My Teenager Daughter Answered her Cell Phone by Saying "What??!!!"

[izzy]

Some of these responses are really interesting. And before any of you ask, no I don't have children.

However, it does make me wonder how the heck most of us made it to adulthood without a cellphone for all of those emergencies that crop up constantly.

My niece has had a cell phone for 3 years now, and all I ever see her do with it is yak with friends for hours on end.

As my 75 year old mom says "Whatever."

 

[Esmerelda]

very well put Izzy...I totally agree. I do however feel bad for the OP...I hope all works out for her and her situation.

and sorry to burst your bubble aprilgail2 but yes...I am the mother to two great boys ages 9 and 13...and they do just fine without a cell phone just as I did growing up.

matter of fact..my son's jr high has a "no cell phone" policy...and your phone is confiscated if you are caught on it.

thank you...thank you very much
..doin her best Elvis impression
Esmerelda

 

[disneyjunkie]

My son will be a teen in three weeks. He's getting a cell phone for his birthtday.

If my son answered me that way, I'd take the phone away. If he needed to get in touch with me, he'd have to use a pay phone or borrow a friend's phone.

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by izzy
Some of these responses are really interesting. And before any of you ask, no I don't have children.

However, it does make me wonder how the heck most of us made it to adulthood without a cellphone for all of those emergencies that crop up constantly.

My niece has had a cell phone for 3 years now, and all I ever see her do with it is yak with friends for hours on end.

As my 75 year old mom says "Whatever."

Back when I was a kid it was no where as crazy as it is now....wackos are everywhere now. I never heard of sex offenders when I was a kid..now I have 6 living in my town!! I used to walk to school and cut through woods in 2nd grade whe nI was a kid...now people walk their 5th graders to the bus stop, wont even let them go to the corner on their own!

 

[MinnieM21]

Your DD could be having a bad day or maybe someone said something to her that upset her or maybe she was just feeling really tired. It has nothing to do w/ you probably and more about how she's feeling. Don't take her phone away she probably wasn't trying to be rude or offend you. Just ask her about her day and maybe you both can work things out.

 

[KaitlinsMom]

Not posting on "the" topic - But close to it - I am just curious - Those that have given their teens cell phones - What kind of ground rules do you have? Like, do you have rules for times the teens can use it? ( Like no phone calls after 9?) Or when they are home, do you have them turn in their phone till morning? What about text messaging? Certain time limits on that? (like are they trying to message their friends at 2 am?) -

What punishment do you have if they do not obey?

I am just curious - I do not have a teen yet - Just curiouse as to what works and what doesn't


Karen

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by Esmerelda


matter of fact..my son's jr high has a "no cell phone" policy...and your phone is confiscated if you are caught on it.


Esmerelda

They tried that here too but the parents went down to the school and complained so now they can have their cell phones with them as long as they are off and they do get taken away if they catch them using them but they can have them on them. My brother is a teacher in the city and before Sept. 11th the kids couldn't have phones in school but after Sept 11th that changed, they can also have them as long as they don't use them in school.

 

[phamton]

Originally posted by aprilgail2
Back when I was a kid it was no where as crazy as it is now....wackos are everywhere now.

They were everywhere then but you just didn't know about it.

Originally posted by aprilgail2 I never heard of sex offenders when I was a kid..now I have 6 living in my town!!

Once again, there were probably just as many sex offenders when you were growing up but no one talked about it. You probably have a lot more than 6 living in your town right now but the others just haven't been caught yet.

I was born in 1950's. The days when "Leave it to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" were seen as the average family. I was molested at 7 years old by the grandfather of our next door neighbor. Our neighbors were dear friends of my parents and the grandfather (the wife's father) lived with them. There was no police report filed. Families just handled it themselves back then. My father confronted the offender and told him that unless he moved away the police would be called. The grandfather moved away, probably to molest other children.

My aunt who was born in 1946 was molested at age 10 by a teenage cousin. As far as I know, nothing was ever done nor did her older cousin get a police record.

 

[Banzai]

Originally posted by Esmerelda
I'm still trying to figure out why a teenage girl needs a cell phone....? I'm sorry...but I just can't see that...unless she is working and footing the bill and she has to travel late at night to/from work...

scratching her head...
Esmerelda

Around here, we have no payphones. If there is one, it is $3.75 (I see you're in Paris, so that is 3.05 Euro). I normally don't have 11 quarters in my pocket (or any for that matter).


I've been in one accident in the daylight, and rearended another time. The first time I didn't have my cell phone, and I ended up using the woman's to call my parents. The second time I called home to infrom my parents that I was hit at school, everyone was ok, ect. Another nice feature is that if I were ever to be in an accident, when I call 911, it will give my location. So if I am seriously hurt, I don't need to talk, just get 911 called. I wouldn't feel safe driving without one, and I seldom leave the house without mine.

