On a visit to a boutique back home in India last year, the owner’s two-year-old son began whingeing. She smiled at me and said apologetically: “He’s tired and needs to nap.” Wondering why she’d brought him there if that was the case, she added that she normally left him at home, but her maid was off that day. As the whingeing increased in volume, she delved into her bag.

Now we all know that this receptacle is a veritable Pandora’s box. You never know what might come out. Expecting her to fish out a pacifier or a chocolate treat, I was surprised to see her take out her mobile phone and hand it to the boy. Miraculously, the snivelling stopped and soon he was busy pressing all the right buttons and engaging in virtual play.

This is a scene replayed in many places across the world. Tiny tots are adept at operating laptops and iPads even as their small fingers have not yet reached full development. So, it was with great interest that I read a piece on how children should be kept away from tablets until they learn to use a writing implement. Research suggests that not only do children learn to read more quickly if they learn to write by hand first, but they also are better able to generate ideas and retain information.

Tests have shown that when children composed text by hand, they not only consistently produced more words more quickly than they did on a keyboard, but expressed more ideas.

I would suggest this research as recommended reading for many young parents who marvel at their young one’s adeptness on the keyboard without realising that there are so many other ways to keep children entertained. But these would involve some interaction by the adults. So, the easiest way out is to hand them an electronic gadget and keep them engaged and out of the adults’ hair.

It’s as bad as allowing children to glue themselves to a TV set for hours on end. It is one way of keeping them quiet and out of trouble. No wondering what they’re up to or whether they are safe. And there’s the added bonus of complete silence if you can ignore the sound of the television.

So, modern stimuli are a must for a family proceeding on a train journey. They are not interested in the scenery outside or playing silly games like we did as children, such as pointing out objects of interest that flashed past and testing a sibling’s powers of observation. We didn’t run amok in the train’s corridors despite what may seem a boring journey to children of today.

Story-telling is a wonderful way to keep children entertained as well as bond with them. Altering the tone of voice to portray different characters never fails to thrill and I have yet to see a child refuse to have a story read to him or her unless of course the adult’s delivery of lines is so dull that it has more of a soporific effect rather than keeping them awake and wanting more.

Giving them paper and crayons or colouring books is also a good way for them to flex their little fingers, learn to grip and concentrate on creating something from their imagination. They do not need an instant stimulus of a screen that shows action at the swipe of a finger or the press of a button. Teaching them the art of creative play develops many skills and helps them visualise something without benefit of a ready-made game complete with sound and incessant action. Building blocks, Lego are all aids to problem-solving and give children a sense of accomplishment that cannot be equalled by any computer game.

The best part is that these forms of entertainment aren’t hard on the pocket.