Don't have a girl!

[BradM]

Just remember there is a chance one of your boys could grow up to be like Brad M.

Yep, could turn out to be a bad ass like me!

[ceyko]

I have boy girl twins that are now 10 y/o. We are getting them cell phones as a Christmas gift and already have iPods.

My thought process is I KNOW they are going to do stupid - asshole stuff. I intend to deeply monitor every email, text and anything else I can. It will be good intel to help me direct my casual conversations. My hope is that I can do this without them knowing I'm getting everything they send/receive and saving the freak outs for legit emergencies/doing something really stupid.

Just cause you know does not mean you have to flip out or make it known that you know.

Not sure if this is a good approach or not. 2 kids, same age - big fail or success all at once. It has to be better than nothing though. lol I do agree though - there is a fine line where they'll go all rogue vs not doing a good job parenting. lol

Raising turds into good people is a hard job.

[4EyedTurd]

I almost posted earlier but decided not to. Giving cell phones to children to keep them entertained is a disaster. If you people knew what these kids have been caught doing all the way down to like 8-10 year olds you would lose your mind.

Story time!! Cmon, how do we not have a crazy story from pd thread from you?

[GeorgeG.]

bro, so pumped i have boys.

good luck with this shit. whatever you do, it will be wrong.

so go medium and see how it plays out.

That don't make a damn difference. Wait till they decide to send a dick pic to some girl whose father is monitoring their shit. Or he gets caught screwing some girl whose father comes busting in with a 12 gauge shot gun.

Your worries aren't over just cause you don't have a daughter.

edit*** I just saw your other post a few posts above this one so you're good.

[GeorgeG.]

we put password protect on our 15 year old boys phone. he can not download any app or open any plus he can not get into settings .. when he first got his new one he downloaded snap chat after me telling him not to. thus his phone got locked down. we take it up at bedtime . he only gets wifi for a set time after school . he knows why we do this . these rules have always been in effect nothing new not a punishment.
if you saw the pics these kids are sending each other you would shit yourself. one his games got canceled because half of the other team got expelled for sending nude pics to some girls . my bride checks his phone regularly and does a sweep of his room often . so far he's a good kid . he knows the rules and lives by them .

If this is on an iPhone, be sure to check what else is running when they approach you to enter the code for an app they want. My sneaky kids had the fucking video recorder going then asked me for a game app that I was okay with. Then bam, they had a recording of me entering the password.

I'm telling you, resourceful. Window alarms don't mean shit....I had that too.

[bubbaearl]

where to begin .
on the restrictions on internet. 2 hrs in the evening is plenty . he has 40 acres of farm to play on . plus he plays football so he has practice every day after school.

right now there are 6 sets of parents at a rival school dealing with their sons sending pornographic images over their phones. dumb ass jocks sending pics of their dicks to some girls . off the team and expelled from school. possible charges which could leave these young boys screwed . our boy has known since day one what he could and could not do with his phone. talk/text only. no snapchat or any other apps on his phone. he can send pics but knows they will not disappear . it's our phone not his .

sweeping his room ? he had a thing about knives for a while . was taking them to school which could land his butt in the back of a cruiser . he would also sneak snacks at night after brushing his teeth. she finds the wrappers hidden . braces and dental has cost us a fortune .

he gets a lot of freedoms which he earns . he's happy , goes to church , plays sports and makes the honor role every year. good kid .

he is the son of friends who died a year apart . we took custody of him right before his mom passed of cancer. dad passed a year latter . no other family would step up . but he was part of our family since he was born . we kept him every weekend . his folks did not want kids and were 50 when he was born . so he knows he's here because we want him. he's loved and cared for and wants for very little. i'm an old school hard ass but fair . my bride is a retired school teacher. so far our way has worked so i see no reason to change.

[4bangen]

If this is on an iPhone, be sure to check what else is running when they approach you to enter the code for an app they want. My sneaky kids had the fucking video recorder going then asked me for a game app that I was okay with. Then bam, they had a recording of me entering the password.

I'm telling you, resourceful. Window alarms don't mean shit....I had that too.

