Children are getting harder and harder to keep pen due to using smartphones

Pediatricians in the UK warn that children are getting harder to write because of the habit of using too much technology.

According to the South China Morning Post, doctors believe that touch screens on phones and tablets are preventing children's fingers from fully developing so that they can write properly.

Sally Payne, head of the Department of Pediatric Physiotherapy at Heart of England NHS Trust, said: "Children today do not have the strength and dexterity of their hands like 10 years ago. Now, they are not. can hold a pencil when in class because there are no basic motor skills ".

According to Sally, to be able to hold the pen and move it, you need to control and flex the muscles on your fingers. Children need to have more opportunities to develop those skills by playing games such as blocks, manual collages, using toy scissors, etc. throughout childhood.

Smartphone is a popular item of children today.(Photo: Babysittingacademy).

Patrick, 6, had to do weekly lessons with a physiotherapist for 6 months to develop pen grip skills with the right index finger.

Patrick's mother said she regretted letting her son play virtual games on the phone all day. When Patrick came to school, the teachers said that the boy held a pencil like he was holding a knife and could not hold them any other way. Therefore, it is difficult for the boy to learn to write words because he does not hold the pen correctly.

"The sessions are very effective and I'm really strict with using your technology , " added Patrick.

According to Mellissa Prunty, Vice President of the National Society of Writing, runs a research center on early childhood skills, including handwriting, at Brunel University London, despite the early-year curriculum. with the goal of handwriting, many elementary schools still let children use tablets in parallel with pencils. This becomes a big problem when kids spend a lot of time with tablets outside of school hours.

Mellissa recommends not giving too many hypotheses about why a child cannot write at an expected age. Take your child to intervene when there is a technology-related cause.