g. in an airplane or train), a tablet can be a life saver. you keep them busy/playing for an hour or so, then give them their digital crack for an hour, rinse and repeat. audio books are a good compromise
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Honestly, when I was a kid I was dragged to a lot of places which were adult spaces with my parents and it'd be boring but I'd just have to deal with it. We shouldn't be conditioning kids that they should be kept entertained and distracted for every waking second of their day because it doesn't prepare them for the fact that sometimes in life, things will be boring.
It's really funny how inevitable it is to end up being the person who says, effectively "In My Day".
Of course it is true. I went to restaurants, cafes, recitals et al and I was expected to sit and be quiet without so much as a toy or a colouring-in book. Did it make me a better child, who grew into a better adult? No idea. Does my penchant for daydreaming and drifting out of the moment stem from it? Again, no idea.
I don't mind the choices that parents make, I do tend to object to the narrative of there being no other way.
I hugely agree with this, not so much because they need to tolerate boredom, but because I think there are huge benefits to observing things/watching the world go by, to daydreaming, and to simple activities.