Holy shit! I would have never thought to check for a screen recording. lol that's impressive.

The window alarms are from when she was little and every time I heard a noise I would jump out of bed and run to her room to make sure she was safe. They are just still there. The cameras are there for the same reason everyone has cameras. I've used them when my car was broken into to give to the police, for insurance when my car was hit out front, for checking on the house when we are away, and making sure the kid gets home safe from school when she's to brain dead to text saying she's home. I even used them for that time I held a burgler at gun point until the cops showed up. If they also catch my kid sneaking in or out one day or catch a boy sneaking around, then they are a win win.

Originally I found a note from her friend in her room while looking for headphones to use, and in the note fer friend was asking her if she was going to tell her parents she liked this kid. Also she expressed she wasn't fond of the guy. This was info I was planning on just noting and keeping an eye out. liking someone is something I was prepared for. and not telling me is expected. Not telling her mom was a bit of a let down but understood. I don't jump on her about the small things, and I normally let her come to me with stuff when she's ready. Often in the past while going through her phone I'd see her ranting to her friends about her mom and I. Normally it's pretty funny because I remember saying damn near the same stuff to my friends. The strait up lying and covering up stuff is what got her in trouble this time. since she started talking to this kid, shes had falling outs with some of her friends, her algibra grades are slipping and shes starting to use bad language (while talking to him). I'm all for letting the kids make mistakes to learn from but as a parent you need to be there to pull them back before they cross a line. Christ it's what we are here for.

[bubbaearl]

If this is on an iPhone, be sure to check what else is running when they approach you to enter the code for an app they want. My sneaky kids had the fucking video recorder going then asked me for a game app that I was okay with. Then bam, they had a recording of me entering the password.

I'm telling you, resourceful. Window alarms don't mean shit....I had that too.

shit like this is why we used password protect. we set it up , block all apps then it is locked down . he can not open setting to change anything and he has 0 data to use. not paying for a butt load of data for him to play games on his phone. he has his xbox for that shit.

[Gasser64]

Won't your provider switch off a phone after a certain hour, if you request it? Can't remember... iirc they'll help you out from their end, with parental controls type stuff. I'd call them up and see what they can do. Might be they can stop it from working every night after a certain hour, except for emergency calls. You can also get a jammer, they're small and they have limited range so it wouldn't necessarily jam your phone, depending on where you put it in the house. But unless it was pretty fancy, you'd have to flip a switch every time you wanted it on or off. But if you did, that phone won't work for shit.

You've actually got a ton of options if you do some research. Blocking the phone in your router after a certain time also might help for the facebooking and all that social media trash. I'm sure they'll communicate that way too, aside from texting. That said, biology happens. Getting to be about that time, for nature to start working it's magic to ensure our species continues. Maybe just give her those birth control shots. If he's a real scumbag, put the fear of god in him Al Bundy style.

[LS1Goat]

You've actually got a ton of options if you do some research. Blocking the phone in your router after a certain time also might help for the facebooking and all that social media trash. I'm sure they'll communicate that way too, aside from texting. That said, biology happens. Getting to be about that time, for nature to start working it's magic to ensure our species continues. Maybe just give her those birth control shots. If he's a real scumbag, put the fear of god in him Al Bundy style.

I'm sure you realize that using access control on clients in the router are futile on a smartphone. When the phone loses the wi-fi connections it immediately switches over to mobile data and you just keep on truckin'.

I'm not sure about all this. Especially, the room sweeps. I think you have to find a balance between responsible parenting and allowing some freedoms to your kids. Now giving a smartphone to a 10 year old is asinine. Don't know what that's all about.

Anyways..just do the best you can, but don't smother.

Also, I haven't read every post. However, if you want to know who your kids are talking to is log in to your provider bill page. You just simply click on a tab and see a list of phone numbers from calls or text received on a particular line. It's not that hard.

