Pay attention to me
One of the things I loathe in life is when you are talking to someone and, instead of paying attention to the conversation, they remain glued to their mobile phone or tablet.
It’s quite simply the height of rudeness and it particularly grinds my gears when children are the offenders.
I will never forget the day when I visited some friends and their daughters could barely peel themselves away from their iPads to say hello. The girls remained glued to their screens for practically the entire visit, while I played with their puppy. Apparently Candy Crush, Facebook, Farmville (or whatever they were doing) was much more exciting than showing me their new, and insanely cute, ball of fluff.
I often wonder what we are teaching our kids when they are so obsessed with their device. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t use my iPhone to distract my one-year-old daughter.
Sometimes, truth be told, smartphones can be a parent’s saviour.
For example, my husband and I were eating out at our favourite restaurant in Australia (kid-friendly would you believe) when our dear daughter decided to get her cranky pants on.
Granted, she was most likely tired from the flight earlier in the day but that wasn’t going to make her sooking any more bearable. Instead of trying to entertain her in between mouthfuls of my plump scallops I handed her, gasp, my phone. The video playing, on low volume, made our dining experience – and no doubt that of others in the restaurant – more enjoyable than had she been whining.
There have also been times when I’ve given my daughter my phone when she’s cracked it in the car so my husband can concentrate on driving rather than her whinging. Although I employ other tactics to get the kid to pipe down, sometimes my phone is the only thing that works.
I often wonder how parents of previous generations coped without the luxury of mobiles and tablets.
After all, sometimes giving one to a kid to play with is the only way to get a few minutes of peace.
But I also ponder whether, apart from having your phone settings changed to a foreign language, whether letting your child have a mobile in their tiny hands is dangerous. Am I setting my daughter up for a lifetime of screen addiction? Maybe tablets will be a past fad by the time she is a teen. All I know is there is no way she will be allowed to be glued to a screen and ignore visitors. I want her have good manners and be able to engage in the art of conversation rather than having her head buried in an iPad.
It seems phones and tablets can be a parent’s best friend and also their worst enemy. Indeed it’s a fine line and one I’m trying to tread carefully!
– Melissa Grant
