One question I get asked surprisingly often is:
"Do your children really not have tablets?"
The answer is no. Not anymore.
And honestly, removing them has been one of the best parenting decisions I've made.
As a parent of children with a larger age gap, I noticed something happening that I think many families can relate to. With my older children, screens were introduced gradually and at a later age. But with each younger child, tablets seemed to appear earlier and earlier.
By the time my youngest daughter came along, she had access to a tablet at just one year old.
At the time, it felt normal.
Tablets are everywhere. Educational apps are marketed as beneficial. Other children have them. Parents are busy, tired and trying to juggle work, home life and everything in between.
But over time, I started noticing changes in my younger children that made me uncomfortable.
The Behaviour I Couldn't Ignore
Last year, I decided to remove tablets and phones completely from my youngest children.
The decision wasn't based on one dramatic moment, but on a pattern I kept seeing over and over again.
The biggest issue wasn't introducing the screens in the first place - it was what happened every time the session came to an end.
Asking them to put a tablet away, turn a video off or stop using a phone often led to huge meltdowns, frustration and sometimes aggression.
It felt as though the device had become so stimulating and absorbing that transitioning back to everyday life was incredibly difficult for them.
That alone told me something important.
If stopping an activity repeatedly causes that level of distress, obsession and emotional dysregulation, it made me question whether it was adding enough value to justify keeping it.
Even now, when they spend time with their mum, they are still allowed access to phones.
What strikes me every single time is how quickly the device becomes the centre of their world.
They immediately become completely absorbed by it.
They lose interest in conversation.
They don't want to play.
They don't want to explore.
They aren't interested in quality time together.
All they want is the screen.
And when it is time to stop using it, the same battles return.
The same tears.
The same frustration.
The same resistance to moving on to anything else.
It reminds me exactly why I chose to step away from tablets while they are still so young.
For me, that has reinforced that removing tablets was the right decision for our family.
What Happened Instead
People often assume taking screens away means children become bored.
In our house, the opposite happened.
My children became more creative.
They started reaching for books again.
They role-play more.
They spend longer periods immersed in imaginative play.
They enjoy puzzles, crafts, outdoor adventures and simply being present.
Trips to farms, parks and museums became even more enjoyable because they were truly engaged with the experience rather than asking when they could have a device back.
As a single parent, life can be busy and exhausting, and I understand entirely why screens can feel like an easy solution sometimes.
I've been there.
I used them myself.
This isn't about guilt.
It's about noticing what genuinely works for your own children.
For mine, less screen time has meant more connection.
More conversations.
More stories.
More curiosity.
More opportunities to discover the world around them.
And those moments have become incredibly valuable to me.
One thing I've noticed is that books simply don't create the same problems.
My children can happily sit and look through books for long periods of time, and when it's time to put them down, it rarely becomes an issue.
I don't have to worry about Wi-Fi, charging batteries or setting limits in the same way, and I never mind them taking books wherever we go.
Whether we're at home, waiting for an appointment, travelling or visiting family, books seem to encourage calm, curiosity and connection rather than conflict.
Am I Against Technology? Absolutely Not.
I want to be clear: I am not anti-technology.
We live in a digital world.
Technology is an important skill, and I absolutely intend to introduce phones, tablets and other devices again when my children are older.
They will need to understand technology, use it responsibly and develop digital confidence.
But right now, while they are still little, I don't feel they are missing out.
Childhood is such a short window.
There will be plenty of years ahead for social media, gaming, apps and online learning.
There are only a few years when a cardboard box becomes a rocket ship, when a farm visit is the highlight of the week, and when sitting together reading stories can still feel like the most exciting part of the day.
What About Television?
People often ask whether we have removed screens entirely.
The answer is no.
We still watch television.
But for me, television feels different.
It tends to happen in shorter sessions, from a greater distance, and often as a shared family activity rather than an individual experience.
What concerns me more about phones and tablets is how close they sit to young children's faces.
They are intensely stimulating, portable, instantly accessible and incredibly difficult for many little ones to regulate themselves around.
Every child is different, and every family will make choices that suit them best.
This is simply what works for ours.
Trusting Your Instincts as a Parent
One of the biggest lessons I've learned is that it's okay to reassess decisions.
Just because something is common doesn't mean it is right for every child.
Just because we started using tablets early doesn't mean we have to continue.
Removing them has brought more peace to our home, more meaningful interactions and more opportunities for my children to simply be children.
And as someone who built Discover Books because I believe childhood should be filled with stories, imagination, learning and connection, it feels like we've come full circle.
For our family, taking away tablets wasn't about rejecting technology.
It was about protecting a little more of childhood while we still can.
And for now, I genuinely have no desire to go back.