Clipping iPad to pram ‘may damage your child’s mind’
EXPERTS have criticised a device for attaching iPads to prams, warning that it could damage children’s development.
The £6.55 tablet-holder clips to the buggy handles so children can watch films or play games while being pushed by their parents.
Many families use iPads to entertain and educate children, but development experts have warned against using them as ‘electric babysitters’.
Famous fans of the devices, which are available online, are said to include US reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian, stylist Rachel Zoe and actress Tori Spelling.
One company, Orbit Baby, offers a £249.95 upgrade kit for its strollers that features a ShadePad – an awning to protect your baby from the sun featuring a pocket for a tablet.
The £210 Cosatto Supa Pixelate Pushchair includes ‘laid-back learning’ fea-
‘Babies need to see your face’
tures such as speakers and an iPad holder, which it says are ‘a boredom buster’.
But Sarah Ockwell-Smith, the author of BabyCalm, told The Sun: ‘These devices are horrific and undermine parents. Babies don’t need gadgets and gizmos.’ She added: ‘I can’t see any benefit. Research shows making under-twos watch screens can damage their development.’
TV parenting coach Sue Atkins called tablets ‘frightening’ and ‘electric babysitters’. She added: ‘Babies need to see your face and the real world around them, not a screen.’
According to research, a child born today will have spent a full year staring at screens by the time they are seven years old.
A poll last year found that half of British parents routinely let infants play with their smartphone or tablet.