14 year old boy and his hormones?
Find a Conversation
| Tue, 09-04-2007 - 2:36pm |
My son is 14 and we are having cell phone issues. Other than the usual issues that he is on it all the time and igonores the rest of the family. He has been caught texting dirty messages to various girlfriends and was grounded. (Didn't learn lesson) Was caught asking a girl to BE WITH him. grounded another week. (Didn't learn lesson) Now he has been caught asking a girlfriend to send him a picture in her bra and panties, looks like she sent one in swim suit. (obviously didn't learn lesson) None of which were the same girl and none of the girls seemed to be offended by the questions he asked.
My husband wants be to get rid of texting totally, but I feel that this is the only way teens make conversation now day. Am I totally taking away his life if he can't text or am I just being a push over.

Pages
First off, I am going to ask you a 'dumb' and hopefully an obvious question....
In my opinion, a child does not "need" a cell phone until he/she is driving and has a job. For some reason I have such strong feelings about parents who are letting their children have cell phones at such an early age. True, everyone seems to have one but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Cell phones are very costly to a family and, in your son's case, can lead to very harmful behavior. My children did not receive cell phones until their 16th birthday. They either used a phone at their school (I was a PTA president and I know that phones are always available to students), after school functions on school property, sports functions on school property, or if I felt they needed to contact me and they weren't near a phone or away from school activities, I would give them my cell phone and told them to call me at work or home in case of an emergency. We were always able to communicate with each other one way or another before the purchase of their cell phones.
I feel your son has totally abused his priviledges and his behavior needs to be monitored and controlled until he understands that his behavior can have consequences. You've given him plenty of chances, now he needs to earn his right to keep a cell phone.
That is the key!!!
Haven't read the other posts yet, but IMHO you need to set some clear rules for cell use and then enforce them. I'd take away texting and photo features - I know it's boring phone that only *makes phone calls* LOL - but if he abuses the functions, he doesn't deserve them. Whether or not a kid *needs* a cell depends on the situation and family. But how they use or abuse it is up to you.
BTW, in a teenager's opinion, "taking away his life" is your main job LOL. Don't worry that he'll be "mad" - be firm and set some clear boundaries.
Sue
Pages