Cell Phone Dos and Don’ts for Your Child or Teen

Posted by Susan Epstein on January 10th, 2010 at 09:24pm

The Problems That Cell Phones Are Causing for our Kids

Looking at their phones hundreds of times a day-interrupted thought processes
Conversations being interrupted to respond to a text message-not finishing sentences
Sleeping with phones equals interrupted sleep
Phones at school breeds interruptions in learning
Phones during homework results in interrupted concentration

What You Can Do

Before you purchase your child’s first cell phone…ask yourself…why am I doing this? If it is because your child is begging you that s/he cannot live without it and everyone else has one, yada yada yada….think good and hard.

Decide if your child/tween/teen really requires his or her cell phone while at school and if not do not allow them to bring it.

Cell phones are handed over to parents after school and returned when homework is completed.

Cell phones will become a power struggle. There is no way around it. Having a system for controlling their use will ensure that your child grows up socially adept and with a mind that can focus on one thing at a time.

1 Comment for Cell Phone Dos and Don’ts for Your Child or Teen

1. Diane | March 5th, 2010 at 12:17 pm

Susan,
Thank you for raising this important issue. I have found that it is helpful for my 6th grader to have a phone when she wants to walk somewhere, or when the afternoon activity changes so that she can contact me. We have told her that we have the parental control to turn the phone off and we will do it if she doesn’t cooperate. Considering that she is an extremely challenging child under the best of circumstances, setting up the rules before giving her the phone worked wonders. Each night before she goes to bed she turns the phone off and puts it on the charger, which is not in her room. Also, before she got the phone we knew of a child in her circle of friends that sends texts at midnight and emphasized to her that this is not acceptable. Not surprisingly, that same child was cyberbullying my child via text for awhile — the mother was obviously not paying attention. My daughter was able to ignore what was happening and it eventually stopped. I closesly monitor cell phone usage and spot-check her text messages to be sure she is not misusing her texting. I also make sure she gets at least 8-9 hours of sleep a night!