alexsmommy
01-03-2013, 09:04 AM
What, if anything, are you doing to teach your child appropriate cell phone/screen usage in public and at home.
We are already working on the inappropriate cell phone usage and my kids don't have phones. I'm working on modeling considerate behavior. It's sad how easy it is to rudely glance down at my phone while someone is speaking to me. I did it at TJ's checkout the other day and didn't hear the clerk say my total. I looked up and she was patiently waiting. I apologized and she said, "That's ok." DS1 was with me and I made of point of saying, "No, it's rude and I apologize. Thank you for being pateint." DS1 is already counting down for middle school when he knows he will most likely get a simple cell phone. We are all guilty of having conversations while looking at a screen - including DS3 who was answering my question while playing a game on the Kindle the other day. Ugh.
I'm pretty good about putting my phone on the charger once I get in and leaving it, but then I pick up my iPad to check email, maybe check in here :wink:, then I'll remember something I forgot to buy at the drugstore so I'll throw it in my Amazon cart, then I'll go to return and email I forget about and ohh, while I'm on here let me put money in the boys school lunch account... then in the midst of the internet rabbit hole, one of the kids will ask me something and I'll say, "Just a minute" or answer them while multitasking. But if my child did the same, not put a device to the side and look at person he was answering, I'd tell him that was rude. So I'm trying. I know it's an uphill battle but the BP where a mom and her teens were on their smart phones through mass - ick. I don't want my boys to be like that.
DH is probably the biggest culprit, but he is often legitametly checking work email. But then again, I'm sure he's checking sports scores at other times. He is one of the most considerate, polite people I know and he models considerate behavior to the boys all of the time in other ways (always offers a seat to someone who seems to need it more; opens doors for other and has taught the boys to do it to a point it's funny because DS3 tries to hold the door for others in pubic; waiting 30 minutes to get an autograph with DS2 at the Globetrotters because he did not want DS2 to think it was ok to keep jumping in front of people who were waiting patiently the way many of the other kids were doing). But with this he's bad.
So I think we need a family meeting and some more concrete rules to follow for all of us. I have some ideas, but would like to see if you all have anything you use in your homes.
We are already working on the inappropriate cell phone usage and my kids don't have phones. I'm working on modeling considerate behavior. It's sad how easy it is to rudely glance down at my phone while someone is speaking to me. I did it at TJ's checkout the other day and didn't hear the clerk say my total. I looked up and she was patiently waiting. I apologized and she said, "That's ok." DS1 was with me and I made of point of saying, "No, it's rude and I apologize. Thank you for being pateint." DS1 is already counting down for middle school when he knows he will most likely get a simple cell phone. We are all guilty of having conversations while looking at a screen - including DS3 who was answering my question while playing a game on the Kindle the other day. Ugh.
I'm pretty good about putting my phone on the charger once I get in and leaving it, but then I pick up my iPad to check email, maybe check in here :wink:, then I'll remember something I forgot to buy at the drugstore so I'll throw it in my Amazon cart, then I'll go to return and email I forget about and ohh, while I'm on here let me put money in the boys school lunch account... then in the midst of the internet rabbit hole, one of the kids will ask me something and I'll say, "Just a minute" or answer them while multitasking. But if my child did the same, not put a device to the side and look at person he was answering, I'd tell him that was rude. So I'm trying. I know it's an uphill battle but the BP where a mom and her teens were on their smart phones through mass - ick. I don't want my boys to be like that.
DH is probably the biggest culprit, but he is often legitametly checking work email. But then again, I'm sure he's checking sports scores at other times. He is one of the most considerate, polite people I know and he models considerate behavior to the boys all of the time in other ways (always offers a seat to someone who seems to need it more; opens doors for other and has taught the boys to do it to a point it's funny because DS3 tries to hold the door for others in pubic; waiting 30 minutes to get an autograph with DS2 at the Globetrotters because he did not want DS2 to think it was ok to keep jumping in front of people who were waiting patiently the way many of the other kids were doing). But with this he's bad.
So I think we need a family meeting and some more concrete rules to follow for all of us. I have some ideas, but would like to see if you all have anything you use in your homes.