APS Yondr Pouch: Opening at home questions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I took the liberty of ordering a bunch of magnets to open this &$@! Pouch. Here is what works:

MEUOADA Rare Earth Magnet,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6RBXT71?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Put pouch on magnet
Tap the button vigorously
It opens

We went through a few that didn’t work.

Good luck - my kid is one who would have to make a choice between missing a bus and unlocking the pouch and freak out. This pouch was an unnecessary source of anxiety and I feel happy to have defeated it.

Sincere question:Why would you not let your kid deal with the natural consequence of not unlocking the phone?

That is such a weird sincere question. What was the poor behavior that needed a consequence? Locking the phone or choosing not to miss the bus so that her parent needed to leave work to pick her up?

Neither is a choice that requires a consequence. I would recheck your idea of “natural consequences”. Natural consequences in our house - not doing homework and failing a test. Not wearing pants and being cold. Not bringing a snack and being hungry (on a short term). But following the rules and being too overladen with sports equipment to manage getting out the pouch and not missing the bus? Not something that requires a consequence.

Natural consequences is not just for poor behavior. If you forget your shoes for practice you won’t have them. If you leave your water bottle somewhere carelessly you need to buy a new one. If mom always makes sure to fix everything for you, you’ll never figure it out.

The too overladen with sports equipment to get out the pouch is also quite the sob story though.

Seriously. Since when are consequences only for poor behavior?

Consequences for kids are for decisions kids make. My kid did not decide to have a pouch. My kid did not decide to have a phone. My kid did not pick the school and my kid did not pick the bus ride. My kid didn’t make the decision to have an after school activity a bus ride away. I made the last few decisions and the school made the pouch decision. Where in there should my kid bear a consequence if things don’t go the adult’s way?

Eh, we all have to deal with consequences of decisions we didn't make. I pay taxes to support policies I don't agree with, I go into the office 4 days a week because my company decided to RTO. Your kid has to learn to deal with consequences of other people making decisions that impact him. That is life.

You strike me as a very myopic individual who is probably not even an actual parent. Nevertheless, to explain this to you further, you have the luxury of an adult decision should you not like your company’s choices or taxes: you can move. You can get a new job.

Get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I took the liberty of ordering a bunch of magnets to open this &$@! Pouch. Here is what works:

MEUOADA Rare Earth Magnet,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6RBXT71?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Put pouch on magnet
Tap the button vigorously
It opens

We went through a few that didn’t work.

Good luck - my kid is one who would have to make a choice between missing a bus and unlocking the pouch and freak out. This pouch was an unnecessary source of anxiety and I feel happy to have defeated it.

Sincere question:Why would you not let your kid deal with the natural consequence of not unlocking the phone?

That is such a weird sincere question. What was the poor behavior that needed a consequence? Locking the phone or choosing not to miss the bus so that her parent needed to leave work to pick her up?

Neither is a choice that requires a consequence. I would recheck your idea of “natural consequences”. Natural consequences in our house - not doing homework and failing a test. Not wearing pants and being cold. Not bringing a snack and being hungry (on a short term). But following the rules and being too overladen with sports equipment to manage getting out the pouch and not missing the bus? Not something that requires a consequence.

Natural consequences is not just for poor behavior. If you forget your shoes for practice you won’t have them. If you leave your water bottle somewhere carelessly you need to buy a new one. If mom always makes sure to fix everything for you, you’ll never figure it out.

The too overladen with sports equipment to get out the pouch is also quite the sob story though.

Seriously. Since when are consequences only for poor behavior?

Consequences for kids are for decisions kids make. My kid did not decide to have a pouch. My kid did not decide to have a phone. My kid did not pick the school and my kid did not pick the bus ride. My kid didn’t make the decision to have an after school activity a bus ride away. I made the last few decisions and the school made the pouch decision. Where in there should my kid bear a consequence if things don’t go the adult’s way?

Your kid can choose to unlock their phone. If they don't, then they learn a lesson. It is not like the school is hiding the stations for unlocking the phone. And, strangely enough, kids handled attending school and going to activities that were a bus ride away on their own without a phone a mere 20 years ago. Are you suggesting that your child is so dependent on a phone that they cannot function without it? Because if that is the case you have some work to do as a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I took the liberty of ordering a bunch of magnets to open this &$@! Pouch. Here is what works:

MEUOADA Rare Earth Magnet,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6RBXT71?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Put pouch on magnet
Tap the button vigorously
It opens

We went through a few that didn’t work.

