To not want my teenage son to be on his ipod all night!

[fallenpetal]

Ds 15 has just had a total strop at me because Im about to turn the internet off so he cant use his ipod all night! I caught him on it at 4.45am the other day and have been switching it off as I have gone to bed to stop this as getting the ipod away from him is a battle I didnt really want over Christmas eve/day.

He has to go to his father's tomorrow so obviously I want him to get some
sleep so told him as he came down I was turning the internet off so he couldnt talk but could still listen to his radio thing as he went to sleep. He slammed the door hard into the table as I was trying to explain yet again that its not on him having the net all night and just because its the hols he still has to go to sleep. So i flipped back and told him to get out of my sight :(

He has been really pushing it lately sneaking online to chat where as before i could trust him to just listen to the music thing on there (not ipod savvy can you tell!) and this is not the first strop he has thrown because I dont want him to stay up all night. Ex is no help, he just says take it off him, switch off the net - that is fine but neither stops the attitude!
So AIBU? or am I just like most mums and wants her kids to sleep?

I would say at 15, you are onto a losing battle of wills with him.

Let your ex feel the effects of it tomorrow..it wont affect you. :)

stop the wifi connection, 1st make sure your router has a password then go into your routers settings.

you are in charge! when he pays for the internet then he can control the access!

We turn the internet off at night too to prevent DD1 from staying up all night - she's nearly 16.

Why you should you not be able to use the internet though? Surely you can tell him to hand it over if it's time up.

We turn it off when we go to bed, so we are not depriving ourselves.

Surely the easiest thing is for him to handover the Ipod to you

at a time you deem fit

job done

I do normally abby but it usually only gets handed over when I have well and truly lost my temper which I wanted to avoid for a few festive days!

I have a very bolshy and boundary-pushing 16yo

She came downstairs this evening at 9:45pm to say she was going out

err

I don't think so

Cue: lots of shouting and "stop trying to control my life"-ing

The key ? Hold your ground. Don't discuss. Don't reason.

I have had to relearn the sort of parent I was going to be in the last couple of years. I thought I would sit down to reasonably discuss issues with my equally-reasonable teenagers.

It hasn't worked out like that. If she argues against something like being on the Ipod/laptop/tv past the the time I think fair, then I simply say "do you want to lose your phone, spending money, freedom, lifts to mates too ?"

Because she knows I mean it (and have followed through in the past), she gives in (after much tantrumming, blaming, threatening, aggressiveness)

I know it's probably not in any parenting book, but it works for us. I cannot have a child living in my house that makes up her own rules.

Sorry, this turned into a bit of a monologue. Have just had yet another rough evening. Even on Christmas bloody Day.