Cell phone rules for teens
1) During the school week, the phone goes into the parents bedroom at 9 PM. The teen can have it back in the morning after he/she is completely ready for school.
2) The phone is to be turned off during meals, family time, and during homework.
3) Determine if you will allow texting. Kids can rapidly run up a large phone bill with texting. If you do allow it, let the teen know how many minutes he/she has, and you can usually check the usage on your provider's website. We take our son's phone when his time for texting and talking is up. We've shown him how to calculate how much talk/text time he has per day and, if he isn't conservative, he could end up with no phone for quite a while until he has his next allotment of minutes!
4) If you allow texting, you are within your rights to check messages that may be stored on the phone, if you have suspicions of illegal or dangerous activities.
5) If you require your teen to pay a portion of the cell phone bill, tell them roughly what time of the month you will be collecting. If the teen doesn't have the money, give him/her a few days to come up with it, or you discontinue the service (we just turn off and confiscate the phone until our son's portion has been paid).
6) The phone is to be turned off when visiting with relatives or friends, or at other inappropriate times (movies, museums, etc.)
7) Let him know that if his grades go down, and he doesn't correct the problem fairly quickly, that he will lose cell phone privileges until his grades are back up.
8) If the teen has lost phone privileges but needs to keep in touch with an employer, allow the teen to check messages once per day and respond to only those that are work related or otherwise important...from a teacher, for example.
9) If you confiscate your teen's phone because of not doing homework or chores, keep the phone until grades come up, or chores are done properly, on time, and without nagging and reminding. If you keep it for a specified amount of time, the teen will bide their time until their "sentence" is up and the bad habits are not changed.
10) If your teen is driving, make sure that he/she understands that driving and texting, and driving while talking on the phone, is not allowed. In some states, it is illegal. In all states, it is stupid. If you learn that your teen has been driving while using a cell phone, that his/her driving and cell phone privileges are suspended indefinitely.
11) Make it clear that owning a cell phone is a privilege granted to those who are responsible.
* Copyright 2008 Julie P. Clark