Do you have an iPad?  An iPhone?  A tablet or phablet-ty device of some description? Of course, you do! Everyone does!  You’re probably reading this on one right now.  Everyone, including kids, is getting more and more addicted to iLife.  Parents would agree that, sometimes, the best way to get some peace and quiet is for them to stick a device of some description in front of their sprog.  So, you have a situation where the sprog is vegetating in front of a screen, getting no interaction with their parent who is also motionless – apart from a flicking thumb – in front of a phone.  Letting this happen once in a while is fine, but some parents are doing this ALL THE TIME!

It is a proven scientific fact that children who have lots of love and positive interaction with both adults and their peers develop big brains.  Science also shows that children who are neglected and have little interaction with others, have smaller brains as a result.  This has a knock on effect, as they are likely to develop problems with memory, learning and behaviour.

A bit extreme, I know.  But kids are having less and less interaction with parents who rely on electronic devices more and more.  Just think how many times you have seen entire families in a restaurant all tapping away on iPhones and iPads, Mum, Dad, Grandma, Grandad and Baby!

I worked as a Childminder for many years, until a few years ago.  At one point I cared for two three-year-old boys, born within weeks of each other – Although, to meet them, you would think there was over a year between them!

Boy A would turn up on foot (his dad parked at the end of the road so they had a little walk).  He would tell me all about what he’d done at home with his parents and siblings, he could use words which you wouldn’t expect a three-year-old sprog to be using.  Nothing too amazing, just things like “incredible” or “coincidence”.  His social skills were fantastic, so he played well with the other children.  All in all, he was a happy, bright and pleasant little boy.

Boy B always turned up screaming, being prised from a car seat, holding an iPad.  On his first day with me, his mother – clutching her own mobile phones (2 of them) – gave me his lunch, nappies and an iPad.  I told her I wouldn’t need the iPad and she looked at me like I was mad and said: “good luck, he’s never off it!”.  Boy B’s social skills, confidence, communication skills and physical development were all stunted and a far cry from Boy A’s level.

Obviously, Boy A would occasionally use an electronic device, but it would be just one activity of many.  Boy B, as I later found out was left to vegetate in front of an iPad for most of the day.  This sounds awful…and it is fucking awful, BUT it isn’t unusual, it’s happening all the time.  Not only that, the problem is becoming increasingly alarming, as parents become addicted to their electronic devices, they are monitoring and restricting their children’s device usage less.

Letting a child use a device for an excessive amount of time is, in my opinion, pretty fucking awful.  It prohibits brain development, cognitive skills, social skills, physical development and causes a million and one other shitty things.  It also introduces them to a largely uncensored online world containing all the horrors of life which, at three, four, five years old, they should be protected from!

How the hell can a child be expected to develop correctly in childhood and then grow up to have a considered understanding of the world around them, if they are stuck in front of an electronic fantasy world from day dot.

Kids are being denied the childhood they need and deserve!  And the reason?  More often than not the reason is crap parents!  Parents who would rather shut their kid up than actually be a parent and raise the child.  Parents who are more concerned with what’s on Facebook or Twitter than what their child has to say.  Parents who don’t understand the damage their passive parenting is doing to their kids.

If someone told you: “I have a pill which will stop your child crying and being demanding, and will make them quiet, satisfied and content; however, they will also be brain damaged and in the long run, unhappy”.  Would you give it to them?

For those who aren’t sure, the answer is NO.

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