Good luck - my kid is one who would have to make a choice between missing a bus and unlocking the pouch and freak out. This pouch was an unnecessary source of anxiety and I feel happy to have defeated it.

Ask to appoint a teacher to make sure students like yours are reminded to do this. Otherwise, leave that sh!t at home then and unlock it yourself. You have no business as a parent to teach your kid to do something that is egregiously against the rules.

You know nothing. My kid is one who leaves the phone turned off all school day. It only comes on to coordinate after school activities. I can’t coordinate after school activities without this damn device being actually on the kid. Unlocked.if you have the luxury of never leaving Arlington or always being home ready to chauffeur larla, you probably have no effing idea what you’re talking about.

How much in the fly coordinating are you doing? Somehow people just 5 years ago managed without giving their kids a phone.
And 1000% your kid doesn’t keep it off all school day. It’s just unrealistic to think that

Believe it or not, the kid is a rule follower and really doesn’t. You probably also don’t believe that the phone is a brick during the school day, but it is. It never has Safari, it has no messaging abilities beyond to me, it doesn’t have App Store, it has downtime from bell to bell. There is no point to turning it on. I am confident 1000% (thanks for that) that the phone is off. I can see the parental stats. It’s called being a parent.

If the phone is truly off and put away all day he could just skip the pouch. No one would ever know.

DP. No, you can’t, because they make everyone put in a phone, right? Unless you lie & say you don’t have one?

My kid had NO PHONE and they are still making her take a pouch. The bounds of stupidity here are limitless. Who is responsible for this insanity???

Because kids wouldn't lie about not having a phone. Or leave their phone at home for a bit and say they don't have a phone, hoping to not get a pouch. Or parents who don't want their kids to have to put their phone away wouldn't keep the phone at home for a bit to try and avoid getting a pouch.

I mean, their were parents on the board openly discussing how to avoid using the pouches, to include not sending the phone until after the pouches were distributed and buying burner phones to put in the pouch.

And we wonder why these types of programs are needed in the schools.

[Anonymous]

It just demonstrates the performative nature of this whole thing. The pouches are just to appease the crazy anti tech parents who think cell phones are so evil. But instead of parenting their own kids, they want to control other people’s children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I took the liberty of ordering a bunch of magnets to open this &$@! Pouch. Here is what works:

MEUOADA Rare Earth Magnet,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6RBXT71?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Put pouch on magnet
Tap the button vigorously
It opens

We went through a few that didn’t work.

Good luck - my kid is one who would have to make a choice between missing a bus and unlocking the pouch and freak out. This pouch was an unnecessary source of anxiety and I feel happy to have defeated it.

Sincere question:Why would you not let your kid deal with the natural consequence of not unlocking the phone?

That is such a weird sincere question. What was the poor behavior that needed a consequence? Locking the phone or choosing not to miss the bus so that her parent needed to leave work to pick her up?

Neither is a choice that requires a consequence. I would recheck your idea of “natural consequences”. Natural consequences in our house - not doing homework and failing a test. Not wearing pants and being cold. Not bringing a snack and being hungry (on a short term). But following the rules and being too overladen with sports equipment to manage getting out the pouch and not missing the bus? Not something that requires a consequence.

Natural consequences is not just for poor behavior. If you forget your shoes for practice you won’t have them. If you leave your water bottle somewhere carelessly you need to buy a new one. If mom always makes sure to fix everything for you, you’ll never figure it out.

The too overladen with sports equipment to get out the pouch is also quite the sob story though.

Seriously. Since when are consequences only for poor behavior?

Consequences for kids are for decisions kids make. My kid did not decide to have a pouch. My kid did not decide to have a phone. My kid did not pick the school and my kid did not pick the bus ride. My kid didn’t make the decision to have an after school activity a bus ride away. I made the last few decisions and the school made the pouch decision. Where in there should my kid bear a consequence if things don’t go the adult’s way?

Your kid can choose to unlock their phone. If they don't, then they learn a lesson. It is not like the school is hiding the stations for unlocking the phone. And, strangely enough, kids handled attending school and going to activities that were a bus ride away on their own without a phone a mere 20 years ago. Are you suggesting that your child is so dependent on a phone that they cannot function without it? Because if that is the case you have some work to do as a parent.

Are you suggesting your kid can’t manage their phone without locking it in a pouch all day?? If so you have some work to do as a parent!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It just demonstrates the performative nature of this whole thing. The pouches are just to appease the crazy anti tech parents who think cell phones are so evil. But instead of parenting their own kids, they want to control other people’s children.

100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS is very good at wasting money.

