Parents Are Ruining Family Dinner

17 Jun 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:56

In this brief commentary, TJ Walker cites a recent JAMA Pediatrics study showing that about 70% of children aged 4‑10 and over 75% of parents use electronic media during dinner. He argues that when a child looks at a screen at the family table, the parent has failed in that moment, and when parents themselves are on phones while telling kids not to, they model hypocrisy. Walker frames this as a parenting lapse rather than a permanent failure, emphasizing that children learn from observed behavior, often contrary to parental instruction.

Chapters

A new study in the Journal of American Medical Association Pediatrics finds that roughly 70% of kids age 4 to 10 are using electronic media during dinner. And the number is even worse for parents. More than 75% of parents are using phones, TVs, tablets, or other media during dinner. So let's just say the quiet part out loud, politely, lovingly, and with just a hint of judgment. If your child is staring at a screen during family dinner, you have failed at family dinner. Not failed as a human being, not failed forever, but in that moment, yeah, you blew it. And if you, the parent, are staring at your own phone while telling your kid not to stare at a phone, congratulations. You're not parenting, you're running a hypocrisy internship. Your child is learning beautifully, just not what you think. Ultimize.