It is frustrating to see a lack of understanding of the pressures that modern parents are under from readers such as Janice White, who laments seeing parents who are not engaged with their screen‑prodding children in public and draws the conclusion that it is such unengaged parenting that causes the outcomes raised by the Kindred2 school readiness survey (Letters, 10 March).
As a mother to a four-year-old and a technology ethicist, I fully understand the concerns around screen time and the complex context in which the 2023 cohort has started school: a lack of access to health visitors, the locking up of playgrounds and other socialising play areas during Covid; the lack of affordable childcare but rising cost of living meaning that any socialising childcare, preschool or playgroup takes away income and/or time from one parent; and the dire state of austerity-hit child services.
I was given very little support once I’d left hospital with my new baby – due to lockdowns, my baby was not seen by a health visitor for almost two years. It is no wonder that “43% of parents hadn’t heard of the idea of school readiness and the connection to developmental milestones before their child was 4”, according to the Kindred2 survey.
On top of that, parents are having to work from home while taking care of their children due to a lack of affordable childcare. So is it any wonder that they resort to screen time to allow for meetings or periods of quiet work, or even just a bit of peace and quiet? Most parents understand that screen time is not the best way to occupy their child, but have little choice.
Perhaps instead of shaming parents who are doing their best in trying times, we should seek to understand the pressures on them.
Prof Catherine Flick
Professor of ethics and games technology, Staffordshire University
• A lovely letter from Janice White about early learning. As a trained primary school teacher, I taught our first daughter, Linda, to read before she started school. When I called in at the nearest school to arrange her coming, I discovered that they were using the (short-lived) Initial Teaching Alphabet reading scheme. I asked the headmaster about this, explaining that Linda could already read. His response: “We don’t have children coming to this school who can already read.” Fortunately ITA only lasted for one more term. Linda went on to get a law degree.
Mary Pickard
Ossett, West Yorkshire
• We are working with schools to support children who lack age-appropriate language and communication skills. Our book-sharing work involves dialogic reading in which books are used to promote conversation rather than to teach children to read. Some books have no words, but are explored with children to expand their language skills. We ask parents to allow children to describe pictures and let them tell their own story.
The programme was initially developed at Reading University. In our small trials, we have excellent outcomes in terms of increased child language and changes in parents’ behaviour that show increased reciprocity rather than reading to children. Our experience is that children and parents together spend a lot more time with books and in conversation.
We are trialling a short training programme for school support staff, who are often working with the children with the greatest needs.
Prof Judy Hutchings
Bangor University
• Janice White is so right. Verbal interaction between children and the adults in their lives helps them to develop their speaking and reading skills – but it is also vital in building relationships.
I live near an infant and primary school and it distresses me to see how many adults, having collected their children, walk past our house absorbed in whatever is happening on their phones. Children come out of school bubbling with excitement or perhaps, and even more importantly, upset or worried about something that has happened during their day and this is a time when they need to be heard and to learn that there are interested and sympathetic listeners around them.
Soon enough they will become teenagers and prone to answer any personal inquiries with a grunt and a shrug. No phone message or social chit chat is more important than letting your child know at this formative age that you are listening to them – and that you care.
Vicky Woodcraft
Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
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