My buddy doesn't ( didn't? ) understand why I won't let my kids have text messaging.

[Sparx]

That means your life is being interrupted an awful lot.

i text my mother several times a day. i don't think that hearing from me is interrupting her life.

 

[L107ANGEL]

i text my mother several times a day. i don't think that hearing from me is interrupting her life.

Speaking as the mom on the recieving end I bet you are right DD texts me to tell me where she is going, arrived safely etc.

 

[KathyTX]

A teen who can't text would have a pretty tough time socially in our town these days!

Just like any other method of communication, whether written, face to face conversation, or talking on the phone, there are manners that need to be modeled and taught by parents.

There's nothing evil about texting- it's just the technology of today, and is awfully convenient. As others have pointed out, it doesn't REPLACE in-person social interaction, it's just another way to communicate. It's quick, efficient, and cheap.

I'm glad my kiddo can text me- he can send me a quick text telling me he got home from school and I can receive that at work when I'm in a meeting without missing a beat. He can inconspicuously text me to come pick him up from a friend's house without making a big deal about being ready to leave. I can ask him a quick question when he's out and get a quick answer without embarrassing him in front of his friends.

By the time a kid is old enough to make his own social plans, I don't see any reason to restrict his ability to communicate with friends and parents unless he's proven to be unable to handle the responsibility.

 

[Sparx]

Speaking as the mom on the recieving end I bet you are right DD texts me to tell me where she is going, arrived safely etc.

i moved into my own apartment at the beginning of the summer, and if my mother was as hardheaded as the op, i wouldn't be able to talk to her at all. i can't afford a land line phone, so my cell phone is my only means to interrupt her life.

this thread is just silly. i'm sure people felt this way back in the 1900s about those devil automobiles too.

the fact of the matter is that we don't NEED any of the things that make our lives easy and comfortable, but we all like them. if you don't want to be interrupted by technology, i'm sure you could find a log cabin in the woods to go live a quite, medieval life all by yourself. but i'll take my running water, television, internet and cell phone and go live as a productive member of society.

 

[MichelleVW]

i text my mother several times a day. i don't think that hearing from me is interrupting her life.

As a mother...I will thank you!! I love it when my girls text me throughout the day...it doesn't interrupt my life at all!

 

[mjkacmom]

It amazes me to see how far things have come since I was in HS...SIX years ago! I got my first cell phone when I was 16, when I learned to drive. So that if my car were to break down, or I was in an accident, I could call home. I had so many friends who didn't have a cell phone at all. I didn't have texting. Hardly anyone did. I mean, I could text, but I maybe sent & received 10/month, so there was no need to get unlimited.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone under legal driving age needs a cell phone. (Unless they're in after school activities and pay phones are now obsolete?!) I rarely used that cell phone when I was a teen.

To be honest, as far as texting goes...even today, it annoys me. How many times I would meet a guy, give him my number and he would text me?! Ugh. Be a man, give me a call. My boyfriend now is not a text-er. I love it. After our first date, he called me. IMO, that's how it should be.

Lord help my future children because if I can help it, they won't have a cell phone until they need one. And I don't care what Johnny or Susie down the street have. I didn't need one, they don't.


P.S. Sorry for my mini-rant. Apparently I have a problem with cell phones and texting Who knew?

I got my first cellphone out of college. When I was dd13's age, we were so excited to get CABLE! I think there were over 30 channels! My best friend had a betamax, and she owned 5 whole movies (20 year old movies at that). I loved my 8-track player, though. We didn't have computers, internet, email, and of course we survived. However, times change all of the time, and I don't think it's fair to only give our children what we had at their age - heck, my mom grew up without a phone in the house, and a family car, and I'm glad we weren't raised without them just because she was raised without them!

 

[mjkacmom]

i text my mother several times a day. i don't think that hearing from me is interrupting her life.

I love it when my dd and ds text me!

 

[VickiVM]

I am not a texter...I just feel too compelled to type everything perfectly and it just takes too long. But it has come in handy to be able to text my kids messages regarding pick up times after school, where to meet them, etc. Also great when you're at a Spurs game and wouldn't be able hear the person you're calling over the crowds cheering. Not at all necessary to function in life, but takes a lot of the guesswork out when it comes to your kids various activities.

And for one of the previous posters...Yes, pay phones are actually obsolete.

 

[DVCLiz]

LOL.... I am not holier than thou. And I don't post to start trouble. CUL8R.

PD, I just want to remind you that some of us have been here a long time - long enough to remember posts you made about your children many, many years ago. I'm just guessing, but I think you may have changed your mind occasionally in the past. At the very least, I'm pretty sure you would not want us to hold you to every single word you ever posted about your daughters - but you would like us to extend to you the courtesy of being able to say you had changed your mind over time.

The cell phone/texting issue is the same thing. It's fine to have an opinion about what you and your wife might do in the future, but the truth is you have no idea how you will feel about it in 5 or 6 years. You only know how you feel about it as a parent of an 8 year old projecting into the future. Many, many of us have been in the same position and we are telling you it is possible that you will change your mind. You might do us the same courtesy of admitting it is possible parents of older children know some things that parents of younger children don't.

