Do kids get entertained too much these days?

I believe the constant need for many young children to be "entertained" leads to them growing into adults who have a short attention span. Some adults are incapable of writing by hand, following instructions or simply carrying out a sensible conversation where people "take turns at talk".

You see it on discussion fora where instead of replyiing to the point the previous poster (or the OP) made some will de-contextualise one word or phrase and harp on about that. I often wonder what would happen to our society if the internet and all advanced technology suddenly disappeared.

How would all these folks with their grasshopper minds manage?

kircubbin2000, yes - definitely. My GC seem to expect constant adult attention and entertainment. They are puzzled when told to 'Just go and play!'

One thing my useless mother did get right (and the reason we rarely said we were 'Bored, bored bored!') - was that we'd be told to:

Cut the lawn, wash the steps, polish the shoes, iron the sheets, clean the windows - etc.

So, we'd read a book, draw, enjoy a hobby or invent a game instead!

After all, a certain degree of boredom leads to great inventions creativity, independence and self-reliance.

My daughter tries to do something with her children a few times a week, often one of the beaches we are lucky enough to live near, swimming, big play park, one of the local country parks. We live in a popular family holiday area so there is always plenty to do which is fairly inexpensive but interesting I know that others don’t have this so I consider that we are very fortunate.

I used to look after my nephew and niece for a few days during the school holidays - my sister worked full time and I was a teacher so available during the holidays. I tried to do something with then most days they were with me but I spent hours before hand researching for free places to go. Living in S Manchester we could go to museums, art galleries and parks which put on children's events. One year we spent hours at an Emergency Services Day in the car park at the Trafford Centre, packed with vehicles to climb into, displays, fires to put out etc - very exciting for young children and only cost me an ice cream each!

I think I enjoyed some of our trips as much as them, petting farms at cafes in the Cheshire countryside, going on the tram to Bury Market, watching boats going through locks on canals, so many free things to do!

I did treat them to the cinema but picnics in the park were also fun. It’s not that I was short of money but I think I was trying to create my own childhood for them and it’s lovely that ten years later, my nephew still talks about some of the places we went to.

There is one extreme to the other, with some glued to screens and rarely taken out and others being taken here there and everywhere. I doubt they will even remember most of the places they've been.
When were were young we had unlimited freedom, even me living in London, but even more so in the country.
But the things children love above all else is playing with other children, and this has to be planned if you have an only child.

I do think many children today don't really know how to entertain themselves or cope with being on their own. They're not content with their own company or silence

Learning how to entertain yourself and manage with your own company is part of the process of growing into a mature self reliant adult. It makes you a stronger and more self reliant person. Experiencing that as a child enabled me to have the confidence to travel the world on my own - not on package holidays but independently. I had to organize my own flights, hotels and itinerary without some travel rep tagging along. On the few occasions I went with a group (to Iran) I soon ditched the group.

People have asked me how I had the courage to visit countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Iran without anyone but myself to rely upon. I attribute that to many of the things I learned as a child - how to amuse myself without a TV in the room or a partner to talk to. How to research a country and its customs and teach myself a few sentences in Arabic or Farsi and so on.

Imaginitive play is very important in the growing up process. I wonder how young people are going to learn these skills when their eyes are glued to a phone.

...so in the school holidays they still have to work and children may be left with childminders...

My childminder colleague and I are currently on a much-deserved break but will be back working next week for the last few days of the school holidays.
The first thing we'll do each day is check the weather forecast and decide what activity, preferably outdoors, we'll do with the children, ages one to ten years.
It's surprising how little you need to spend for them to have a good time ?

DGS2 j(4) just spent half an hour under the dining room table playing with my slippers - talking to them, giving them names and making them do things. On arrival home he constructed an activity run with his balance board, bean bag, chair and tunnel which was apparently a water slide. Conversely he told Alexa to switch off timer for 5 minutes (prior to bedtime) and told her to set timer for 100 minutes!! Granny was then set as timer and Granny cannot be turned off!!!

Urmstongran my childhood was very much like yours, simple activities: making go-karts, climbing trees, building dens, helping neighbours with shopping or gardening. Lots of fun and freedom, learning how to make friends and cope with disagreements and rejection. Learning to be responsible and streetwise, and respect and communicate with adults. Just enjoying the holidays through the year. Happy times, and most of it was free! I'm glad I was part of that generation, not ferried everywhere by car and restricted because of fears for my safety.

Last summer one of our GC said they were going to climb trees in the woods with some friends. I thought What a great idea, I loved climbing trees at their age. But no, they went 'tree top walking', all very organised with safety harnesses, helmets and bridges etc. It lasted about an hour and cost a fortune! They were given so many warnings and instructions that one of the kids was terrified, couldn't complete the course and went home in tears. This resulted in her parents anger because of the wasted money. The hour long event cost more than we ever spent on a weeks holiday!

I do think many children today don't really know how to entertain themselves or cope with being on their own. They're not content with their own company or silence, so they turn to videos, TV and social media because it requires little effort on their part. In addition parents work full time, often from home, so in the school holidays they still have to work and children may be left with childminders. Some children are lucky enough to spend time with their GPs in holiday time, but not all GPs have the energy or funds to take them places or provide expensive activities.

I wonder what memories today's children will treasure from their childhoods when they are grandparents.

Some children do still play out, knocking at doors, as I said earlier, so I don’t agree it’s not an option Hithere, depending of course on where they live and parental attitude.

