My eyebrows

Numptydumpty

I was sitting in the Rheumatology waiting area when two ladies and a little girl came in and sat next to me. The little girl was about three years old, one of the ladies was her grandma. As soon as they sat down, grandma handed the child an iPad, it had a pink cover with kittens on it, and was clearly the child's own. I fought the urge for my eyebrows to rise, thinking "she may be very young, but if it keeps her amused and quiet where's the harm?".
Well it certainly didn't keep her quiet! The game she was playing had quite loud music and sound effects, I was struggling to control my eyebrows! A nurse asked grandma to please lower the volume, which she did, most ungraciously, and with much huffing and puffing. I was by now physically pushing my eyebrows down with my fingers.
The little girl started telling grandma (who wasn't listening as she was talking to her friend) how she was building a village in her game, the child got louder and shriller until grandma looked at her and said "that's nice Pumpkin".
My eyebrows began to settle back in their normal position, when suddenly, Pumpkin started shrieking and growling, "grandma, I've got to kill this villager".
"Oh have you Pumpkin, why?".
"Because he's riding on my carousel! Die, die die!" Screeched Pumpkin.
I gave up any effort to control my eyebrows, which by now had disappeared somewhere above my hairline!
Am I just getting old?
Numpty

stickywicket

It sounds as if Pumpkin has to shriek or growl to get any attention from the adults in her life.

I'm not sure there is a place for your eyebrows in our Brave New World, Numpty.

However, you know what happens to Pumpkins at Hallowe'en My son has just carved out a cracker for his lad.

Time to haul out the old forum cauldron do you think I feel my inner hobgoblin stirring

LignumVitae

My nephew (2.5) has an ipad which he uses each morning to watch cartoons and stay quiet - my eyebrows danced when I was told that. I'm a horribly old fashioned Mum, my girls have teddies and knitted dolls to entertain them in the morning (and each other and usually the cat to be fair). I do feel sorry for the Pumpkins of this world though - what do they do when something happens in real life they don't like and what do they learn from a screen?
My two love a trip to rheumatology with me - there's people to talk to and smile at and lots to see in a hospital. Maybe Pumpkin won't be as nosey as my two though

As for the covern dusting off cauldrons and broomsticks, I'm game

theresak

It seems to be the age we live in - I was in eyebrow raising mode in a hotel this summer - hubby & I came down to breakfast, and two tables away were a father & his young daughter, both busy with their ipads, hitting buttons at twice the speed of light, in between eating mouthful of food. There was absolutely no conversation between them, nor any idea how this looked to other diners.

I know the art of conversation is dying in some quarters, but how is a young child supposed to learn if there's no example?

barbara12

I have been in a few waiting rooms recently were children are playing on there I pads..and have seen the children trying to have a conversation with there parent has to what they are doing on the game,to no avail..its such a shame ..but this is the world today used properly they could be a good leaning process..one of my neighbours was saying the other day when her son comes off his he is hyper and doesn't know what to do with his hands ...scary stuff :shock:

stickywicket

It's scary, Barbara, but surely the remedy is obvious.

My grandson is allowed to play games but, when he starts, a timer is set for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off he just stops. Simple.

theresak

My daughter-in-law employs the `timer technique` too, and so do we when our grandsons stay here with us. It`s so simple - when the buzzer goes, the tablet is put down. They`re never allowed them too close to bedtime either.

tkachev

My rheumatology department is based in the elderly day care part of the local hospital and I'm yet to see anyone under 50! Sometimes there is a radio on but most of the time it is very quiet. I think I'd have covered my ears if I was in your shoes Numpty, anything to keep that noise out.

I'm sad to say all 3 of my children live on their desktops/laptops at all hours (but never in restaurants) but I managed to prise my Daughter away to have a read of Anne of Green Gables the other night and she loved it.

Timers don't work in our house as they sneakily turned them off.


Elizabeth

Numptydumpty

Well my eyebrows have settled down now.
While I did think Pumpkin was a little young to have an iPad, I realise they can be educational, and anyhow it's none of my business really. What I did object to was the amount of noise and Grandma's attitude, and also, the 'game' Pumpkin was playing was in my view totally unsuitable and unacceptable for a three year old! "I've got to kill this villager because he's sitting on my carousel " !!!! :shock:
I think the timer idea is excellent!
Numpty

stickywicket

It might, of course, have been Grandma's game. It sounds a lot like what used to happen if someone sat on someone else's preferred chair in my mother's residential home

frogmorton

stickywicket wrote:

It might, of course, have been Grandma's game. It sounds a lot like what used to happen if someone sat on someone else's preferred chair in my mother's residential home

dreamdaisy

Ye gods, are we all seriously contesting that adults should interact with their smaller family members? :shock: Surely it's up to schools to teach them social habits such as how to have a conversation, behave in public, eat with a knife and fork, learn how to go to the toilet, say please and thank you etc. all alongside advanced physics at the age of seven.

We are in an electronic age, there's no doubt about that, but the scale of how people of most ages are held in thrall to their bleeping, flashing and buzzing machines is scary. Life doesn't end if you don't check your FB status every thirty seconds, no, you're not missing out on anything if you're not connected to your phone 24/7 but you are missing out on making real friends, living a real life as opposed to a vicarious one and learning about real relationships. Small children learn so much from human interaction but then again you need adults around them who are capable of providing that. I think that is what decreasing so rapidly, time spent as a family. How many now sit down to regular family meals with no electronic props? DD

stickywicket

Maybe I'm just lucky but no-one, with whom we eat, ever has mobile devices at table. If they do, and they go off, they immediately apologise and switch them off.

Recently, in a restaurant, the four women at a nearby table all got their phones out and texted furiously and silently between every course. I couldn't help but feel that we were having much more fun on our table.

dreamdaisy

This is a true story, a friend witnessed it.

We used to have a very special restaurant in Ipswich, the owner / chef was a food fanatic, he paid a huge amount of attention to the quality of his food, the ingredients, the presentation, the works. He was also somewhat temperamental which could be entertaining. One evening a young-ish man was using his mobile throughout his starter and main course, paying scant attention to his companions and the food. The chef marched out, grabbed his phone and returned it, slightly later, deep-fried in a good quality Adnams beer-based batter. DD

theresak

Oh, well done that chef!!

bubbadog

Funnily enough my OH said the same thing Friday! We where talking and he mentioned they went into the break room for lunch and rather than have a conversation about anything all but him and another employee got their mobiles or pads out and started using them. It's sad that rather ringing someone these days and having a proper conversation texting or emailing someone has taken over.

Kitty

Whatever happened to colouring books and crayons? Or even a picture book to look at!! Even if the grandmother thought Pumpkin was old enough to use an iPad, she surely wasn't old enough for the game she was playing. I think my eyebrows would have been up there with yours Numpty.

Airwave!

My 7 month old grandson loves his mums iphone, he stuffs it in his mouth, something to get his new teeth into!