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Two thirds of infants prefer iPads to playmates

TheCopenhagenPost
April 7th, 2015


This article is more than 9 years old.

Venstre wants an iPad helpline for perplexed parents

When asked if they would rather play with an iPad or play with other children, two out of three kindergarten children chose the former, according to a survey carried out by the children’s rights council Børnerådet.

The result came as no surprise to Per Larsen, Børnerådets chairman. “The survey confirms the picture we had before: that tablets and other digital media are extremely popular – also among the very youngest,” he said.

“But we can also see that children will actually choose other things if we suggest to them a good alternative – like, for example, a fun playpark. That’s food for thought for parents and kindergarten teachers, if adults want to provide a diverse everyday life with variation in the activities.”

Need to find the right balance
According to Michael Aastrup Jensen, the IT spokesman for the opposition party Venstre, the party is concerned about children’s use of technology and thinks that a source of advice for parents is the answer, BT reports.

“An iPad is a good learning tool for a child, but it can also also become a minus if the child spends all its time on it,” he said.

“Like with everything else in life, it’s about finding the right balance. And I don’t think the way forward is to make laws or to point the finger at the parents. Instead we could make an advisory service, so parents can ask about things like that.”


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”