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10 & 12, both have iPads with restrictions - 2 hours/day with certain apps excepted, e.g. drawing, coding, other educational apps. No smartphones yet, but both
by rootusrootus 3y ago
10 & 12, both have iPads with restrictions - 2 hours/day with certain apps excepted, e.g. drawing, coding, other educational apps. No smartphones yet, but both have cellular Apple watches. Texting only with contacts, I manage the contacts. We've consistently drawn the line at 9th grade for their first smartphone, which is fairly late compared to our contemporaries.
They have lots of other things to do, too, of course. We have a Switch, Xbox, trampoline, swimming pool, hot tub, and a neighborhood full of other kids their age. They would probably spend more time on YouTube than I'd prefer if I didn't put a cap on it, but it's been basically fine so far. We do have a rule against iPads in bedrooms with closed doors, though that is starting to relax a bit with the 12 year old.
Kids grow, you kinda have to roll with it and adjust to fit the situation. You can't keep them innocent forever, and if you try, you will not get the well adjusted adult you're aiming for. We have some family who are hard core home schoolers (for religious reasons) and it turns out a disaster more often than not. They're so worried about public school indoctrination but are then surprised to find their own kids refuse to be indoctrinated at home.
- gnicholas 3y agoI've thought about cellular apple watches, as a way to know where the kid is, and so the kid can call in an emergency. Seems better than a phone, which encourages scrolling. But my kids' school doesn't allow kids to wear smartwatches (and I can imagine why — distractions, possible cheating, etc.). Have you dealt with restrictions like these?
- rootusrootus 3y agoWe have only had one incident with the smartwatches. My daughter texted us during class, which got it taken away. Probably she wouldn't have gotten caught aside from the fact that she was using voice recognition to dictate the message. We had a chat with her teacher and the principal, and they agreed to give her a second chance provided she agreed not to text during class. This was in 5th grade, at her elementary school. My son still goes there. The middle school has a no smartphone, no headphone policy, but they don't single out smartwatches. From their discussion points on why they have the rules they do, I imagine it won't be a problem as long as my daughter continues to abide by the 'do not text during class' rule. They're not trying to lock down the school, just eliminate distractions during class.
- clnq 3y agoI went to school in Central Europe and it was partially pre-cellphone times, so please excuse my ignorance. These days we have a lot of medical apps from calorie counters to continuous blood glucose monitor apps for diabetics, which prevent a lot of deaths. What is the take on kids that need a phone for these things at school in the US?
- rootusrootus 3y agoMost public school rules have clearly identified exceptions and guidelines for how to apply them. Someone who has a medical need will be allowed the devices they need. It's a fairly small fraction of students that require accommodation.
- LVB 3y agoI wonder if they tolerate basic cellular watches, like GizmoWatch? We have one for our 9 y/o and it seems like good value. We can know where she's at and can reach each other, but that's about it.
- gnicholas 3y agoI'm not sure where they draw the line. For now, we just have an AirTag in the backpack for crude location awareness when the kids are on the bus.
- coffeebeqn 3y agoThat made me think, what about a dumb phone? We had those old Nokias that they still make that have calling, text and a few other things but are painful for most anything else
- sedivy94 3y agoMy father provisioned to me a Nokia brick phone around the age of 14 (circa 2008). It was a prepaid Tracfone, SMS messages counted towards minute usage so I had to learn to be conservative in my usage. I was eventually gifted an iPod touch, which I promptly jailbroke, and later installed Google Voice to text more freely (over WiFi). My father set strict boundaries when it mattered - he would only finance that which he endorsed. I didn’t have custody over my own bank account or a debit card until I graduated high school. I purchased my first smartphone, a Google Nexus 4, and prepaid data plan after my first semester of community college (circa 2012). The first iPhone was released in 2007 when I was 13. I’m 29 now. My family never had to confront the question OP prompted in a social climate like we have today and I’m thankful for that. My father’s parenting style was fantastic but it wasn’t ideal (given that ideals are unattainable). But his handling of the phone situation is something I intend on recreating with my own children some day.
- nunodonato 3y agoMy daughter is much younger, but I'm curious, did you found a way to restrict youtube to healthy stuff? I tried using youtube kids, but I got shocked by the amount of insane kids selling toys videos... honestly preferred to use regular youtube.