Kirsten Dunst Shares the Exhausting Reason Why Her Kids Aren’t Allowed iPads
Screen time for kids is a controversial subject, with opinions ranging from absolutely no screens, ever, to embracing technology as part of life. Kirsten Dunst and husband Jesse Plemons fall on the prior end of the spectrum, banning their sons Ennis, 5, and James, 2, from having iPads in their house. And the reason why honestly sounds so exhausting!
In a new interview with Variety, the Civil War star dished about her family’s screen time rules. “We’ve got record players,” Dunst said, as opposed to smart devices. “We’re just not a ‘Siri, play whatever’ household. Our kids don’t have iPads either.”
“If they want to use an iPad on the plane, it’s Dad’s iPad,” she continued. “And we’re not phone-at-restaurant kind of people.” Dunst added, “I’m not raising a kid that can’t have conversations at the table.”
As a mom of 3 little kids, I get it … sort of. We’ve all seen families having dinner and not interacting with their nose-in-their-screen kids the entire time and vowed to do better. But at the same time, teaching your toddlers to have appropriate dinner table conversations is a lot of work. Especially when they don’t understand why mom and dad are eating chips and salsa and they aren’t allowed to have any, and their food is taking forever to be served, and they’ve already thrown their crayons on the floor. Letting them watch a few minutes of Bluey until their kids’ meals arrive (and even after) so you can get a few moments of peace is perfectly fine! There is plenty of time to teach them how to have table manners and dinner conversations, including the many, many nights you eat at home. (And don’t even get me started on not pre-downloading a bunch of kids’ movies on the iPad before a plane trip.)
In the interview, the Spider-Man alum revealed she hasn’t watched the other two trilogies. “It’s just not my thing,” she explained, adding, “But I did see ‘Paw Patrol.’” Even the strictest parents can’t avoid all screentime!
In an interview with Marie Claire last month, the Bring It On star shared that she hasn’t worked “in two years” because “every role I was being offered was the sad mom.” “To be honest, that’s been hard for me … because I need to feed myself,” she went on. “The hardest thing is being a mom and … not feeling like, I have nothing for myself. That’s every mother — not just me.”
She shared another rare update about her kids in that interview, revealing that her 2-year-old has “stinky breath” when he crawls in her bed in the middle of the night and her 5-year-old enjoys “eating three lollipops at once.” “He discovered Weird Mario on YouTube,” Dunst added.
Before you go, check out these celebrities who have shared their technology rules for their kids.
