Reply to Please don't give your elementary school child a smart phone

Forum Index » Elementary School-Aged Kids

Reply to "Please don't give your elementary school child a smart phone"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote]
Grow up and be a parent. My kid doesn't have a smart phone. If other kids ask if they can text him, he has to say no. If he whines about it, I tell him that I'm not interested in hearing it and walk away. Why is this so difficult for you to do?

Two reasons:

1) My child is a social animal. It's how she is wired. So, if all of her friends are texting, getting Instagram, she naturally wants to be connected. So, there's an internal conflict between what I believe as a parent is appropriate and how my child is actually wired. So, yes, it's a bit of a struggle, and I don't flippantly dismiss my child's desires the way you do. By the way, turning your back on someone and walking away is deeply disrespectful. That you model that for your children is extraordinarily bad parenting.

2) I resent the intrusion and badgering, period. No one likes to listen to whining. And whining is usually a continuum: "Can I have something?" "No." "Please?" "No." "Why not?" "Because I said so/I don't owe you an explanation/whatever response" "But so and so has one!" "So and so's family has different rules than ours." "I really want one!" "Quit badgering me. This conversation is over." Followed by future rejoinders. No one likes that shit in their house. And this is a fairly common communication pattern with children, unless you hit them or something. [/quote]

My son is social as well, but I'm simply not buying him a smartphone.  We've discussed my reasons for the decision, his feelings about it, etc., and I'm unwilling to debate the issue with him further.  You may call that "deeply disrespectful" and "extrodinarily bad parenting," and hey, you are entitled to your opinion.  The fact is, I'm satisfied with the choices I've made for my family, and don't expect other people to parent their own children differently in order to make me comfortable.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics