So, is it like the war on drug and war on terrorism ?
Also I remember when I was a kid, people were over my back for reading too much books, as I was supposed to “go outside”, “play with the other kids”, “make things with my hand”. I won’t use the eternal ‘I ended up fine’ argument, but in any day and age we’re grindingly pushing kids toward stuff they don’t care about for no decent reason. As a general rule you shouldn’t be at war against stuff your kids are into.
Source: Me.
My 1.5 year old shuts off completely whenever he can get access to a screen, it is amazing and scary. He likes books also, but is much more engaged with them.
Screen time is probably a top issue for parenting today.
Does you kid gain access to a screen accidentally or is it something you employ as an emergency pacifier on rare occasions?
What do you mean? Isn't he just reading them?
When everything is new in the world, I'm sure they're feeling the "zone" moment too of absorbing new information.
I don't think tablets are the issue - curation of content is.
Did you find what’s sucking him into these apps ? At 1.5 yo it can be super interesting to understand what makes him focus and direct his learning.
For ours it was simply things that move that he can’t touch (no texture, no tactile feedback), and it was new enough to him that he stuck with learning numbers and letters shapes just to keep using the ipad.
Fun thing I actually was an avid reader, but the curriculum books were totally out of place. At 12yo “Promessi Sposi” and “Divina Commedia” is such a shitty, verbose and convolute prose it killed my interest in literature.
Funnily enough I was enjoying at the time reading Calvino and Pirandello, authors I wouldn’t find in the curriculum until five years later. And read literally a ton of comics.
So blaming “screens” to me sounds like my average teacher back then totally disconnected with the minds of kids.
But did you really have "Promessi Sposi" as 12yo? I recall having it in the high school curriculum, some 5 years later.
It is downright illegible for a small kid anyway, I 100% agree.
For me, the teachers' recommended readings for the summer were things of the "good educational readings" kind (To Kill a Mockingbird, Fontamara, Cronache di Poveri Amanti, Il Giardino dei Finzi Contini etc) which are terribly boring for kids.
On the other hand, my class had a class library with more enjoyable stuff in it (Tolkien, Calvino, YA stuff).
Kids often used to start read out of boredom, you used to find fun and easy to read junk in sch situation. Now kids play something or watch videos in that boredom situation.
Plus, now kids have more homework and organized activities. And easy to read fun junk is harder to find. But kids not liking what teacher assigned is not new.
This whole mindset of copy & paste information into new citizen is nightmarish and has bred so much resentment/outright resistance it should be persecuted for destroying a young persons motivation and interest in new things.
Youtube and others are laying this idea, that knowledge has to be uninteresting and/or boring to ashes- series like extraHistory, smarterEveryDay, etc. show what is possible and how bad things actually are and where.
If someone must force his grownup tastes down upon a not grown up audience, and overrides rejection /disinterest with force - destroying one of the most vital things a new citizen has to bring to this society (intrinsic will to learn / yearning for discovery) the educator should be fired and banned from his / her profession.
I am not bashing young people in general here. Most are not like that, even if they read less.
Also wtf it is with people that first reaction on anything is threat of firing. It seems like people can't discuss even curriculum without that.
I guess childhood is a rare time where you have the freedom to loiter, but I guess this isn't really true anymore in the Western world, as it's a sure way to get your parents in trouble with social services, thanks to overzealous neighbours.
I spend plenty of time outside as an adult. How exactly do adults lose their freedom to enjoy the outside?
The beatings will continue until morale improves.