I can't take most of the parents seriously who are complaining about the expense of these pouches because these are many of the same parents who thought the millions of dollar on the virtual academy was a good idea. The cost of these pouches is just a drop in the bucket in the whole budget.

The open schools now APE crowd are the ones lobbying for Away for the Day. You can thank them for these idiotic pouches. These people are still so triggered by virtual learning that they want to put other kids phones in phone jail.

They are not alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I took the liberty of ordering a bunch of magnets to open this &$@! Pouch. Here is what works:

MEUOADA Rare Earth Magnet,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6RBXT71?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Put pouch on magnet
Tap the button vigorously
It opens

We went through a few that didn’t work.

Good luck - my kid is one who would have to make a choice between missing a bus and unlocking the pouch and freak out. This pouch was an unnecessary source of anxiety and I feel happy to have defeated it.

Sincere question:Why would you not let your kid deal with the natural consequence of not unlocking the phone?

Because it would cause too much inconvenience for the parent, of course!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I took the liberty of ordering a bunch of magnets to open this &$@! Pouch. Here is what works:

MEUOADA Rare Earth Magnet,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6RBXT71?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Put pouch on magnet
Tap the button vigorously
It opens

We went through a few that didn’t work.

Good luck - my kid is one who would have to make a choice between missing a bus and unlocking the pouch and freak out. This pouch was an unnecessary source of anxiety and I feel happy to have defeated it.

Good. Your kid will learn to make choices and learn consequences and learn that there are multiple ways to solve problems and learn to manage anxiety better without a crutch. What's the worst thing that happens if he misses the bus one day? (BTW, the buses are waiting to leave as schools get this implemented and worked out) Teachers and admin don't go off duty the instant the bell rings. They are there to make sure students get where they need to go or to contact someone if they don't. Surely you have emergency contact information on file with the school that personnel would call to pick up your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s an idea, what if we just try it for a little while and see how it goes? It’s only been 2 days.

+1
(Day one for my kid's school)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I took the liberty of ordering a bunch of magnets to open this &$@! Pouch. Here is what works:

MEUOADA Rare Earth Magnet,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6RBXT71?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Put pouch on magnet
Tap the button vigorously
It opens

We went through a few that didn’t work.

Good luck - my kid is one who would have to make a choice between missing a bus and unlocking the pouch and freak out. This pouch was an unnecessary source of anxiety and I feel happy to have defeated it.

Ask to appoint a teacher to make sure students like yours are reminded to do this. Otherwise, leave that sh!t at home then and unlock it yourself. You have no business as a parent to teach your kid to do something that is egregiously against the rules.

You know nothing. My kid is one who leaves the phone turned off all school day. It only comes on to coordinate after school activities. I can’t coordinate after school activities without this damn device being actually on the kid. Unlocked.if you have the luxury of never leaving Arlington or always being home ready to chauffeur larla, you probably have no effing idea what you’re talking about.

How much in the fly coordinating are you doing? Somehow people just 5 years ago managed without giving their kids a phone.
And 1000% your kid doesn’t keep it off all school day. It’s just unrealistic to think that

Believe it or not, the kid is a rule follower and really doesn’t. You probably also don’t believe that the phone is a brick during the school day, but it is. It never has Safari, it has no messaging abilities beyond to me, it doesn’t have App Store, it has downtime from bell to bell. There is no point to turning it on. I am confident 1000% (thanks for that) that the phone is off. I can see the parental stats. It’s called being a parent.

If the phone is truly off and put away all day he could just skip the pouch. No one would ever know.

DP. No, you can’t, because they make everyone put in a phone, right? Unless you lie & say you don’t have one?

My kid had NO PHONE and they are still making her take a pouch. The bounds of stupidity here are limitless. Who is responsible for this insanity???

Then your kid can sell it to the first friend who loses or damages theirs, save the replacement fee for end of the year and pocket the extra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Write to the school board about the ridiculous pouches. A shoe holder is much less expensive, doesn't but a financial burden on parents for damaged of lost goods and allows phones to be accessed, if necessary. Yondr is a gross misuse of taxpayer funds.

And, yes, you can buy a magnet on Amazon. Put Neodymium into the search bar.

Shoe holders are ridiculous. They don't prevent phone use in hallways, bathrooms, lunch time, etc . . . Phones get stolen regularly from them. Every class loses time spent checking that every kid's phone is there. Kids regularly have decoy phones that they put in the shoe holders. There really are no positives.

