Do Smartphones and Tablets Make Parenting Easier?

Do you steer your children toward your Android or iPad when they’re bored after school?

A new Northwestern University study says only 37 percent of parents said they were “very or somewhat likely” to give those devices to their children to entertain them. The vast majority of parents were more likely to give their kids books (79 percent) or get them involved in activities (88 percent).

"We were extremely surprised, because the press and [scientific] literature has been making much of how new technologies are infiltrating homes," study co-author Ellen Wartella told the Star Tribune.

The study included more than 2,300 U.S. parents of children 8 and younger. That’s what the parents in the study said, but what do you say?

How often are your children playing video games, watching TV or playing with a smartphone? Do you think the time they’re spending with technology is too much or too little or just right?

While parents in the study were less likely to give their children phones or tablets to entertain them, that doesn’t mean their children are active.

“Sixty-one percent of parents say video games have mainly a negative effect on their children’s physical activity, and similar proportions say the same about TV (58 percent), computers (57 percent) and mobile devices (54 percent),” according to the study.

The CDC says about a third of children are overweight or obese.

Do you think your children are too sedentary? If so, what’s the biggest culprit?