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The point is that using a device in this way guarantees a meltdown everytime it has to be taken away. And at the age where they can actually start managing their emotions and reactions, this approach remains a handicap for these poor kids.

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That's not true, my wife and I have been very liberal in our approach to electronics with our kids and none of them has a meltdown when we take their devices away. Like everything else with parenting, it's all a giant gray area and it's mostly important to set expectations.

The particular reaction from parent taking away the devise may be more important cause here. I've seen this play out: some mom making repeated attempts to take away the ipad with the sad face looking like she was strangling the poor kid. No confidence, no desire to engage with the toddler, make eye contact. It's sad really, the parent behaving like this can't be giving much thought to parenting anyway and such meltdown is much more a cry for attention.

Yup. I sometimes let my 2 year old watch videos on YouTube. I tell her “we’re going to watch one more”, and she accepts that without so much as a whimper.

I think some of it also has to do with the kids personality. If it was a battle getting it away from her, I’d probably avoid giving it to her altogether.

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