Kids & phones......how late is too late?

[FarmerJamie]

Phone, they are allowed to the use the phone? Wow, I am a monster!

 

[PineappleMama]

Weird hearing all this because mine mostly ignore the phone... maybe if they're REALLY bored they'll check the caller ID to see if it's a friend... but mostly they just ignore it. When their friends do call I have to hunt them down. And they don't talk long... actually DD is funny because she'll tilt the mouthpiece by her mouth and hollar and then move the ear piece to her ear to listen... back and forth... I've tried time and again to tell her you can hold it in place, but NOOOO she has to do it her way.

Silly kids.

 

[MuranoFarms]

Mine are never without their phones! I honestly don't get what could possibly be so important! We had to make a 'no cell phones at the dinner table' rule just to get some peace at dinner. So they try to get up and go in the bathroom to text.

It's stupid if you ask me. I think cell phones have destroyed all sense of personal space and privacy. People assume you will turn the phone off if you don't want it ringing.....so they feel free to call all night long. I leave mine on all night just in case there's an emergency with my mom or something. So if someone calls late, it rings! It's no different then calling my home phone. I had to take the kids phones off them at night because I could hear one ringing at 1 am on a school night! They have to put them in the dining room at night now. Funny thing....they were supposed to turn them off at 9:30 when they were in their rooms at night. Most days they didn't. Now the phones are in the dining room over night, they turn them off every single time!

DH of course thinks I'm just mean and that I must hate kids! lol He says I want them to have the same rules I had growing up. Well.....only the ones that make sense!

 

[Melissa034]

Quote:
lololololololol!!!!! cool Im not the only mean mom. I always tell my DD(13) Im not your friend Im your mom if you make it to 18 and I still like you then Ill be youre friend/mom. of course she reminds me She'll be picking my Nursing home. lol

 

[chubbydog811]

lol You guys are great!
Though I am not a mother (yet) I absolutely hate seeing younger kids (or any kids, and adults for that matter) walking around texting without paying attention to anything that is going on around them...It is so rude when you are in the middle of a conversation with someone, and they start texting!! Drives me up a wall...I didn't get a cell phone until I was 16. BUT - it was a nextel, and I only used it for business and emergencies! I was never a phone talker, and I really hated answering it (for fear of having to talk to someone who didnt stop talking)...
When I get as far as kids, I'm definitelt going to be strict about it!
...And those stupid phones that have the keyboards on the are going to be a NO. GRR! I thought it was funny though - while waiting for class to start (I'm still a college student), I couldn't tell you how many people walked into the doors because they were texting and walking at the same time...It's aweful!!

Sorry...Things like that bother me

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Teaching initial manners have gone a long way in keeping my kids from going overboard with the phones. I did have to take DD's phone once because of this little monster she gave her number to(AND MY number!!!)...called MY phone endlessly starting at 3 a.m. one morning, woke DH up who had to go to work out of town with a 5 hour drive and leave at 5a.m. I wound up taking my phone to the Cheif of Police at 11a.m. the next day and let him answer. She cursed him out, and so he went to her mothers work, and told her she needed to go take care of her child who was home alone with her phone at age TEN making prank phone calls to ME for 8 hours straight!!!!!!! I couldn't even use my phone until I let him handle it! I took DD's phone for a year over that. Mean....maybe to her, but she was just too young to have one. Grandparents bought it for her...wasn't that sweet...I should've gave that kid THEIR number!

The rule here is 9 at night, phone is OFF, not getting off, or hanging up, but OFF...STRICTLY or the consequences are it gets taken away for a week, that includes weekends. Also, the kids are not allowed to give my phone number as a back up to any of their friends...EVER. DD still has a phone, at age 13, but she buys her own minutes, and she is currently out, and has been for 3 months. I don't encourage it to be turned back on.

 

[Dar]

my DS (13) has a pay as you go cell that I pay for and he was told this number is not to be given out to anyone not even his own brother (18) not to the friends at school ect..

so one day I decided to do a random cell check and noticed a girl from school had been texting him...

I texted her back and said this is Tristians mom and he has made a huge error in judgment by allowing anyone to have his cell phone number as he was instructed not go give the number out. So sadly I have to inform you that as of today he will be loosing his cell until he can follow simple directions and get his head out of his butt! sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.
signed
Dar.. aka THE MOM AND BILL PAYER

Her mom called me and could not talk right cause she was laughing so hard.. she has tried to get the same message through to her DD and she told DD that she was going to text all er friends with the same message... lol

I am so mean

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

We got yougest his phone as a means for US to get in touch with him or he with us. There are phones that allow only specific incoming or outgoing calls. I have given my phone number to some of my son's friends, but I know them well. If I had had something like that happening to me, you can bet I would be on that kid's parent's case. I like your resourcesfulness in getting the Chief of Police involved.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Quote:
The Chief is a good friend of mine, and she did not get into much trouble. She did finally get her phone taken away. The kids parents were going through a REALLY BAD divorce, and she was a maniac throughout the ordeal. This kid is now 14 and pregnant and I heard she was asking around school how to "do her own abortion"...the parents have destroyed her by pitting her against the other parent. She is SUCH a bad child! I STILL pray for that kid! That was a few years ago now. It is sad how many are left to their own devices at such a young age!!! I think it just goes to show that phones and other media are being used as babysitters to entertain kids so that parents don't have to deal with them in some cases. PLEASE, those who give your kids phones....be CAREFUL, and KEEP knowing what they are doing, and who they are friends with, and KEEP them close!!! I am so glad to see parents that are still involved and not completely disconnected from their kids like this young girls parents!!! Teens are so difficult, but they need you more now than when they were in diapers! It may seem mean to the kids now to be so strict, but it is true love, so keep it up! Kudos to all of you other 'mean moms' who take the time to raise them right whether they like it or not!!!

 

[Melissa034]

I didnt get my first phone until I was 34. I still forget it more that not