What's happening to the childhood of kids now a days??

perly

I remember coming home from school, doing my homework and then going outside to play till the sun came down. I had a bike, some skates, jump ropes, sidewalk chalk and other fun things to play with.
Now a days, kids can't wait to come home to play COD or racing games on their Playstation, Xbox or Wii.
I have a family friend that has a 4 and 5 year old and both kids have a Wii each, a mini iPad each, and a whole bunch of other electronics that 4 and 5 year olds do not need.
I have a 10 and 8 year old brother and sister from my dad's second marriage, and those kids are spoiled rotten. Whatever they want, they get. And neither my dad or stepmom better say no, because these kids have the last word. ITS INSANE! They are so spoiled, i can't stand them. I love them, but i can't stand them. They don't know about outside activities at all, or respect for that matter.

I really do wonder, what do these parents think they are teaching their children? I really do not see why a 4 year old would need a mini iPad. Anything that iPad can teach, a parent can too.
What are your views on this?

KEEP IT NICE! THERE ARE NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWERS, ONLY DIFFERENT OPINIONS.

And an apology to everyone that takes offense on my opinion.

Stillsurprised

I agree with you 100%. I think the only reason a child needs an iPad would be for a very long drive, or on an airplane. There is no reason why kids should be in the house playing video games if it isa day outside. My daughter is 18mos and we take her out, even if it is just a walk around the pond... everyday. I think it is sad.

ExcitedForOctober

That's why kids are so overweight. Its a shame. I wanna raise my boys the good ol fashioned way.

perly

@stillsurprised almost all the kids i know now don't own a bike or a pair of skates. Its crazy. And then parents wonder why the relationship with their kids is so distant.

perly

@excitedforoctober that too. A lot of kids don't know how to do anything else besides play video games and eat junk food.

ExcitedForOctober

Yes its because parents don't stress the importance of being active. The problem isn't so much the junk food its the fact that the parents let the kids sit on their asses all day as long as that means the kids are out of their hair.

Stillsurprised

I mean, I get that it is hard with most families having 2 parents that work full time, or single parents... but I don't think that should be an excuse for not making your kids play outside. Even when my parents were divorcing, before my dad died, we always got taken to the park, or even just to my grandparents to play in the backyard. I love how organizations like the NFL promote the play 60 stuff.

perly

@excitedforoctober if you think about it, junk food is also a problem. When you allow your kid to have junk food on a daily basis, they don't want to eat anything else. Add that to the lack of outside activities and you have an obese kid.

@stillsurprised and even that is not an excuse. I mean being a parent is hard period. The thing is that now a days parents are "trying to give their kids the childhood they never had" and that is only creating kids that are unable to be independent.

ExcitedForOctober

Yes I agree, if its given every day of course.

JoshnEviesmum

where I live, its simply safer for my son to be indoors. We have lots of groups of young men hanging around our streets, and there have been stabbings in our area. So, for safetys sake, id rather my kid be indoors playing games, than outside being attacked. Hes 11, and very big for his age, and has had trouble with older boys before. that said, when he was younger, he played out much more than he does now, and hes also involved in mixed martial arts classes as I want him to know how to protect himself, and its something he really enjoys.

perly

@joshneviesmum yeah, your situation is different. And even though you live in a neighborhood that is not safe for your kids, you still have them in extra curricular activities so it works out.

Im talking about parents that use electronics to keep their kids busy so that they don't have to deal with them. I know parents need adult time too, but some parents have too much adult time and very little dad/mom time.

Mijita

My MIL bought my daughter an iPad for her 1st birthday. She's learned a lot from it! I think it depends on how you discipline the child. We also encourage tons of physical activity by taking her for walks and the park daily. My LO is 20 months old and doesn't like junk. She eats tons of fruits and veggies and has a well balanced diet. I think it's unfair to automatically correlate electronics with bad parenting and spoiled kids.

perly

@mijita and i didn't automatically correlate electronics with bad parenting or spoiled kids. I said i was referring to parents that use electronics to keep their kids busy so they won't have to deal with them, like that family friend and my dad and stepmom.

As you just said, that's not your case.

And i agree with you 100%. Electronics is not really the problem, its the discipline the parents use. The thing is that many parents keep buying all these electronics to not have to discipline/parent and in the end, it just comes back and bites them in the butt.

jules

I totally agree but it all comes from the parents and their attitude about these things its not soo much that they even need to sit down and explain how important it is just lead by example. Like with my step daughter when she's with us everything is perfectly fine and a lot of the things we do for fun are outside besides like craft time. At her moms house its all electronics which we have to but never abuse it I mean we have play station and wii fit and we use it like once month maybe?...well we have noticed that she has a lot more respect for us then her mom. We do a lot of things together were her mom just tries to keep her occupied with the electronics and she gets mad at her super eaily and kinda gets physican which my husband and I are naturelly not that way with the kids. I do think that being outdoors around other kids and with ur family build respect for those peole around u since u have to work and play together it teaches the normal human behavior rather then how to win the latest game. There are some things I have on my pad that I think are educational yet fun so I'm not like against electronics but I don't agree with them being our entire life therefore we pass it on to the kids

sands3

We were always outside too. I take my boys out as much as I can. Getting them in sports soon. They will not be allowed to play video games often

Steph_Due_101611

My son has a wii, ps3, & DSi. Im dont live in the safest area either but my son does play outside alot when its nice out. I live in the Chicago area and the weather can be unpredictable. And as for junk food, my son thinks yogurt and string cheese is junk food.

perly

@steph_due_101611 see if my dad would do that, he would actually have a relationship with his kids. But electronics have becomed his new nanny so yeah. He never takes them out to play.