 

[L107ANGEL]

i moved into my own apartment at the beginning of the summer, and if my mother was as hardheaded as the op, i wouldn't be able to talk to her at all. i can't afford a land line phone, so my cell phone is my only means to interrupt her life.

this thread is just silly. i'm sure people felt this way back in the 1900s about those devil automobiles too.

the fact of the matter is that we don't NEED any of the things that make our lives easy and comfortable, but we all like them. if you don't want to be interrupted by technology, i'm sure you could find a log cabin in the woods to go live a quite, medieval life all by yourself. but i'll take my running water, television, internet and cell phone and go live as a productive member of society.

Your living out on your own?! Wow!!!!! Go you!!
I live in the woods, and let me tell you when the power goes out I don't have water, TV (not that I really care) or internet, it is highly over-rated
I am able to text DD and DH and let them know, bring home food, we are the Waltons again tonight.

 

[debster812]

Another point in favor of texting, for me personally.

I've been out of work for 9 months, and been at home a LOT more with DS before and after school. I just got a new job, and started last Wednesday. DS is 12 years old, and is old enough to stay on his own. I did not even know what my new phone number at my desk was going to be. But DS had my cellphone number (of course). We texted a few times throughout the day, just to make sure he was doing OK until DH got home. I can read and respond to a text in < 30 seconds, versus having an out loud conversation.

I also reiterate a point other posters have made, what you feel now, when your DD's are 8, and pretty much still under your thumb (figuratively speaking) there really is not any need for them to have a cell phone, or texting plan. However, in another 5-8 years so much will and can change. The one thing I do know about parenting, is to "Never say Never"

 

[Papa Deuce]

PD, I just want to remind you that some of us have been here a long time - long enough to remember posts you made about your children many, many years ago. I'm just guessing, but I think you may have changed your mind occasionally in the past.....

I can't swear to it, but in all honesty, I don't believe I ever have, at least not that I can remember.

 

[DVCLiz]

I can't swear to it, but in all honesty, I don't believe I ever have, at least not that I can remember.

I seem to remember a long, drawn out thread about your feelings for your daughters - it probably got poofed because it turned so nasty. At any rate, I just wanted to mention that you might write something about the way you think or feel at a certain point and later on feel entirely differently. KWIM?

So stop being such a hard liner and lighten up on the texting.

 

[Papa Deuce]

I seem to remember a long, drawn out thread about your feelings for your daughters - it probably got poofed because it turned so nasty. At any rate, I just wanted to mention that you might write something about the way you think or feel at a certain point and later on feel entirely differently. KWIM?

So stop being such a hard liner and lighten up on the texting.

OK... If I change my mind, and I'm still here, I'll post it. Promise.

BTW, that thread was SO MISUNDERSTOOD by some folks.... ay yi yi. That was TRULY MEANT to be an uplifting, feel good thread.

 

[phorsenuf]

OK... If I change my mind, and I'm still here, I'll post it. Promise.

BTW, that thread was SO MISUNDERSTOOD by some folks.... ay yi yi. That was TRULY MEANT to be an uplifting, feel good thread.

Oh my gosh. I remember that thread. I still don't get how that was suppose to be uplifting. Sorry.

 

[DVCLiz]

OK... If I change my mind, and I'm still here, I'll post it. Promise.

BTW, that thread was SO MISUNDERSTOOD by some folks.... ay yi yi. That was TRULY MEANT to be an uplifting, feel good thread.

I know you are going to change your mind about texting - unless they invent something between now and then that usurps it. After all, at one point I was certain I would never allow my daughters to use IMing - and I really didn't -right up until the day I did.

So let us know when your girls get their own cell phones with unlimited texting...

 

[shirleyb]

I'm certainly not going to read through 11 pages of this thread, but I must admit I get a kick out of it.

Different strokes for different folks, PD.

I don't believe in 8 yr olds having a cell phone, period, but it's your right as a parent to do so.

I don't have a problem with my teens having unlimited texting, it's my right to do so.

I also can't imagine having over 17,000 posts on this board in less than 7 years either!

 

[Papa Deuce]

....

I also can't imagine having over 17,000 posts on this board in less than 7 years either!

Heck, that is nuthin'! Look at C. Ann:



Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 25,482

 

[Buckalew11]

PD, I'm not reading through all this but I just want to say that you may never, ever like texting but you will most likely give in to it when they are teens at least.

My DH hates it. Hates it. (But he does it sometimes ) He grumbles like Fred Flintstone about texting.

It is the way of our youth and it doesn't have to be some kind of evil thing or anything. Just another way of communicating. Since DD is out and about, we find her ability to be able text a great thing. I feel sure you will also even though you may never be a fan of it. Your girls will appreciate it if you let them text when the time is right. And that'll be before they are 18, btw.

 

[Pigeon]

There is no texting for my kids, either. I see no upside to it at all, and the phone is for emergency use only. There is no expectation of privacy with the phone I am providing.