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We have decided that we are not going to give smartphones to our younger children. Our oldest has, she got it already at age 7, and we have realised that it was

We have decided that we are not going to give smartphones to our younger children. Our oldest has, she got it already at age 7, and we have realised that it was a mistake. We have relatively strict regulations for it (only 1 hour per day - sometimes even less etc.) but still we have noticed how it is affecting and changing how she feels about the world around and herself. One girl in her class doesn't have phone at all! The girl gets complaints from her parents because she reads too much books, spends time outside much more than our kid and does all kinds creative projects. It's same time inspiring and bit depressing to see in comparison how the smartphone free childhood looks like.

za3faran 3y ago
> but still we have noticed how it is affecting and changing how she feels about the world around and herself. Are you able to elaborate on what you noticed? > The girl gets complaints from her parents because she reads too much books Do you mean complements?
- another2another 3y ago
  >> The girl gets complaints from her parents because she reads too much [many] books > Do you mean complements? I'm pretty sure they meant 'complaints', but maybe you meant 'compliments' ? I sometimes complain about my son's reading - too fast. I recently bought a Dogman book for him that cost 7 GBP, and he'd read it within 30 minutes. Pound for pound, not worth the money as it has basically zero re-use.
jskrablin 3y ago
How much time do you spend outside doing stuff with your kid? How much time do you spend talking with your kid re stuff she's doing at school, or stuff she's seen on her phone? How do you moderate smartphone usage (apart from the time limitation)? How do you motivate her to go outside and explore nature? You want to see her spending more time outside? Try starting with getting out yourself, taking her with you.
v-erne 3y ago
>> One girl in her class doesn't have phone at all! The girl gets complaints from her parents because she reads too much book I would not beat myselfe up too much in this situation. I happen to have two children who were risen almost identically with little to none restriction of access to phones, tablets, streaming and computer games. Older daughter just turned 10 years old and is reading more books than I (she even got her own library card made Matilda style), has quite good sport results (third place at schools olimpic running with older children), and even have time to do some group dancing, bringing handful of medals from competitions. And she is doing all this while spending lots of time with her friends outside. My 7 years old son, on the other hand, is none of this. After two years of access to tablet he still have problems with letting it go. An he does not want to start reading anything, despite me reading him books for most of his life. I think, we as parents, like to believe that we have some influence over "emerged" behaviours of our children, but somehow in the end it all comes down to their nature and is mostly accidental.

za3faran 3y ago

> but still we have noticed how it is affecting and changing how she feels about the world around and herself. Are you able to elaborate on what you noticed? > The girl gets complaints from her parents because she reads too much books Do you mean complements?

another2another 3y ago
>> The girl gets complaints from her parents because she reads too much [many] books > Do you mean complements? I'm pretty sure they meant 'complaints', but maybe you meant 'compliments' ? I sometimes complain about my son's reading - too fast. I recently bought a Dogman book for him that cost 7 GBP, and he'd read it within 30 minutes. Pound for pound, not worth the money as it has basically zero re-use.

jskrablin 3y ago

How much time do you spend outside doing stuff with your kid? How much time do you spend talking with your kid re stuff she's doing at school, or stuff she's seen on her phone? How do you moderate smartphone usage (apart from the time limitation)? How do you motivate her to go outside and explore nature? You want to see her spending more time outside? Try starting with getting out yourself, taking her with you.

v-erne 3y ago

>> One girl in her class doesn't have phone at all! The girl gets complaints from her parents because she reads too much book I would not beat myselfe up too much in this situation. I happen to have two children who were risen almost identically with little to none restriction of access to phones, tablets, streaming and computer games. Older daughter just turned 10 years old and is reading more books than I (she even got her own library card made Matilda style), has quite good sport results (third place at schools olimpic running with older children), and even have time to do some group dancing, bringing handful of medals from competitions. And she is doing all this while spending lots of time with her friends outside. My 7 years old son, on the other hand, is none of this. After two years of access to tablet he still have problems with letting it go. An he does not want to start reading anything, despite me reading him books for most of his life. I think, we as parents, like to believe that we have some influence over "emerged" behaviours of our children, but somehow in the end it all comes down to their nature and is mostly accidental.