Kirstie Allsopp: My kids broke iPad rules — so I smashed them

KIRSTIE ALLSOPP has been branded a ‘crap parent’ by some after admitting to smashing her kids’ iPads.

The TV property guru said she took the drastic action when her kids repeatedly broke the family’s screen-time rules.

But the extreme parenting tactic comes just months after she hit the headlines for admitting she leaves her two sons — Oscar Hercules, 9, and Bay Atlas, 11 — to their own devices in economy class on flights while she and hubby Ben Andersen enjoy business class.

Speaking on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine, Kirstie said: ‘This is the first time I’ve said this publicly. In June I smashed my kids’ iPads — not in a violent way. I actually banged them on the table leg.

‘There is a game called Fortnite and another PUBG and I decided… we had made all sorts of rules and all sorts of times when we said you can’t play them and all those rules got broken, and in the end I said, “Right, that is it, I have to physically [break them].”‘

Asked to show how she did it, she replied: ‘It was remarkably easy. I didn’t intend to speak about it but it’s come up now.’

Storm Huntley, who appears on the show alongside Vine, praised Allsopp saying: ‘I like that, that is my kind of parenting.’

But many viewers disagreed when a clip was posted on Twitter, posing the question: ‘Harsh, or a good bit of parenting there?’

A handful said things like: ‘Good on you, well done Kirsty!!!’, ‘Love it bravo’ and ‘It’s refreshing to see some good old-fashioned parenting where actions have consequences.’

But most seemed to agree that Kirstie wasn’t setting a very good example.

‘She’s a crap parent and only a small step away from violence,’ wrote one. ‘Teaching kids to destroy stuff is wrong. Kirstie should seek out some parenting classes, I think.’

Another wrote: ‘So instead of… explaining the value of products and how they should be used and why, she took the toddler’s way out and smashed it to pieces, showing her kids it’s ok to destroy things if you feel wronged. Disgusting behaviour.’

Many more pointed out she could’ve just confiscated the expensive gadgets.

‘Nice to be so well off that you can do this,’ wrote one. ‘Why not confiscate them or donate them to a children’s hospice?’

Still others pointed out a variety of less drastic solutions.

‘Switching the wifi off works just as well,’ wrote one.

‘Put a passcode lock on,’ suggested another, while a third said: ‘How about just taking the chargers away?’

And one couldn’t resist asking: ‘Who bought the children tablets in the first place?’

The row also reignited the previous controversy over Kirstie sitting separately from her kids on planes, with one commenter saying: ‘Bet she gives them plenty of electronic equipment to keep them quiet and not bother anyone on a flight. Only when it suits eh?’

To which another replied: ‘But she’ll be in business class while the kids are with the plebs.’

Author: Anna Thomson