Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in 6th grade with an Apple Watch. She willingly left a group chat - she told me it made her uncomfortable and I suggested she leave it, and she did. And after she did, it turns out a couple of her friends did, too.

Don't you read the chats? I do from time to time and delete contacts if they are inappropriate. My DD can't add contacts on her own so she can't be in the group chats anymore if there is anything inappropriate going on. I did find it rich once when a parent complained on a parent group that kids were being mean to his daughter. She was the absolute worst and told my DD to kill herself at once, and the reason I cracked down on her involvement in group chats. I have no idea what was in the group chat at the time since my DD wasn't participating but I didn't feel bad that other kids might have finally told her off.

My DD is at a title 1 school and there is a huge percentage of kids with phones. And they started getting them in 2nd grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the demographics of this area? I wonder if it is really wealthy or very mixed. My 6th grader still doesn’t have a phone. She does have a tablet (a kindle fire) but it is wild that 5th graders have phones that are capable of group chatting (and an iPad with its own phone number or iCloud account is just a big phone). I can see having a means of communication with mom and dad but “5th grade group chat” just seems like such an obviously bad idea.

VA
75% Hispanic and Black,
20% White and 5% Asian or other. Title 1 school.

Anonymous wrote:What are the demographics of this area? I wonder if it is really wealthy or very mixed. My 6th grader still doesn’t have a phone. She does have a tablet (a kindle fire) but it is wild that 5th graders have phones that are capable of group chatting (and an iPad with its own phone number or iCloud account is just a big phone). I can see having a means of communication with mom and dad but “5th grade group chat” just seems like such an obviously bad idea.

VA
75% Hispanic and Black,
20% White and 5% Asian or other. Title 1 school.

What are the demographics of this area? I wonder if it is really wealthy or very mixed. My 6th grader still doesn’t have a phone. She does have a tablet (a kindle fire) but it is wild that 5th graders have phones that are capable of group chatting (and an iPad with its own phone number or iCloud account is just a big phone). I can see having a means of communication with mom and dad but “5th grade group chat” just seems like such an obviously bad idea.

My daughter is in 6th grade with an Apple Watch. She willingly left a group chat - she told me it made her uncomfortable and I suggested she leave it, and she did. And after she did, it turns out a couple of her friends did, too.

What's up Google

I have a 5th grade boy that is on a group text chain. I monitor it just for high-level issues. It's about 50% making plans to meet up and 50% President Trump memes, which I didn't expect tbh. I told him we have zero tolerance for being mean and that he should assume the principal is reading every single message he sends.

Tell the school

I have a 6th grader and the kids are trying to have a group chat except they don't know what to write to each other. Thankful for a group of fairly innocent kids in her grade. I have the feeling my current 3rd grader's cohort would be the total opposite, the boys are already "roasting" each other constantly. And roasting is far more than a mild roast that adults think it is, I would not allow it.

Anonymous wrote:Will you remove your kid from the "5th grade group chat"?

MY DS was added and the group chat is 100% bullying, He said is fine because everyone bullys everyone, What are your though about this?


There only 12 kids in the chat so half the class wasn't even invite so not even sure they know they are getting bullied or what ever going on,

Are you reading the chat? How bad is it? You should tell parents what's being said about kids.

Anonymous wrote:Is it on a school platform? If so they typically monitor and will find out somehow and there will be consequences.

Even if not, it sounds like a pretty toxic environment. My kid's "7th grade group chat" is used for answering questions about details on assignments and stuff.

Good for your kid, she’s focusing on what’s important. There’s no way the OP is talking about a school sponsored chat.

Anonymous wrote:Even if he is just a bystander, I would remove him. This is horrible behavior. He needs to understand that watching bullying and doing nothing is just as bad as participating.

Bystanders of verbal bullying are weak. If he’s reading it everyday he’s a participant

Op it really upsets me that this is a question for you. You should teach your kid that other kids doing it isn’t an excuse and it’s never ok and yes of course remove him. I know others have already said this but I am just becoming more and more concerned with what’s to come in the next couple years for me. Where has all our common sense gone folks? This could all go so much better if parents were working together better and letting kids have more freedom to play and less freedom to chat/videogame. Instead we seem to be doing the opposite - way to much screen freedom but no freedom to have some responsibility outside the house. It’s such a concerning combo in my opinion. Climbing off soapbox…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure it's bullying and not roasting where it's fun and the children are in on the joke?

Oh stop with trying to claim these bullies are just comedians and it’s all in good fun. They are talking about kids who aren’t in the chat group. You can guarantee that the kids they are “roasting” wouldn’t find it funny. How naive are some of you?

Anonymous wrote:Kinda blows my mind how many parents think it's perfectly fine for a fifth grader to have a phone.

+1 Even the iPads. Even if there are "only" 12 kids on the chat. Even... the list goes on.

Electronics are to this generation what cigarettes were in the 1970s.