Is your daughter begging for a cellphone, but you haven’t given her one yet?
Or did you finally get her one, and now you’re regretting it? Or struggling with how to set the ‘right’ boundaries for both your and her sanity?
Never fear, mama! I’m in the beautiful, sometimes scary mess of this one with you. And I’ve got workable real suggestions for you today.
There is a way to have unique tech boundaries that work for your family.
In this new free episode of We Thrive TV, I’m diving deep in with fellow-mama and attachment nerd, Bethany Saltman (if you haven’t watched her earlier episode on being a Buddhist mom, click here).
Click the video below to watch.
Love,
Sil
P.S. Forward this video to a mama finding her own center around tech rules. Because sharing is caring, and everyone could use a stronger bond.
Good info! We don’t have the advantage of clear hindsight when it comes to technology. We are in the midst of it! My 16yo daughter can say NOW that she thought it was a good move that we put off giving her a phone until her school suggested she have one (at age 14), even though all of her friends had one. Our 12yo son is the only one in his class & group of friends without an iPhone as far as I know, but he has an iPad, a chromebook for school, and an XBox. When he demonstrates responsible use of those things, he can have a phone (he is slightly addicted to Fortnite, so it may not happen until he’s an adult!). When I drive for field trips, the 7th grade boys are barely in the car before they are whipping their phones out to play video games. I always make a comment about the things we can see if we look out the window. Last time I said, “Hey, why don’t you guys interact with each other?” And one boy said, “We ARE. We’re interacting through our phones.” Well, even though my phoneless son was only interacting with them verbally, he has a good point. They were engaged with each other. Technology is their world. And we adults use it a ton too.
So I think putting off getting a cell phone is a positive choice, but giving them some technology access so as to not be disconnected from their friends makes sense. And with that comes training about the things they can be exposed to on there (like porn) & that we have a right to see whatever is on their device (whatever kind it is). For tweens & teens, their social world matters almost more than anything so maybe trying to meet them where they are at should get more consideration (as you can tell, I don’t have the answers, but I’m trying to achieve a balance and give some feedback to help with this issue presented by Maureen!)