General Chat

Right Rollo, at last we seem to be singing from the same song sheet. If you don't read/watch any news I would be interested to know how you keep up with what is going on around you and in the world. Biased they may be but newspapers etc do give an inkling of what is going on.

My cat is v well behaved :-)
I rarely read any of the UK print / online press I don't have the time.
I am not a fan of any of them - days behind with the news, key stuff omitted and all with a heavy slant and barely hidden agenda.
I do hold formal qualifications in cognitive development and I.T.
Don't let that worry you tho'.
That children of any age need lots of interaction with people especially parents is obvious. It is equally obvious that toys, dummies and computer tablets are no sort of substitute. It should also be obvious that there is nothing intrinsically wrong in allowing kids access to tablets and such so long as they don't become an all day comfort blanket.

The problem is, some children arrive at school not knowing what a book is!!
Yes, this has always happened, but it is on the increase.

My grandsons (5 and 8) have tablets - at their dads!! (parents separated) which I think is no bad thing (the tablets being at their dads, but also the fact that my daughter is no longer with the &%$*£"&) they have limited access - only use them (constantly) at their dad's.
My daughter's living room is floor to ceiling with bookcases - filled with books! (not bad for a dyslexic).
Daughter is always reading, as is the boys' 13 year old sister, when she's not on her phone :-(
My daughter also does 'craft' with the children, and takes (drags) them to National Trust places.

When they stay with me, the boys just want to draw/do craft type things (very good for hand/eye co-ordination) - and take turns to play games on my PC - half hour sessions each, in turn. Or we got for a walk. They play with mecanno, lego and search for spiders in the garden - looking them up on my PC.
If they stay overnight, it's no PC for 2 hours before bed, bath, then upstairs to the spare bedroom, lined with tempting cupboards full of books that they're not allowed to touch, and a bookcase full of books for them.

Elder grandson became obsessed with a type of book. I saw a load for sale in a charity shop and bought them for him. He wasn't bothered with the PC that day.....

Variety is the spice of life - children need to be introduced to ALL forms/aspects of communication/life/etc.

Elder grandson was once so engrossed with a PC game, that he twice ignored my instruction to wash his hands as lunch was nearly ready.
He came to the table, and wondered why he had no lunch. After 5 minutes, I informed him it was in the kitchen waiting for him to wash his hands. The poor lad didn't know what to do. I then informed him (very grumpily) that the skivvy had either gone home or was eating her lunch, and he'd have to bring it in himself when his hands were washed.
His lunch was a bit cool. He hasn't ignored me since, and has learned the hard way that it's best not to ignore the grrrrandmamamama!!!

Younger grandson is more outgoing, but is learning from his elder brother's mistakes - he's ALWAYS first to wash his hands after THAT incident!! :-D
He's also more receptive to the 'granny scowl'.

All 3 are doing very well at school, they are the 'rule', NOT the exception!!

This relates to children rather than babies. I have a brownie unit which is girls between the ages of 7 and 10 and last night each group was given just newspaper and sellotape. As it was Burns night on Monday they were told they had to dress one member of their group in a newspaper kilt but whatever else they did was up. One group created a sporran and bonnet another added a bow to a girls hair. It was wonderful to see all the different ideas that came out a simple instruction.

The second one also involves my brownies. One of my work colleagues needed to use my girls as Guinea pigs for a design project for her university course. The girls were allowed to work in pairs and all they told was they had to draw a chair. One groups chair was made like a stained glass window, one was a bench that swung, one was a monster chair and another one had cup holders. I have 28 girls and no two designs were the same. They were later allowed to make the chairs out of thin card and string and it was amazing to see how each pair reacted to the challenge of making their design instead of just drawing it.

As others have said everything in moderation all of my girls have an iPad and yet none of their creativity has obviously been seriously damaged.

I remember avidly watching the BBC "Demonstration" programs In black n white.......
how cables are made , for example
much in the flavour of "How its Made"...........
reading by torchlight..........."forging" my mums name so I could get books from the library..............

I do agree that these tablets have a place in education but they do not lead to interaction with others except by text or phone and I think it is very rude to sit in company with others playing games on their own .
Just had a conversation with the mother of one of my great grandchildren .he is 4 next week and she buys him all these gadgets,which in my mind doesn't help with imagination ...give them a cardboard box and play with them and they'll be happy turning into all sorts of things.
Peer pressure has a big part to play in this and so many young people go into debt to get these tablets and other gadgets for such young children instead of reading to them and playing games.
My grandchildren always came for Christmas when young and they still remember the lovely times we had playing and interacting with them
As for the Daily Mail.I look at it on line and as with any paper,you believe what you want to as they all have to make news to sell newspapers.
Used to get the Telegraph,but got fed up with the broadsheets and all the supplements.

Oh dear, I read the Telegraph but have a real time news feed from sources worldwide, this also includes headlines from the DM. I have been known to read what appear to be interesting news reports (Fox News excluded) and that obviously includes gutter press rags.

Sometimes they report accurately *shocked face*.

If I had a cat I wouldn't let it wee on my laptop, ipad or mobile where the news feeds are read

;-)

… but then we subscribe to the online Times and Telegraph, too

So that's ok then :-D :-D :-D

I do confess to a little DM online addiction :-0

Lavender :-D :-D bless him.