The short answer is yes. Children need to be left alone to think up their own things to do and to use their imaginations. Obviously the occasional treat - which need not be too expensive - makes a nice change but some children of my acquaintance do seem to expect to have entertainments laid on for them continuously.

nanna8

They have more money than we did. People often have beach houses and caravans now which we never had, and a lot more choices with cars and the ability to get around. Just different.

these are just a few people whom you know though. and on here generally, it is not representative of the population as a whole.
many children never have a day out, their parents are too busy working, or too poor, struggling to pay bills, cover the essentials, to have all these extras.
i think the majority of people on here are much better off, and have more choices than most people.

I have a ten year old. This holidays she’s:
Done her watersports hobby once.
Been for a long walk.
Visited her cousins.
Spent an afternoon at work with me.
Been swimming.
Spent a lot of time watching films whilst drawing.
Been for a shorter walk.
Been to see a small drama production.
Had a sleepover and built a den.
Been shopping with me.
Met an old family friend who has moved away.
Accompanied me to an appointment where she sat and drew for two hours.
Visited grandparents.
Been to a zoo.
Been to the cinema.

Sounds quite a lot when I write it down but not much of it has been us entertaining her. Plus when I have a week off, I like to do things I don’t normally have time to do!

I can see why so many activities happen
1. Limited vacation time so families make the most out of it
2. Playing outside is no longer an option
3. Families may want family experiences

Parents nowadays do the best for their kids, just like past generations did.
There are also so many more options than in the past.

Vintagejazz

That sounds like an awful lot, but not really typical.

Children do get taken a lot more places nowadays though. I know children for whom getting on a plane is nothing, but going somewhere on a bus is very exciting

It used to be the other way around.

My DGDs LOVE a train ride or bus ride with us....they go everywhere in the car with their DP .....they also like walking to school when I take them as its a novelty .....I walked to school every day and it was much further than my GDs have to go ?

Urmstongran and Big Louis, I agree about the benefits of learning the lifeskills of how to negotiate relationships unsupervised when young. It's been very useful in my adult life !

I think adults in a family do entertain the children more nowadays. I think it’s because the children don’t play out with friends any more. Arranged play dates? Not quite the same as knocking on for your friends and asking ‘is .... coming out to play?’. Times have certainly changed but looking back my 8y old self, playing out on our streets with hula hoops, roller skates, hopscotch, skipping ropes etc was 60y ago. Actually that thought alone has just pulled me up short! I can remember playing outside in Old Trafford with my younger sister and all our friends as if it were yesterday. No cost involved. Falling out of friends, falling back in again. No interference from grown ups. It was pretty glorious really

This is much how I remember my childhood in the 1950s. There were very few organized activities then - apart from guides/brownies/cubs/scouts/sunday school - and children routinely played in groups to make their own fun.

There was a very rich lore of street activities and "dipping" games to decide who was going to be "it". Children learned useful concepts of fairness, rules and fitting in. If you refused to obey the ruiles you were out of the game. Of course we fell in and out of friendships but parents seldom (if ever) interfeared. So unlike todays helecopter parenting style.

It was the same in school. Parents rarely contacted the school. Kids who were bullied or left out learned to stand up for themselves. Certainly my father could not have afforded to take a day off work to go to the school. There were no school runs then and few private cars. We walked to and fro to school in pairs and groups from the age of (say) 7 or 8. Even if it meant crossing a busy road. Somehow we survived,

On the whole I thing our generation profited from the experience. We learned both independence and fitting in from our peers without the need for "play dates" and constant suoervision by adults.

Yes!
I think some parents have the idea that holidays must be all singing all dancing events for the whole holiday!
My son and his cousins usually only had one outing per school holiday, maybe a couple during the summer. As a single parent I didn't have the spare cash to go on many trips, but he was quite happy to have friends round to play in the garden, or we might have taken a picnic on a walk or to a nearby park.
The time still passed and he still went to bed tired enough to sleep.

I think too many activities can be as bad as none at all. There definitely must be more money somewhere as the amount of children who holiday abroad is phenomenal and I'm not talking France or Spain. Nowadays it's USA, Thailand etc. I was abroad once at 19, then no foreign holidays till I was 50! We took our family to caravans or cottages, strangely, they don't feel they missed out. I wish I'd had the money to broaden their horizons a little more. I agree with other posters, there are more places to take children nowadays and it is better than being plonked in front of a screen.

Kirkcubbin your mention of breakfast reminds me that one morning we got up to find that the 7yo had given his two girl cousins their breakfast! The cereal they like is on top of our fridge freezer and he’d used a beanbag to climb up and reach it down.

Anyway, the three of them were contentedly tucking in to bowls of cereal and milk to drink - it was very sweet. ❤️

Makes a change from people complaining that all children do is sit in front of screens

Doesn't it just! Parents today can't do right for doing wrong!

I think my GC do a nice mix of things. They get taken to places sometimes, eg when four of them (aged 7-downwards) were staying with us last week they went to a Science Centre one day and soft play on another. Mostly they just wanted to play with the toys we have here and with each other.

Two of them definitely need an airing with physical exercise every day, though. So full of energy!

Some of my favourite times were with my gran. I was allowed to make the breakfast, hoover the room then light the fire. After coffee we listened to woman's hour then did a tour of the village,stopping to chat with all the shopkeepers.
After lunch and a rest we walked through local farmland picking watercress in the brook and admiring the primroses.
I was allowed to take her bike out for a run and sometimes I cut the grass,all things I wouldn't have done at home.

If we were not going out I went upstairs to a little room where I tried on clothes and shoes and looked through boxes of old photos and jewellery.

In their case I think it is partly because their dad has been working away lately and also they had not seen cousins for 2 years so the whole family on his side have got together.

Makes a change from people complaining that all children do is sit in front of screens.