YP Letters: Fewer pills and phones, more common sense please

REGARDING the article ‘‘Camilla praises social prescription team’’ (The Yorkshire Post, February 8) in which the Duchess of Cornwall praised the work being 
done at the Lambeth GP Food Co-op, and the advice given by the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, that doctors should consider giving fewer pills and more good advice, I hope our GPs are listening.

There have been programmes on BBC Radio 4 discussing why children are starting school unable to talk or understand simple questions – well, here is your answer.

As a regular user of public transport, I despair at the evidence of very poor mothering skills I see almost every day.

Society’s addiction to the smartphone is partly to blame. Mothers ignoring crying infants and toddlers, because they are totally absorbed in their phones, are a daily sight.

Then, when they do finally attend to the child (sometimes after a good 10 to 15 minutes of wailing), they take out a sugary drink or a packet of junk food to comfort it.

They seem lacking in what should be instinctive skills, i.e. to give the child a cuddle and talk to it!

These basics are the sort of advice or training that should be compulsory for every pregnant woman.