Screens & Spoons: How Cocomelon Hijacked the Malaysian Dinner Table

Raise your hand if you’ve ever handed your toddler a phone just so they’d eat two mouthfuls of rice and stop acting like a Victorian orphan at the table. Keep your hand up if you said, “It’s only for today, promise,” and now it’s year three and your kid thinks food tastes like Baby Shark.

Let’s be honest—screen-feeding is the unofficial National Parenting Strategy. Forget Rukun Negara; it’s Rukun Netflix. “I promise you can watch if you just chew!”

How Did We Let This Happen?

Let’s not sugarcoat it: Some parents fought hard against the screen-eating curse. You tried every hack—fun plates, dancing chicken nuggets, puppet shows, bribery, “gentle parenting,” and the occasional side-eye from your own mum. Others? They handed over the phone after the first whine, because “Eh, everyone else does it.” Shortcut achieved, habit formed.

The truth is, it does become a habit—fast. The kind that sneaks up on you: What started as a five-minute Paw Patrol “emergency” morphs into a nightly negotiation with YouTube and a bowl of rice. Suddenly, you’re not parenting, you’re stage-managing a mukbang with a toddler who won’t even look at their food unless there’s a cartoon on.

And let’s be real: We didn’t have smartphones growing up. Most of us ate our dinner under the unforgiving glare of fluorescent kitchen lights, listening to dad’s RTM news or just our own chewing. We somehow survived, veggies and all.

So why is a screen “necessary” now? Honestly? It isn’t. It’s just easier, quicker, quieter… at first. But convenience often breeds habits that are a pain to undo.

Some parents genuinely tried everything before resorting to screens (and I salute your patience). Others—well, some never even tried, just followed the crowd because it looked like the fastest way to keep peace. But let’s call it what it is: A shortcut, not a solution. The longer we use it, the harder it is to stop. And the only people really winning are YouTube’s ad team.

It’s not about shaming, it’s about awareness. If you’re reading this and feeling attacked: welcome to the club, we’ve all been there. But maybe, just maybe, it’s time to ask ourselves: “Is this habit helping my child in the long run, or just helping me get through dinner tonight?”

The Sinister Reality of Screen Feeding:

• Silent Zombie Children: Sure, they’re eating, but are they tasting, or just inhaling fish balls like a robot on auto-pilot?

• Permanent Pavlov Reflex: The iPad dings, your kid opens his mouth. At this point, he’s basically a trained parrot.

• YouTube Dependency: You can’t even have dinner at grandma’s without a meltdown when her Wi-Fi buffers. “WHERE’S MY SHOW, MA?!”

  
  

Real talk:

• “He’ll only eat if Peppa Pig is singing.”

• “If YouTube goes down, I guess we’re all fasting tonight.”

But My Child Only Eats With a Screen!

Of course they do. Why bother enjoying food when there’s a 12-hour looping cartoon about an egg with legs? Meanwhile, you—exhausted, overworked, running on Milo ais—are just grateful for a meal without someone crying (sometimes, including you).

Is It Actually That Bad?

Look, no one died from an occasional screen snack. But here’s the truth bomb:

• Kids who eat with screens often overeat (hello, accidental double dinner)

• They tune out their own hunger, ignore their food, and think dinner is just the thing that happens between Cocomelon and Roblox

• Mealtimes become war zones if you try to remove the screen. It’s like detoxing a mini influencer.

And the real kicker: Try having a meal out in public without your digital babysitter. Cue nuclear-level meltdown. The aunties will stare. The waiter will avoid your table. You will contemplate running away.

How To Break the Screen Spell (The Cold, Hard Way)

Start Small, But Actually Start: No, seriously—put the phone away. Try a screen-free breakfast and if your kid melts down, congratulations, you just discovered the consequence of your own shortcut. Welcome to reality.

Level Up Your Distraction Skills: Sing a song, make a face, tell a story. If you can’t out-entertain a YouTube cartoon for ten minutes, you might want to reassess your bedtime reading choices. This is what parenting used to be before “Baby Shark” babysat everyone’s kid.

Bribe Yourself—Not the Kid: You don’t get a medal for handing over your phone, but you do get to reward yourself when you make it through one meal without a glowing screen. Eat the chocolate. Order the bubble tea. You earned it. Your child? They can eat the food in front of them, with their actual senses switched on.

Stop Apologising. Start Parenting: If anyone gives you side-eye for saying “no screens at the table,” they’re just jealous you have the guts to do what they won’t. Hand them your toddler for ten minutes and watch how fast their “gentle parenting” turns into “where’s the Netflix login?”

Relapses Aren’t Cute, They’re Lazy: “Sometimes you need to eat in peace” is not an excuse for daily digital dinner time. If adults “need” screens too, maybe it’s time we all remembered what eating together actually means.

The Takeaway:

This isn’t about failing or surviving—it’s about doing what’s right, not what’s easy. If your child only eats when hypnotised by a screen, that’s not parenting, that’s outsourcing dinner to a YouTuber. Try harder. The only “hack” here is facing the music you played.

Tomorrow, ditch the screen. Or don’t. But if you keep taking shortcuts, don’t complain when your kid can’t finish a meal without Peppa Pig.

Let’s bring back real dinnertime.#NoExcuses #JustEat