Sir, – Alison Healy recommends parents pull the plug on video-games and smart-phones in order to get children active (Home News, November 30th); I agree entirely.
However, parents (especially mothers) should put a stop to their own antisocial and anti-family behaviour by constantly having their noses stuck in their phones.
On many occasions I have witnessed parents ignoring their children as they idle the time away phone fiddling. In the UK they have recognised the psychological damage this form of child neglect is having on children’s emotional development.
Last year the UK government launched a “Talk to your children campaign” to highlight this problem.
In Ireland we need to follow the UK’s example to urge parents to set a good example, to cut down on the amount of time they spend glued to their phones and to stop neglecting their children. – Yours, etc,
JOHN DEVLIN,
Erne Terrace,
Dublin 2.