We asked child development expert Pauline Congdon to share her thoughts on the findings of our survey. Pauline runs Little Acorns, a London nursery, and has worked in the early years sector for over 23 years. She told us:
“Every child develops physically, emotionally and cognitively at very different rates. Parents/carers have to be constantly talking to their children, about anything and everything, this will allow them to gauge their child’s maturity and ability to make these decisions and the child will be confident and informed in making such decisions. Just because ‘ all their friends are doing it ‘ (as they will always tell you) doesn’t mean they are ready for such things.
“I did find some of your youngest answers concerning, such as unsupervised access to on line content. Parents should always be in the same room as a child accessing such content and have access to the child’s social media accounts, plus implement parental controls.
“I understand the stresses and strains on all parents/carers in this modern age but using these devises as a baby sitter is detrimental to children and their development in areas such as language / communication and social skills as they are very much solitary activities.
“Children will always flourish within a healthy, happy routine such as a healthy diet and regular bedtimes both of which are the responsibility of the parent /carer and really should not be open for negotiations until the child is old enough to understand the implications of these decisions.”