You never miss a trick Rollo do you. This was about babies and toddlers being left to play on a tablet instead of parents interacting with them. Not about older children playing games. This piece may have been printed in your much hated newspaper but it was written by a respected author. I am not quite sure what makes you an authority on everything but it gets boring. Although I have to say I was waiting for your post.

If you check back over the years ....

printing would cause political disruption and educate the working class ( seen as a bad thing)

typewriters were going to cause mass unemployment of copy writers and remove the population's ability to write

radios would also create unemployment, be politically disruptive and break up family life; the BBC was invented while the radio (expensive) became the focus of family life 1925-55.

the TV was certainly slated by right wing journalists and left wing teachers as a very bad thing which had all the faults of radio plus it would damage the mental development of children. Instead tv became a window on the world and remains the no.1 source of entertainment. It has stunted the mental development of politicians trying to project a false image via TV. Both Cameron and Corbyn avoid it like the plague.

Which brings us to smart phones and tablets.
The no.1 reason why smart phones are so popular with the young is they make yakking / texting with their friends so easy, no need for old style steam phone calls. Far from damaging children's social skills the many group apps and games do quite the opposite. Yes, like anything else parents need to keep on eye on things. That is normal parenting.

The games are good fun and if anything are a challenge to developing minds. So what if chess and board games are not current choices ?

Poor parenting is poor parenting. It has been a problem long before smart phones, computers or even the TV were thought off. Blaming social problems on the current technology is sloppy thinking of the first order.

The DM has been consistently plain wrong, out of touch and regressive on just about anything going back 80 years. It appeals to a certain mind set epitomised by Melanie Philips, Simon Heffer and Kate Hopkins.

I buy a copy most days for my mum. After she had done with it the DM makes excellent cat litter :-)

A funny little ditty from our family week:-

My daughter loves to crack me up laughing with her silly nonsense..

Me with my weak bladder was desperately trying to hold on but couldn't!!

Five minutes later I emerged from the bathroom and sat on the sofa minus trousers (as one does!).

Grandson aged 2yrs 4mths comes up to me all confiding and puts his hand on my arm saying, "Grandma, why haven't you got your trousers on?"

"I had a little accident" I replied.

Taking my hand he whispers, "Well never mind Grandma, put the remote controller down and I'll take you to the toilet". :-D :-D :-D

I love my iPad and it has made a difference to my life since I
lost my husband almost 5 years ago....
But....I agree that parents use it to keep children occupied.
I was in a very rainy Guernsey over New Year with family who live there and ones over from Oz with my 11 year old granddaughter.
I took presents.,a big present each and I took some annuals which I thought would occupy her...she never looked at them...was on her iPad most of the time when she wasn't watching a film on TV.
Tried to play cards,but gets bored with that.
I find it hard to understand...it is a modern day problem I'm afraid.

There you have it, moderation in the use of the Ipad and interactive play, plus access to books. But not all children are getting this. Which is sad.

Children who are denied access to tablets, ipads etc will actually be at a distinct disadvantage once they start school.

"Overuse" is the key to this as with anything in this life.

Our youngest grandson is just two and is adept at using his tablet. However we look after him daily from 9 to 4 when he is equally at ease "reading" books, talking to us and playing with his train set and other traditional toys.

Our grandchildren both have tablets, we bought granddaughter one for her 2nd birthday.

Both children are very tech savvy and they will need to be HOWEVER, their time is monitored and the tablets are only used in kid mode. Youngest loves to watch how things are made.

They will happily play together making up games as they go along. Both have very advanced vocabulary and are bi-lingual. She loves her dolls, doll's house, lego and hosting pretend tea parties, he loves his lego, cars, trampoline and looking after his sister in the playhouse.

They will spend hours with paper, glue, scissors, stickers and glitter.

I believe young children do need to have access to the latest technology but only in conjunction with 'normal' play. We will watch a video on YouTube and then replicate the construction of something that triggered their interest.

Nobody swears in front of my grandkids neither are 'baby' words tolerated.

I hope that they will grow up to be just like their Mum and Dad (and their grandparents lolol).

Sue

There is concern that children won't be able to communicate with each other as adults to form relationships or relate to employers or their customers too. Employers are already saying that many job applicants lack social skills for work, so what will it be like when today's youngsters grow up? Mind you, I don't think spending more time with some parents would help either. I remember feeling distressed myself in a cafe a few years ago when a little boy sitting in his pushchair had been so good for so long became badly upset at his young mother completely ignoring him talking to her as he became more and more distressed while she just texted away on her phone as oblivious as if he didn't exist!! The other night I witnessed a young teenage girl standing quietly at a supermarket looking upset and embarrassed while her mother was shouting the most vile and unecessary swear words at her!! Too many people don't deserve the human beings they have created, if they can't be bothered to care for their wellbeing properly.

Many children have lost the exercise they used to get walking to school, playing out or riding their bikes etc. Now it seems they are losing communication skills too. Parents have a huge influence over both.

Oh that is terrible Gwynne, how sad that they have obviously never seen a book. Which means there are no books in their house. difficult to imagine life without books.

A young friend recently started teaching and told me that several in her reception class tried to "swipe" books. Awful for them to get to school without knowing how books work.