Kirstie Allsopp reveals she’s given her children new iPads after smashing their old ones for breaking screen time rules (but they can only be used on weekends and when travelling)
- Kirstie Allsopp, 48, has revealed she’s given sons Oscar, 13, and Bay, 11 new iPads
- Last year she ‘smashed’ them after they failed to stick to her rules on screen time
- Told how this time the devices can only be used at weekends or for travelling
Kirstie Allsopp has revealed her sons have been given new iPads after she ‘smashed’ their old ones last year because they failed to stick to her rules on screen time.
The Location, Location, Location presenter, 48, highlighted a very strict set of rules that come with the privilege, and says her sons Oscar Hercules, 13, and Bay Atlas, 11, are only allowed to use their new tablets at the weekends and when travelling.
Speaking of the importance of setting ‘boundaries,’ she told Best magazine: ‘For us as a family, it was a line that needed to be drawn – and they now know that they are not to push certain boundaries.’
Kirstie, who shares her sons with husband Ben Andersen, confessed back in September on The Jeremy Vine Show to smashing the first set of iPads against a table leg as her children watched as punishment.
Kirstie Allsopp, 48, has revealed she’s given her sons Oscar, 13, and Bay, 11, new iPads after smashing up their old ones after they failed to stick to her rules on screen time
Kirstie Allsopp previously told how Instagram leaves her feeling ‘sad and inadequate’ as she first explained her decision to ban her eldest son from the app. Pictured, Kirstie with sons Bay Atlas and Oscar Hercules at a premiere in November 2017
While she previously declared she didn’t want her children to have smartphones, her eldest son now has the device.
‘Bay now has a smartphone, because he’s 13,’ she said. ‘You have to let go a bit, but we were the last in the class to let go.’
‘They do have iPads again, at the weekends and on journeys only. We go to Devon most weekends, and the iPads appear at 4.30pm at Paddington Station.’
Speaking of protecting her children from fame, she added: ‘My sons are very sheltered from it, although after the iPad-smashing incident they were, like, “Oh, Mum, everyone knows what you did!”
‘They were a bit weirded out by that. I’m lucky I don’t have to be on the celeb “circuit” to promote my job.’
On first explaining her decision to first ban her son from the app, Kirstie told how Instagram leaves her feeling ‘sad and inadequate.’
Kirstie Allsopp also revealed how Twitter abuse over her decision to smash her sons’ iPads caused her to quit social media to protect her children. Pictured on Good Morning Britain on 3 March 2017
The presenter previously spoke candidly of how the photo-sharing app had damaged her self-esteem (pictured)
She admitted Instagram damaged her self-esteem despite seeing herself as a ‘pretty successful adult’.
Writing about the issue on Twitter, she asked: ‘So how much worse is it for kids?’
She explained the concern over what her children would be exposed to online had kept her from giving into her older son’s pleas for a smart phone.
Continuing on Twitter, she argued parents have a responsibility to keep their children off Instagram until they are 13 – the app’s minimum user age.
‘It was never designed for use by anyone younger than that, and we can’t expect them to protect our kids if we have allowed them to lie to access the site,’ she wrote.
The mother-of-two, who has 159,000 Instagram followers, also pointed out very few parents would support their children looking at pornographic material away from their screen.
She posted: ‘Leaving a kid in a room with a smart phone is like taking them to a sex shop in Soho and saying take your pic.
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