Today’s parents are feeling more pressure than ever for their babies to reach key developmental stages. More and more parents are feeling the need to boost their child’s ability to hit key development milestones by using parent tech toys.
That’s the result of a nationwide study, commissioned by developmental baby toy brand Tiny Love, which has revealed that when it comes to milestones such as first smiles, sitting and crawling, 43% were so concerned that their baby wasn’t advancing, that they lied to friends and family about them hitting milestones when they hadn’t.
According to the findings, both mums and dads are feeling the strain of expectation for their baby to be hitting milestones at the right time, or even in advance.
The pressure to ‘perform’ leads parents to invest more and more in parent tech to help with development. Sophisticated video baby monitors with movement sensors, bath toys and even ‘laptop’ style toys with voice feedback aimed at character recognition and learning.
The study also revealed:
- 28% of parents felt like they’d failed if their baby wasn’t sleeping through the night.
- More than one in ten parents had worried that their child hadn’t started babbling.
- 15% admitted serious concerns about their infant’s fine motor skills when they were tiny.
- One in five were left panicking that their little one was taking far too long to take their first steps.
- More than half (56%) had even resorted to seeking medical attention to double-check their child’s development.
- 78% said their first port of call for any child-rearing advice was always their own parents.
- 42% felt that bringing up children was the hardest thing that they have ever had to do.
- Nearly a third (30%) said they frequently rowed with their partner in the early days.
Debbie Wakefield, Marketing Manager for Tiny Love adds:
Being able to help your baby’s development is important, but it’s equally important not to panic about it.
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