I'm always super cautious about sitting my toddler in front of a screen. At home, it's kept to a minimum and the TV only tends to go on when I need to get some ironing or whatever done. When we're out for dinner, my phone only comes out as a last resort when my son is getting restless; he's only 18 months so he's a little too young to be reasoned with and taking him out of the situation to talk through his behaviour would be futile. The videos he watches are always educational or about how to behave (encouraging him to share, eat his vegetables etc). But anyway as you can most probably tell, it wouldn't be an understatement to say I'm conscious about using screens in public.Roll on to today and me and the family are on the last day of our midweek getaway. We're grabbing breakfast in the hotel we're staying at - a fancy 5* place, not the usual kid-friendly venues we visit - and my son is starting to get a little fidgety. No-one else has finished yet and the last thing I want him to do is have a meltdown here of all places, so out comes my phone. The last ten minutes of breakfast go by without incident and we're getting ready to leave when an elderly couple approaches us. The lady comments about how well-behaved our son is and how impressed they both were. I'm so on the defensive about him being sat in front of a phone, I don't even realise she is complimenting us at first. So of course I have to make a comment saying we hardly ever use it, it's just to keep him quiet for others blah, blah,blah. She just waves her hand dismissively and says 'oh don't be silly, he's obviously being very well brought up'That comment has absolutely made my day and gone some way to easing my screen-time guilt. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2MVcF3M
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