Four in 10 Dutch parents feel guilty about entertaining kids with tablet, TV

Over a third, 37 percent, of Dutch parents find it convenient to keep their children occupied by putting them behind the television, a tablet or smartphone. Tough four in ten feel guilty about doing so, according to the annual trend report on media use by children aged 0 to 6 years by Mediawijzer, NU.nl reports.

On average kids in this age group spend 1 hour per day watching TV, including Netflix, and another 30 minutes watching a DVD or Bluray. Interactive media and books take up another 90 minutes of their day. Most media use happen around dinnertime. 23 percent of parents also allow their kids to watch TV or read a book before bed time.

Most small children have paper media, like books (85 percent), magazines or comic books (67 percent), in their rooms. Devices are less common. 38 percent of kids between the ages of 0 and 6 years have a radio or music player in their bedroom and 17 percent have a television.

Kids in large cities are more likely to have media devices in their room. For example, 29 percent of city kids have a tablet, compared to the national average of 15 percent, and 26 percent have a television, compared to 17 percent.

Mediawijzer also looked at parents' daily use of media devices outside working hours. On average parents spend 1.5 hours in front of the TV, over an hour on their phone, and nearly an hour on their laptop or PC.