Kids and Cell Phones -- Solutions to the Challenges
We all love our cell phones. Our kids love them too. Many of us have removed our home phones in favor of cell phones.
Increasing numbers of adults around the world are giving cell phones to their children for a variety of reasons. Parents want to give their kids the best of everything, but they also want to be able to keep in contact with them. There is one potential problem with kids and cell phones. They love to talk to their friends for hours, racking up the numbers of minutes without any regard for the financial consequences.
Ugly Cell Phone Bills
Once their parents growl at them for going over their allotted minutes, kids then can take advantage of cell phone programs that have unlimited texting. They simply stay up half the night texting their friends and their parents are never aware. The blissful ignorance remains until mom pulls up the cell phone bill and notices the high number of text messages being sent and the fact that they were being sent at midnight. Now Mom knows why her little angel is having trouble staying awake at school.
Challenges and Solutions
How do we balance the needs of our kids, while enforcing limits on cell phones? Here are a few challenges and solutions to crack the problem of overuse:
- Challenge--Junior has been talking on the phone to his friends so much while ignoring the increasing cost to the cell phone bill. You like the fact that he has the cell phone because she can call you and let you know his location and the time he will be home. Junior doesn't know this, but you can also check his story because the cell phone company notifies you of his whereabouts. You know talk that habit must end, but you don't want to take away the cell phone. What do you do?
- Solution--Cell phone companies offer parents a few ideas to control this behavior. First, it is only fair to give your son a warning to curtail excess minutes on his phone. Tell him the action you will take it he fails to do this. If he fails to curb his talking after the warning, then you need to have your cell phone company restrict the phone numbers that he can call to emergency services, home phones, family cell phones, and any other important numbers such as a coach's phone number.
- Challenge--Your daughter has been sending text messages to her friends into the wee hours of the morning. You would rather she find other ways to spend her time. Now it has gotten so bad that she is falling asleep in class. You fear if this behavior continues, she may start skipping school.
- Solution-- Eliminate text messaging from your daughter's phone. Of course, you will have to be fair, by giving her a chance to resolve this on her own. But warn her that you will take action if she does not. Once you verify that she is still sending too many text messages at night follow through with your warning and remove text messaging from her cell phone options.
- Challenge--Your son has been talking on the cell phone while driving. You know what hazard this can be, especially in teenagers. Driving and talking on the cell phone do not mix for anyone. You have to take action on this one, because someone could get hurt or killed if your son causes an accident.
- Solution--Inform your son that he must not talk on the cell phone while he is in the car. Your solution is that he can keep his cell phone at home until after school, he can give it up, or he can give up the privilege of driving. This may seem like a harsh solution, but your son will understand that this is an important rule by the consequences you impose.
- Challenge--Your son has been caught cheating on a test, using his cell phone and text messages. You won't tolerate cheating on anything. It devalues education, and can lead to huge character flaw. Squashing this bad behavior in the beginning is important.
- Solution--This one is a huge challenge. Only you can decide all of the consequences that your son must face for cheating. To ensure that your son can no longer use his cell phone as a cheating tool, the only fair thing to do is to take his phone away. If you decide to give him another cell phone in the future, you will need to make sure that the phone does not have a camera or text messaging service at all.
This is just a small list of potential challenges and solutions that you will face with your kids. Cell phones are a privilege and not a right. If you choose to allow your kids to have cell phones, they should be grateful. If you choose to let them wait until they're older, they will use to it.