We're all aware of a ridiculously long-lasting streak of blaming lousy parenting on schools, TV and whatever else capable of lifting responsibility from selfish shoulders, so I guess we're now ready for fears that toddlers might become iPhone addicts.

A professor at Temple University, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek was recently struck by how many parents give their phones to their children to play with on the subway. She says how this can’t be good as children learn best through active engagement, making the screen an actual hindrance in this respect.

Kathy specializes in early language development and strangely enough, while she’s all against this, she says that she understands where this comes from. Apparently, she is “addicted to this phone” and calls it “magical”. We’re not sure how was that supposed to help the case, but we guess it sure makes for a good ad.  

One mother, Natasha Sykes, recalls her daughter being 2 years old and simply loving the iPhone. She and her husband initially found it cute that the child really digs Jobs’ brainchild, but there was also some concern. Apparently, the child preferred the shiny iPhone over regular toys, books, etc.

We decided to dig deeper and interestingly enough, crows also have a tendency to go for shinier objects. Crows, however, seem to have developed a disdain towards the latest iPhone because it is overpriced and its “aluminosilicate glass” case appears to be really hard to bring to the nest without breaking.

More here.