If the justification for the pouches is that kids aren't paying attention in class, why are we trying to regulate phone use at lunch? Shoe holders are $20/teacher and Yondr is at least $18/kid (they go for more like $200 online so who knows what APS actually paid). The Yondr pouch can be gamed with a decoy phone to exactly the same extent as the shoe holder so it is confusing to me why we are engaging in expensive overkill. If parents want their kids to not have a phone during non-instructional time, deal with that as a parent. The school's jurisdiction is instructional time and that is easily addressed with the shoe holder.

School's jurisdiction is everything from bell to bell. They don't want distractions between classes either. They want kids to learn they can go without social media fixes and to learn how to actually talk and develop real face-to-face social skills. They're gonna need those in college and job interviews and in jobs. Schools are supposed to be preparing our kids for college or the workforce, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No parent that I've spoken to in person is in favor of this pouch nonsense. I sometimes wonder who is on the other side of the screen in here.

The pouches are a good idea and everyone will adapt. The helicopter parents who use their child’s possession of a phone to manage their own anxiety need to get a grip.

+1

My kid is at one of the Fairfax pilot MS, and after the first week, students don't care and teachers say it's drastically improved the atmosphere at the school.

MS is different than HS

My kids are also at a Fairfax pilot MS. There is zero difference from last year other than the school system having spent some stupid money to create a nuisance. The school already had an away for the day policy. My one kid doesn't have a phone at all but was given a pouch. He leaves it at home because his first class teacher (the enforcers) told them on day one that he wasn't going to check. My other kid keeps an old phone in his pouch because he wants just-in-case access to his phone. He doesn't actually use his phone during the day. I'm fine with that and to the folks who will say I should not be teaching my kid to work around the rules, I disagree. Questioning rules and authority is a much more important life skill than obedience. I'm fine with him recognizing a ridiculous policy for what it is finding a workaround.

Yes, great logic. Helps the justification for skirting laws about legal gun ownership and prostitution and drug use. "I" think the rule is ridiculous, so I have a right to find a work-around!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I took the liberty of ordering a bunch of magnets to open this &$@! Pouch. Here is what works:

MEUOADA Rare Earth Magnet,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6RBXT71?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Put pouch on magnet
Tap the button vigorously
It opens

We went through a few that didn’t work.

Good luck - my kid is one who would have to make a choice between missing a bus and unlocking the pouch and freak out. This pouch was an unnecessary source of anxiety and I feel happy to have defeated it.

Sincere question:Why would you not let your kid deal with the natural consequence of not unlocking the phone?

That is such a weird sincere question. What was the poor behavior that needed a consequence? Locking the phone or choosing not to miss the bus so that her parent needed to leave work to pick her up?

Neither is a choice that requires a consequence. I would recheck your idea of “natural consequences”. Natural consequences in our house - not doing homework and failing a test. Not wearing pants and being cold. Not bringing a snack and being hungry (on a short term). But following the rules and being too overladen with sports equipment to manage getting out the pouch and not missing the bus? Not something that requires a consequence.

Consequences are not solely about "poor behavior." Consequences are just what happens whenever someone chooses one thing over another, acts in one direction instead of another, etc. It's called LIFE. It's also called PARENTING - babies and toddlers and little kids are learning how to behave by learning the consequences of their choices all the time. Unfortunately, this process seems to stop for many adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I took the liberty of ordering a bunch of magnets to open this &$@! Pouch. Here is what works:

MEUOADA Rare Earth Magnet,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6RBXT71?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Put pouch on magnet
Tap the button vigorously
It opens

We went through a few that didn’t work.

Good luck - my kid is one who would have to make a choice between missing a bus and unlocking the pouch and freak out. This pouch was an unnecessary source of anxiety and I feel happy to have defeated it.

Sincere question:Why would you not let your kid deal with the natural consequence of not unlocking the phone?

That is such a weird sincere question. What was the poor behavior that needed a consequence? Locking the phone or choosing not to miss the bus so that her parent needed to leave work to pick her up?

Neither is a choice that requires a consequence. I would recheck your idea of “natural consequences”. Natural consequences in our house - not doing homework and failing a test. Not wearing pants and being cold. Not bringing a snack and being hungry (on a short term). But following the rules and being too overladen with sports equipment to manage getting out the pouch and not missing the bus? Not something that requires a consequence.

All of these are exactly the same as choosing to not get his phone unlocked.
"Being too overladen with sports equipment to manage getting out the pouch...." Seriously? You put down the equipment. Or you have the pouch out and ready to be unlocked.
I guess this would be a better policy: all kids who have sports equipment or large musical instruments are exempt from having to put their phone in a pouch.