This post is sponsored by Trademore. I was paid for this post.
Like most kiddos, my tweens/teens are always wanting a phone! Today I wanted to go over some things that we do as a family when it comes to teens and phones. A phone is a tool and can be great when trying to touch base with after-school rides for my kiddos, etc, but it definitely needs managing and oversight.
#MyTrademorePhone
First up, actually getting the phone 😉 Have you heard of Trademore? If your child is always asking for the newest phone, you definitely need to check out Trademore. Buying from Trademore helps you save money and give your child a phone you know that they can take care of . It’s a great option that is the best of both worlds, a win win. Using Trademore we were able to grab my daughter an iPhone 8:
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cosmetic inspection (for quality, reliability and functionality) and have
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The process of shopping for a phone was super easy! You choose your phone service, what type of phone you’d like, and even what condition you’re looking for, and a variety of options opens up to choose from – easy peasy! We loved the buying process.
(insert unboxing video here)
They also offer a sell-back service to trade-in phones that you have – we haven’t used this side of the service yet, but I wanted to share the info because I know lots of you will be interested. Trademore sends you a free, pre-packaged, pre-paid, with all the instructions to send in your phone and the offer you receive from Trademore is locked-in for 30 days.
Top 5 Tips for Teens and Phones
Your tween or tween has a phone, now what?! Here are our top 5 Tips for Teens and Phones that have been working for our family. You’ll need to work and adjust to see what will work best for your family.
Monitor Phone Time
There are a few ways to do this – you can set limits on the phone and they can shut down when those limits are reached. This is a great options for younger kiddos. As they get older, we want them to learn self-control when it comes to electronic devices, and so we expect our teens to be able to self-regulate. They know our phone time limits (1 hour each day) and they know how to check their time (we use “screentime” on apple devices, but used to use “moment”).
Weekly we sit down as a family and report daily phone usage for the week (adults included!). They use those apps mentioned to report their time for each day. We keep track each week so we can compare averages to previous weeks, etc. We have them report on what apps they’re using the most so we can discuss that as well. We also track how many “pick ups” they have, too many pick ups shows a phone addiction that we definitely want to curtail. I feel like I could write a whole post just about how we track time and our family expectations for phone usage.
App Approval
We have it set up so that anytime a kiddo wants to install a new app on their phone, it has to be approved by an adult. This way we know what apps they’re putting on their phones and we can discuss what they’re going to be using the apps for, etc.
Family Networking App
I LOVE using a Family Networking App!! It helps us all know where everyone is at any given time. You can set up a couple of zones, so we can get alerts when the kids arrive home or arrive at school. It goes both ways and they can check on us as well.
Social Media
Be very aware of the social media apps your child is using. Follow them on it and watch all their posts and interacts. We have open discussions about who they allow to follow them and who they are following. We require their accounts to be private. Monitoring is key! And we don’t do Snapchat 😉
A Phone is a Privilege
A phone is not a right, not a requirement, and we make sure our kids know that. It is a privilege and they need to consider it as such – and privileges can be taken away if needed.
Keep evaluating
Those are just a few tips that are working for us – you can try some and incorporate others. Keep evaluating and tweaking and find what works for your family.
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