Parenting (and childhood) is intense and unrelenting. You can’t expect parents to be on stage continuously and continue to be patient and kind. You also can’t expect a 7 year old to be happy listening to their parents talk about work for 45 minutes. Taking breaks or responsibly drinking a beer is perfectly fine and isn’t going to negatively impact the child any more than allowing them to watch some age appropriate media for the time before they eat.
totally agree that parents need a break and a good drink. hell it is exhausting. but please avoid just putting them Infront of a screen. get the grandparents to look after them, let them sleep over at a friend’s house, organise a nanny. as a society we are already too often starring at screens.
Thats not a critique of parenting its a critique of screens. Which isnt exactly settled. For example my wife and I work in tech, all of our toys are technology of some kind. Its hypocritical of us to tell our kids they shouldnt be on these things. Responsible use has nothing to do with the technology itself, and varies widely from family to family and location to location.
I expect parents to have a certain degree of knowledge about the things they give their children. Study after study has shown that unfettered access to smart devices has a negative effect on a child’s psychological development (who knew the secret advertising/manipulation machine would be bad for a child’s brain?! Only anyone with a working brain of their own!) It’s literally better to just plop your kid in front of a traditional television.
Parenting (and childhood) is intense and unrelenting. You can’t expect parents to be on stage continuously and continue to be patient and kind. You also can’t expect a 7 year old to be happy listening to their parents talk about work for 45 minutes. Taking breaks or responsibly drinking a beer is perfectly fine and isn’t going to negatively impact the child any more than allowing them to watch some age appropriate media for the time before they eat.
totally agree that parents need a break and a good drink. hell it is exhausting. but please avoid just putting them Infront of a screen. get the grandparents to look after them, let them sleep over at a friend’s house, organise a nanny. as a society we are already too often starring at screens.
Thats not a critique of parenting its a critique of screens. Which isnt exactly settled. For example my wife and I work in tech, all of our toys are technology of some kind. Its hypocritical of us to tell our kids they shouldnt be on these things. Responsible use has nothing to do with the technology itself, and varies widely from family to family and location to location.
I expect parents to have a certain degree of knowledge about the things they give their children. Study after study has shown that unfettered access to smart devices has a negative effect on a child’s psychological development (who knew the secret advertising/manipulation machine would be bad for a child’s brain?! Only anyone with a working brain of their own!) It’s literally better to just plop your kid in front of a traditional television.