I have never restricted cell phone use. My kids have to be able to set their own limits, because when they are adults, they need to know how to manage their time correctly without anyone else's input. I have five adults and one 16 yr old. My 16 yr old goes to bed around 9 and wakes up at 330 to go to the gym before school. He makes good grades and he is in JROTC, chess club, color guard, Saber team, fencing club, and he competes in pool tournaments and chess tournaments. All I have to do is drive him around. He is completely responsible for all of his schoolwork and activities, without any input from me. He pays for anything that I do not consider to be a necessity (entry fees for tournaments, games he wants, etc.) Raising teenagers is easy. I raise mine to be able to hit the ground running by the time they turn 18.

up until age 16 (basically up until lockdown) we had a no phones upstairs rule and it worked. Clear easy to follow rule. consequence was losing the phone. Now at 17 he self regulates.

Why not turn on downtime so he can't use it after whatever hour you set it for? Like other pps said, it can't spend the night in his room.

Anonymous wrote:What if they need to call their friends for help with school work? I did this all the time growing up (with a regular landline phone). My parents got annoyed that they couldn't use the phone, but I certainly did a lot of learning while discussing homework with my friends.

At 9:30pm? They can ask me to make an exception.