I knew it!
I knew we were storing up trouble.
What do you know, Ms J?
I always knew that giving a young child a smartphone and leaving them to be entertained by it, or otherwise, would lead to a disaster waiting to happen. The thing is, I used to think that’s something to deal with in the future, but let me tell you peeps, it is a ‘appening right now. Present tense! And tense it is.
According to recent government data, the number of primary school children being expelled for physically attacking a teacher or staff member has doubled in three years. What has that to do with early childhood smartphones? I hear you ask. Well, the Centre of Social Justice think-tank, which analysed the data, blamed a range of factors for this, including poor school readiness, excessive screen time and a lack of parental engagement.
What was always a worry to me was to see small children in their buggy cosseting their smartphones, oblivious to their surroundings, while parent is on their own phones. I wondered why parents were not engaging with their little offspring, as we used to in days of old. I remember as young mothers, while pushing our baby buggies, conversing with our children, pointing things out as we went along to the shops or singing the wheels on the bus go round and round, all day long. That’s called ‘communication’. That’s called ‘being engaged with your little one’. When I am out and about these days, I hardly see any communication between parent and child.
We are living in the most distracted era of parenting in human history. And our kids – our primary school-aged kids, right in the middle of the most important brain-building years of their lives – are caught in the crossfire.
This isn’t about shaming anyone. Parenting is hard. Screens are easy. I get it. But we need to talk about what’s actually happening – because it’s more serious than most of us want to admit.
The years between four and eleven are when your child’s brain is doing its most critical development. Attention. Language. Emotional control. Empathy. All of it is being built right now, today, this week.
Primary school years are foundational for cognitive, social, and emotional growth. The digital world, with its bright colours, instant feedback, and addictive interactivity, naturally attracts young minds. However, when screen time begins to dominate daily routines, the risks quickly emerge.
As children turn to screens for entertainment and social connection, endless fast-paced content is conditioning young brains to need constant stimulation. The result? Sitting still and focusing on anything slow – a book, a task, a conversation – becomes genuinely difficult.
Schools and teachers are having a hard time of it. Attention spans are getting shorter. Kids are arriving at school less able to cope with frustration, less able to concentrate, less able to just… sit with themselves, then they create mayhem. Then they get expelled.
Do you know that children aged 10 are more likely to own a smartphone than know how to throw a ball? That got you, didn’t it?
It appears we are raising a generation of children who can swipe before they can throw and who are paying the price in their physical and mental health.
The fix isn’t Perfect Parenting. It’s Just Present Parenting.
Not perfect. Not endlessly patient. Just be there.
For primary school children, the most powerful App remains the Attentive Presence of (engaged) Parents. Now, there’s something to think about.
