Unless the same family eats out at that restaurant every day of the week, who are we to judge when we see this? Maybe they went out once in a blue moon and kids went insane but parents wanted to finish their meal. Maybe the kids had a long overstimulating day already and can’t handle a restaurant anymore but are also too hungry to go home at that point. Maybe the parents are scared of everyone around them judging if their kids don’t behave like 1920s kids who are too scared to even breathe in front of their parents. There can be multiple reasons for screens at restaurants and food courts and it’s not up to me or you to judge. Restaurants and going out are usually a special occasion and while I don’t condone putting your child in front of a screen when you are eating out, I don’t want to prematurely extrapolate to screen use at home.

I also want to add, when you say you see kids glued to screens every time you go out, are you sure you don’t see any who aren’t? Because I have this with dogs, I despise dogs and I spot a dog when there is one. While a place could be full of cats or rats or squirrels and I wouldn’t even notice.

Isn’t it already? Or am I living in some kind of parenting bubble? No one I know thinks it is ok to let their kids be glued to the screen. There are some parents (usually understandably exhausted single parents with multiple children under 6) who do put on kids music on youtube just so that they can tackle some acute problem or have a 10 minute break but otherwise no one thinks screens are great or even ok. It’s used as a last resort mostly. Isn’t that the norm? At least this is my experience for kids under 6.