Perils of Texting While Watching Kids
A recent essay in the Wall Street Journal ( “The Perils of Texting While Parenting“) starts out with this question:
Are too many parents [or nannies or babysitters] distracted by mobile devices when they should be watching their kids? A recent rise in injuries, reversing the longstanding trend, has doctors worried that the answer is yes.
At The Montessori House, we also think the answer is “yes”. Whenever children are present — during classtime, or during After Care — our teachers may not use their devices. And we strongly recommend that parents put their devices away once they leave the car during arrival or dismissal.
If the adult is distracted, clearly the risk is increased. We know that drivers and pedestrians are distracted and more at risk when they use devices. It’s a fairly small leap to suggest that supervisors are distracted.
For example:
One afternoon at a swimming pool at a Foxwood Resort Casino hotel in Connecticut, Habibah Abdul-Hakeem was watching a friend’s 2-year-old son when another friend texted, asking how her day was going. She texted back that she would send him a photo of herself.
The child sat down on a step in the pool, slipped and began sinking … There was no lifeguard. The boy flailed for about a minute, drifting toward the deep end, then sank. … About three minutes after she began fiddling with the phone, she dropped it. Only then did she notice the young boy underwater. She plunged in and pulled him out. Her calls for help brought a pool attendant who resuscitated the child, who recovered fully.Ms. Abdul-Hakeem told an emergency technician that she had taken her eyes off the boy for about 20 seconds … security-camera footage suggested she didn’t look at him for more than three minutes.
Parents also get distracted:
Psychologist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek of Temple University recently had students observe 30 parents and their children in public places. In almost every case, she says, the parent interrupted an activity with the child to use a device. “In one case a parent let go of her kid’s hand in the middle of a big street in Philadelphia in order to check a text message,” she says.
All of us who care for children — parents, relatives, friends, babysitters, teachers, camp counselors — must manage distractions, and especially distractions we choose, like our devices.