[JC316]

where to begin .
on the restrictions on internet. 2 hrs in the evening is plenty . he has 40 acres of farm to play on . plus he plays football so he has practice every day after school.

right now there are 6 sets of parents at a rival school dealing with their sons sending pornographic images over their phones. dumb ass jocks sending pics of their dicks to some girls . off the team and expelled from school. possible charges which could leave these young boys screwed . our boy has known since day one what he could and could not do with his phone. talk/text only. no snapchat or any other apps on his phone. he can send pics but knows they will not disappear . it's our phone not his .

sweeping his room ? he had a thing about knives for a while . was taking them to school which could land his butt in the back of a cruiser . he would also sneak snacks at night after brushing his teeth. she finds the wrappers hidden . braces and dental has cost us a fortune .

he gets a lot of freedoms which he earns . he's happy , goes to church , plays sports and makes the honor role every year. good kid .

he is the son of friends who died a year apart . we took custody of him right before his mom passed of cancer. dad passed a year latter . no other family would step up . but he was part of our family since he was born . we kept him every weekend . his folks did not want kids and were 50 when he was born . so he knows he's here because we want him. he's loved and cared for and wants for very little. i'm an old school hard ass but fair . my bride is a retired school teacher. so far our way has worked so i see no reason to change.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're over 50. You're raising him in a very old school way, which is good to a degree, but it seems that you're handicapping him on technology, which is a problem in today's world. Sports, church, and farming won't pay the bills when he's grown.

Eating snacks after brushing his teeth.... Option A, "hey son, if you eat after brushing your teeth, brush them again. Going to the dentist sucks". Option B, better sweep his room for candy wrappers. Seems education would be the better option. Same goes for the knives. If he pushes it, then escalate.

I'm all for letting the kids make mistakes to learn from but as a parent you need to be there to pull them back before they cross a line. Christ it's what we are here for.

Absolutely, but there's a fine line between being there to pull them back and being overzealous on the little stuff. My parents always trusted me, and I never let them down.

[bubbaearl]

he makes straight a's in his computer class . hell he's writing code already.
yes i'm way north of 50 . he's growing up knowing not to be dependent on others to survive . we grow our own food , could unhook from the grid and still have water and power so if shit went south we would be fine .
i dont hire anything done . i want him to have this same option . no matter what career he chooses he can always fall back and be self sufficient .
he has plenty of technology around him. his uncle has a drone business so he flys his drone so he could work in that , has his computer but his time on it is controlled . no kid need more than 2 hrs a day playing video games . he earns his freedoms and rewards with good grades and good choices .

[SS Junk]

I'm not sure about all this. Especially, the room sweeps. I think you have to find a balance between responsible parenting and allowing some freedoms to your kids..

That depends. Freedom is built on trust. If a kid is abusing those freedoms he needs to learn they can be taken away.

[4bangen]

There seems to be a disconnect here between rights and privilege. Te kid doesn't own the phone, the parents do. When she got the phone, we set guidelines and expectations for her continued use of the phone. What it sounds like to me is that some of you think lying and braking rules should go unaddressed. Kids push until they find a limit, if you don't give them a limit, thy don't know how far they can go. She pushed her limits and hit a wall. Stuff you guys are saying makes it sound like you've never been grounded. Sunday, and Monday where tough on all of us. She wouldn't talk to me at all, and only gave one word answers to my wife. Yesterday she started talking to me again and even sat with me in the living room and joked around about stuff, and at dinner she even made a joke about forgetting how to text. She's starting to open up to my wife about things and that's great. She's upset that everyone at school knows her business because the boy told everyone. But she also knows that in time people will move on. heck a month or so ago the same boy and his friends got one of my kids friends in trouble for showing up at her house without her asking her parents if they could come over. It was the talk of the school for a week or two and then went away. She was telling me last night that she's not looking forward to this weekend because she can't text or talk to her best girl friend. Funny part is they have a tournament all day Saturday, and we have church half the day Sunday, so really she's only got a few hours she would have been not around her that she could have talked to her anyway. this other girl is the one who was trying to talk her out of getting involved with this kid, and even had him blocked from her phone. I've gt a long road ahead of me with raising a female of our species but I have hope that it will work out. we will see in time. If I can keep her alive at this point I'll call it a win.

[Big A]

Lina bought her phone with her own money, and mom and I have zero issue taking it away when she's acting a fool.