Reply to Just got pre-teen a Smartwatch, it's not going well

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here.  Thanks for your feedback, you've given me a lot to think about.  I don't have any mom friends who have older kids/same age kids so it's helpful to get feedback about this issue.

The reason I wrote up a contract for the watch and why I'm concerned is that my son has no ability to self-regulate his screen time.  We had to put the limit of 2 hours of screen time per day, otherwise he would spend all his free time on screens.  We started introducing the idea of self-regulating screen time early on.  But he has never been able to do it.  If I tell him okay, you have screen time from 6-8 pm tonight, and then I get busy with laundry or something in the house and forget to check up on him until 9, he will still be on screens.  When asked why he didn't self-regulate as I asked him to, and he knows he's supposed to do, he will say "I forgot."  So I didn't want the watch/texting time to monopolize all his free time, the way screens tend to do.

While he in in multiple sports, and he reads for an hour before bed, [b]he doesn't have any other at-home hobbies or interests.  He is not able to entertain himself very well at home, and there are no kids his age in the neighborhood to hang out with[/b].  He gets no homework in school (maybe once a month) so after school when he's not in an activity, he has a hard time finding meaningful things to fill his time.  If I didn't create a contract he would be texting during all his free time, and I don't think that's a good idea.  I don't want him taking the watch to school because I know it will turn into a huge distraction and distract him from his studies.  Last year he had some Cs on his report card, and it was because his best friend had a smart watch and was showing him texts and things during class, and it distracted him, causing him to get lower grades.[/quote]

This is exactly what video games and books are for, single person at-home entertainment

[/quote]

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