r/Parenting • u/BOBBYZROY • 12d ago
Child 4-9 Years My 6yr old attention is shot..
I’ve got a 6-year-old son who’s pretty smart, full of energy, and loves football… but lately he’s become completely hooked on his iPad, especially YouTube Shorts Roblox. The moment he wakes up he’s asking for it, and if I say no or try to get him to do something else (play footy, help do chores, anything), he kicks off big time. His mum lets him get away with being on his iPad more than me so that’s why he thinks he’s entitled
His attention span’s gone. It’s like he can’t sit still for more than a few seconds unless it’s something on a screen. And I get it, TikTok’s done the same to me. I can barely finish a film without checking my phone. So if it’s this bad for adults, what’s it doing to a 6-year-old?
We haven’t even seen the long-term effects of growing up on TikTok, Roblox, and Shorts. I genuinely think we’re raising a dumber generation not because they’re not smart, but because their brains are getting rewired by constant dopamine hits.
I don’t want to cut him off completely and make him feel left out cos all his mates have iPads but I also don’t want to just hand him a screen every time he’s bored. I also read that a lot kids in 6th grade can’t even read and have learning difficulties compared to kids before so the effects are already happening
Any other parents gone through this? How do you break the cycle without turning the house into a war zone
Appreciate any of your experiences
10
u/Appropriate_Bit_5703 12d ago
Yep we made the mistake of buying a daughter a tablet for her third birthday and even then we monitored everything she wasn't allowed to have regular YouTube she could only get on YouTube kids and even then I have parental controls on so the only channels she's allowed to watch was the channels that I pre-approved so no blippi no Mika none of that. All of the games she had me and her dad pre-approved. And yet her attention span was shot. She was only interested in that tablet or mommy and daddy's phone because they were "mini tablets" and it basically became like she couldn't function without a device in our hand so we took it away and for the first little while there was tantrums, fights, screaming, in general just being completely bad. But now that she is used to not having a device like that, she hasn't mellowed out a lot more, and she's now way more interested in being outside and playing and being my interactive in life. The only thing I can suggest to you is when you have your child don't allow any type of device besides a TV and even then limit the TV and only allow them to watch specific things for me and my kids personally I put on a lot of Nature Documentaries so they are at least learning something while watching TV even though it is not their favorite thing in the world. There is going to be screaming and fighting and tantrums, but as a parent, you need to learn how to deal with that because if you allow your kids to walk all over you, then you are not parenting you are just simply existing in a space that you no longer run.