Tweens And Cell Phones…Yes or No?

Remember this conversation:

Kid: "Mom, can I have a puppy?"
Mom: "Go ask you father."
Kid: "Dad, can I have a puppy?"
Dad: "No."
Mom: "What did your father say?"
Kid: "No."
Mom: "Then it's a no. Respect your father's decision."

When did this all go away?

It's the same thing with kids and cell phones. I know two 'tweens', a boy and a girl. They both just turned 10 and they have been BEGGING for a cell phone for the past year. And their parents are the most intelligent people on Earth. They said NO.

"But Mom and Dad, all my other friends have cell phones!"
"If all your friends jumped off a bridge would you do it too?"

The old standard things our parents used to say to us are all coming back to us.

But there's one more thing these parents said to their kids that I find completely INGENIOUS!

"Oh, if you want one, you can have one. Just not a smartphone so all you can have is calling. No texting, no internet, no pictures. This way you can call me whenever you want and I can call you, too! How about that?"

Well, that went over like a fart in church. And it's a good thing! Kudos to those parents!

A gentleman told me recently that "It's the way of the world now." No, it's not. It's only that way if the parents LET it be.

Being a parent is tough sometimes but you have to be. YOU make the rules and the children follow, NOT the other way around. If you can't afford the $200 sneakers they so desperately want, it's okay. They will learn to live without them. Yeah, they may cry and have a hissy fit but they'll get over it.

Parents, stay strong! These years, too, shall pass. Your kids will see, later on, that you did the right thing to give them boundaries, rules and consequences. Hopefully. And when they do, they will pass it on to their kids. And when they do, they will hear this:

Kid: "Mom, can I have a cell phone?"
Mom: "Go ask you father."
Kid: "Dad, can I have a cell phone?"
Dad: "No."
Mom: "What did your father say?"
Kid: "No."
Mom: "Then it's a no. Respect your father's decision."

And so it goes......