If your kids are anything like mine, you probably want to know how to control your kids’ mobile phone use. This post covers one important aspect of this: making sure your kids get a good night’s sleep.
Parenting today is not the same as it was 20 years ago. Today, parents face different challenges with new technology, kids having easy access to information and easy communication with the world that is hard to monitor and control.
I remember what it took to talk to my family overseas 20 years ago. It was soooooooo expensive, we could only afford 5-minute conversations. As the seconds ticked by, we knew how much we were spending for the call.
Today, the financial implications of our kids’ mobile phone use are not as significant as they were in the past, and they use their mobile phones for more than just talking to friends or family. Our kids use their mobile phones and other digital gadgets way more than anyone has in the past.
Many of my clients (too many, in fact) that have a big problem with their kids using mobiles all the time. The Internet is full of cartoons with parents sending their kids text messages to ask them to come down for dinner. The addiction to mobiles is touching every part of life. You can see kids sitting next to each other, each with his/her mobile. At dinnertime, they play with their mobile phone, they take it with them to the toilet and use it in the car.
Mobile phones are almost like watches. At some stage, our kids might carry them to the shower as well. In fact, there are already waterproof devices out there.
Parents say they have no control over their kids’ behavior and attitude to phones. Their kids end up taking their mobile phones with them to bed and use them in the wee hours of the morning.
How to control your kids’ mobile phone use at night: the charging station
In our dining area, there is a big bowl, next to all the phone chargers. When we get home, we all put our mobile phones in the bowl and plug them into the chargers. When the kids go to bed, they must leave their phones in the station. They are not allowed to take them to their rooms. We don’t take our mobile phones to our bedroom either, which makes this arrangement clearly fair.
Just using this simple rule can ease a lot of the tension around mobile phone use. If the phone is in the station, it is not in their hand, it is not at the dining table and it is not in their pocket.
I tell my kids that until science can tell us definitively whether how damaging mobile phone radiation is, I would rather they didn’t risk my ability to be a future grandma, so, no mobiles in their pockets, close to their vital reproductive organs.
Kids (and grownups) who don’t take mobile phones to bed are never tempted to use them until very late. They go to bed in a more responsible way.
So, my tip is this: don’t fight and argue too much over your kids’ mobile phone use. Make this rule for the entire family. You will see that if you keep this one rule, everybody’s mobile phone use will change and will never affect your kids’ sleep again.
Happy parenting,
Ronit
This post is part of the series Handy Family Tips:
- Make Your Bed to Make Your Day
- Handy Family Tips: Dishwasher
- Handy Family Tips: Pre-Marinating
- Handy Family Tips: Kitchen Scissors
- Handy Family Tips: First use date
- Handy Family Tips: Kids’ Artwork
- Handy Family Tips: Keys
- Handy Family Tips: Smelly bins
- Handy Family Tips: Treasure box
- Handy Family Tips: Glass jars
- Handy Family Tips: On time is late
- Handy Family Tip: Early is on time
- Handy Family Tips: Electric toothbrush
- Handy Family Tips: Make a Note
- Handy Family Tips: Laundry day
- Handy Family Tips: How to Peel Avocado
- Handy Family Tips: Bathroom Art
- Handy Family Tips: Easy Healthy Spread
- Handy Family Tips: Wake Up With a Smile
- Handy Family Tips: Color Coded Keys
- Handy Family Tips: Road Trip Games
- Handy Family Tips: How to Get Kids to Eat Vegetables
- Handy Family Tips: What to Do When There is No Shaving Cream?
- How to Control Your Kids’ Mobile Phone Use at Night
