Establishing Mobile Phone Rules for Teenagers

The digital communication age presents some trials when it comes to parenting teenagers. There are times that teenagers forget the value of face-to-face interaction. In addition, they are easily sidetracked when friends send messages. All it takes is one ring or beep from their mobile phone and you can expect them to do nothing else but exchange messages. Though it helps teenagers to stay in touch with friends, parents should establish rules to balance study and activities. Here are some tips to establishing mobile phone rules for teenagers:

1. Restrict mobile phone use in the morning while preparing for school. A reason teens run out of time in preparing for school is the mobile phone. Teenagers will sometimes compete for whom can send the earliest message in the morning; the will also be checking messages that they weren’t able to respond to last night. This will definitely use the time that should be used in preparing for school. As such, it would be advisable to take their mobile phones away from them in the morning and give them back once they are ready to leave for school. This way, they use the time allocated for getting ready for school.
2. Restrict mobile phone use on school nights. If your teens have a tendency to spend so much time late at night exchanging SMS with their friends that they don’t get much sleep at night, it would be a good idea to control the use of mobile phones on school nights. This may be difficult at first, especially if they are not used to getting to sleep early. However, if in the morning, they get up easily and prepare for school, they know they need to sleep more at night and should learn to turn off their mobile phones. If this is not possible, you can also get mobile postpaid services that have parental controls. There are mobile accounts that help parents control the messages that go to their teens’ phones, especially at night.
3. Restrict mobile phone use during dinnertime. If you are a working parent, chances are dinnertime is the only time you get to spend time with your kids and talk to them. Take this opportunity to learn how they are doing in school and be very keen in observing their behavior. Avoid scolding during dinnertime but make it a point that you do not allow the use of mobile phones during mealtime. Explain that they can always check their mobile phones later.

Be aware of the rules in mobile phone use in school. Ask the school administration about their mobile phone use. Chances are your teenager may be exchanging messages inside the classroom while class is going on. This is not a good sign and should be addressed. Coordinate with school officials and teachers so you’d know if the mobile phone use is affecting school performance.

Depending on how disciplined your kids are, most will automatically follow the rules on mobile phones. Most of the time, they fear you may confiscate their phone – as such, they will usually abide by the rules on proper use. The best time to state the rules in the use of mobile phones is before you purchase one for them. This way, they already know the rules before they get hold of their own phones.