 

[totalia]

lol. Oh how many times I've been tempted to answer the phone that way....

She's just being a kid. Tell her off and let her keep the phone.

 

[poohandwendy]

I'm still trying to figure out why a teenage girl needs a cell phone....? I'm sorry...but I just can't see that...unless she is working and footing the bill and she has to travel late at night to/from work...

As soon as my DD was old enough to drive and date, she had a cel phone. I always can reach her and she no excuse to not call me if she needs to. I also wanted her to have one for safety reasons.

Abusing the privilege means no going out and no cel phone.

 

[epcotfan]

Originally posted by TinkBoo&ElliesMum
Had you just called her minutes before?

I get snippy with ANYONE that calls me and then calls me back a few minutes later - including my mom, and yes I'm still alive.

I'm one of those people who recognizes the fact that EVERYONE has a bad day every now and again and it's going to show.

My kids get snippy with me from time to time, they know it's not going to get them anywhere but I'm not going to tell them they're not allowed to have a bad day either.

I totally agree with you.
Perhaps she was expecting someone else to call. Or didn't look at the call display. Guess we won't know since we aren't hearing the other side of the story.
I had a boyfriend whose mother called him all day long on his cell phone. It was really annoying. After several calls he would get snippy. I didn't blame him one bit. She would call telling him things that could have been taken care of in the first call. Not 3 calls later. On a weekend hotel getaway she called our room. I was ready to answer the phone and yell, "WHAT?"

 

[pw2pp]

I probably wouldn't take it away either. Maybe the "what" and "yeeeahh" stem from a Chapelle show skit about Little John (rapper).

Oh yeah, I know what you are talking about......
there are some guys (In their 20's) at work who do that.

 

[LisaSt]

Nope if my kids were like that the phone would be gone in a heartbeat. I wouldn't have given them one in the first place mind you. They will get a calling card to use as there are plenty of pay phones around our city. My little brother was given a cell phone when he was 13 and the next month his mom recieved a 1000 dollar bill needless to say he no longer has a cell phone.

 

[Traveliz]

I have a teenage daughter (17) who has had a phone since she entered high school.

Ground rules at the beginning were basically the phone was for her to call me when she was running late or after practices. The phone has saved me many hours or sitting at the high school at the time the kids were suppose to be back versus the time the kids actually got back (from a competition).

Now that she is older and we have a family plan she knows about how much time she can use the phone socially and stay within our plan and that's ok with me.

She is one that doesn't keep her phone on much so we have to remind her to turn it on if she is going out and we want to get ahold of her. But basically she uses it to let us know when she is running late or when a practice is over.

Liz

 

[mermaidlady]

What I am hearing is that if she is having a bad day it is okay for her to be snippy with her mom??? That 's not an excuse. Let her learn to cope with having a bad day but still answering the phone nicely. It isn't that hard. When she gets a job she will have to have those kind of manners. Take the phone away and yes I have a 14DD and 12 DS. They borrow our cell phone when they go out.

 

[CyranoJones]

What I am hearing is that if she is having a bad day it is okay for her to be snippy with her mom???

No, it's not "okay." But having raised my daughter to adulthood, I found that it was much more prudent to pick the battles that were truly important. IMO it makes a lot more sense to find out why a teen is coming across as "snippy" than to just assume off the bat that the child is rude and obnoxious and deserving of punishment. It's hard to take down the walls we set up over small stuff when something monumental comes along. Again, this is JMO. Been there, done that, and was successful.

 

[MinnieYC]

Definitely find out if something was happening that made her upset. I'm not saying you should or shouldn't punish her, but often teenagers are less than likely to volunteer some information about their days, so maybe a little prodding can be good.

Maybe she didn't actually look at the caller ID? Sometimes teenagers are constantly calling the same friend over and over again...maybe your DD was exasperated at a friend, assumed it was him/her again, answered the phone without looking.

 

[epcotfan]

Maybe she didn't actually look at the caller ID? Sometimes teenagers are constantly calling the same friend over and over again...maybe your DD was exasperated at a friend, assumed it was him/her again, answered the phone without looking.

That is exactly what I was thinking.

 

[auntpolly]

Originally posted by poohandwendy
As soon as my DD was old enough to drive and date, she had a cel phone. I always can reach her and she no excuse to not call me if she needs to. I also wanted her to have one for safety reasons.

Absolutely! I think having them for your teens is a wonderful thing! When my DD was in a car accident, for example, she called me 2 minutes after it happened and I was there in 10 minutes. It was on a busy highway. I am so grateful for the cell phone!