It’s a tough summer for parents. Kids’ internet and cell phone use tends to aggrandize in magnitude with every passing day. Therefore, our TMF team has planned to devote this entire week specifically for the teens’ digital safety. If curbing smartphone use seems difficult, we need to make sure that it’s not used inappropriately.
When you handover a cell phone to your child, you need to have a clear expectations about how that device should be used. In the absence of any such rules, you are letting your kids enter into the digital world without the ancillary and prerequisites, leaving them exposed to all kinds of online dangers.
But before you build a contract, make sure that its terms and conditions are not one-sided. Don’t just sit alone with your partner in a room and jot down the agreement, discuss it with your kids and explain them the reasons for your monitoring. The more they understand you, higher are the chances that they will agree to you.
A smartphone contract needs to be created when the kids are handed over with their first smartphone. With certain rules in their mind, they would know that the only way keep their phone is by following the rules.
Crafting a Smartphone Contract
Devising a list of all the important things can help you with the initial contract design. You can add things like:
- I will never text and drive simultaneously.
- I will follow school rules for the use of a smartphone.
- I will not misuse my smartphone to send/receive inappropriate content.
- I will cooperate and give away my phone, if my school grades deter or I show a disrespectful behavior at school.
- I will give my parents access to my passwords.
Get these and any other points that you consider necessary on a piece of paper. Tell your kid to sign it and hand it over to you. Doing all this is not going to make you, or your kids, legally liable but it will ensure that a process has been followed, ensuring that you care how they use their smartphones.
Comments are closed.