BigBelly

I feel the same way!! My little brother is almost 12 and video games are his life. He can't even ride a bike! It drives me crazy! He came over the other day and my 6yr old daughter wanted to play outside with him. I literally had to make him go outside with her. And even then he kept coming to the door to try and come in and play COD every 5 minutes!!

soon2b3

my kids have lots of toys including bikes skates ride on cars etc. I refuse to pay for cable and haven't had $ for gaming systems but I haven't tried to get one either
my daughters dad got her a Nintendo DS for her 5th bday In January and that thing causes a lot of disciplinary issues between she and I. she's been grounded from it more than she actually plays it

smcox

I won't buy that kind of stuff for my kids til they are much older. I do let my son play with my phone or tablet but only when we are out and I need him calm lol like on the airplane last month or in a Drs office and very rarely in a restaurant. As soon as my kids are old enough they will be enrolled in sports or activities. My kids also won't have cell phones until high school. I know the video will be sort of a struggle only cuz my husband plays them. But we will work that out when the time comes. Will probably limit it to weekends and only a certain amount of time.... And only certain games. I'm old fashioned, I think more kids need to grow up that way. As far as outside play, I live in Alaska and are already currently struggling with outside time lol it's just too damn cold! But once the snow is melted that's a different story.

CANT_WAIT93

Well I think its very wrong to give a lil girl and/or lil boy a phone. My husband sees it right for some reason. But I can't stand it. To know how ppl are out there and to give that kind of freedom when they have not even earn it. Now Adrian like to watch blues clues and Chuck the tonka truck on Netflix which is why we let him play with the tablet or my phone(which he already cracked:/). We also plan on buying him an ino tab for those long car rides. Cause he is pretty good at the games. And also it gives me an extra 10/20 mins of free time(cleaning time/breastfeeding/pumping time). But idk thats just us. Its not an 24 hour thing its a before nap time or car ride thing. Other then that no.

Math_Mommy

I bought my kids a tablet (not an ipad, I figured I would see how they did with something less expensive first... so got them a $170 galaxy). I did it for 2 reasons: 1) my son was born extremely premature (29/6) and had speech/language-comprehension, gross and fine motor delays. After 1.5 years of working with specialists, he is at or above age level in speech, gross motor skills, and cognitive thought. He is still delayed in fine motor skills; so our thinking was that a tablet would help improve his dexterity (it has). 2) Many/most of his peers will be tech-savy by kindergarten, and we didn't want him to have any other reason to be behind.

The kids can each play for 15 minute increments of time (which counts toward their daily "total screen-time" allowed). They play on our laps, so we can discuss what they are doing.

I agree, my childhood was much different. I grew up across the street from a park and spent most my free time there. I also grew up with kids whose parents bought them a $3000 computer in elementary school (circa 1990...I'm old). I felt extremely disadvantaged in comparison to them by high school when I didn't even know how to use a word program (let alone a spreadsheet or database program).

I think spoiling kids is selfish and wreckless. But technology (when used right) can be extremely beneficial.

kayleigh27

Its almost sickening. But whenever you do try to raise kids the "ol fashioned " way parents make it seem like you're almost a mean parent. I'm not going to hover all over my kids and keep them in a padded bubble and give them everything they want. I didnt get a cellphone until i was 18. I was paying for my car and gas and living on my own by that age too. Yeah theyrr are reaskns sometimes a kid needs a ipad or cell but not just to give so theyll stay quiet and inside. Oh they want a xbox or playstation? They're going to have to earn it by either saving money or helping around the house. We had video games growing g up but we would play them maybe for a hour or two. We WANTED to play outside! Especially Christmas day or during the summer we would be playing outside with our new toys. Now the streets and parks are EMPTY! my kids are toddlers but I still put them outside and let them scribble with chalk on the back patio or I take my daughter walking with me to get the mail. Now that spring is here we are now trying to go to the park regularly so they can play.

perly

Yeah. Like i said before, just because a kid has an iPad or a tablet, it doesn't necessarily mean you're automatically a bad parent, or that your kid is spoiled. Its the way you allow them to use that electronic. Even if its for learning purposes, when you include yourself and you help your kid understand what he/she is being taught, that is still being a responsible parent.

Now a days, many parents don't do that. They buy their kids all these things to keep that kid so busy, they don't have to deal with them as much as they would if those kind of electronics didn't exist. That is the sad part.