A baby phone ban is long overdue

Crucial brain development in the first few years of life depends on the ‘serve and return’ interaction with parents and carers; baby talk, storytime and games. Sitting in front of a screen is one-way traffic: a child is only in receive mode. Maybe that’s why we are seeing the terrible impact of excessive screen time on pre-school children at the start of Reception. According to Kindred’s latest school readiness report, a third of children starting Reception can’t dress themselves or communicate their needs to an adult; 45 per cent are reported to be unable to sit still for a short time. Up to a quarter of children who begin Reception are not properly toilet trained.

Both teachers and parents told us that a significant factor is the increased amount of time children spend on phones and tablets, with 54 per cent of teachers and 49 per cent of parents agreeing that parents spending more time on devices than with their children contributes to children not being ready for school.