Why I’ve Banned The iPad During The Week
Our children are 5, and 3, and we allow them to use an iPad at the end of each day for about 30 minutes.
It’s been this way since they were 3.
As heavy users of technology ourselves, we are VERY aware of what is out there in the world. We made a conscious decision a while ago that we would allow our children access to devices but only for a short period each day, and under our supervision.
Of course, sometimes I might have a rough day, or I get sick; in which case the kids do end up on devices more than usual. But it doesn’t happen frequently.
What they watch is YouTube Kids; you know the stuff – unboxing surprise eggs, Ryan’s Toy Reviews, Peppa Pig, etc etc. They are also allowed to play “Slither” (which is a bit like the old school Nokia snake game), and Block Hexa Puzzle (which is a puzzle type game), and Reading Eggs (of course).
Honestly, just the fun stuff.
However lately, my 5 year old girl was asking to play actual games; so we set her up with a Lego game.
It’s a very basic game in which she controlled a character and they walk around performing small tasks, while “fighting” the baddies. It’s relatively harmless, but we started noticing a few things that we didn’t like.
For starters she became a bit obsessed with playing it, and when she couldn’t figure out what to do next, would get very upset.
She would also get extremely emotional when we asked her to go to bed, and to turn the device off. She would scream and cry; which isn’t usual for her.
In fact, I started to worry she was hooked on the game – her attitude was changing and I didn’t like seeing her obsess and get emotional about a device or game.
So my husband and I chatted about it and we decided that we wouldn’t allow any device use during the week. We don’t mind a little of it, but after seeing what was happening have decided to pull back.
In fact, when our kids are allowed to use it, they’ll only be allowed to watch YouTube, and a couple of other pre-approved ones (that I mentioned above). But NO GAMES like that Lego one.
My 3 year old couldn’t care less, and surprisingly my 5 year old took the news very well.
Instead we’ve been playing board games and card games. We will save the device use for the weekend that’s for sure!
NOTE: someone said to me “what’s the difference between tv and a device in your opinion” and I thought I’d let you know my answer: to me a Device is something the child uses and their SOLE attention is on that device. A bit like reading a book – I could talk to my children and they’d be so involved they wouldn’t hear me. The device sits close to their face, and they sit down and literally do nothing but play on it. With the TV, it’s often on in the background and they’re doing other things at the same time. Often they go off and play a game somewhere else.
IDGAF what each family does with regards to device usage but I thought it was interesting to see her change before my eyes when playing a game.
I didn’t like it at all, and thought I’d share the experience with you guys.
Let me know below your thoughts, or if you’ve experienced something similar.
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