Turning the wifi off

[No1toldmeaboutit]

We have implemented a new rule in the house where the wifi goes off at 12.30am to 6am and what back lash I have had from my 14 and 12 year old children.

We usually go to bed about 11pm and they are usually still up while they are off school which I don’t mind, however, there has been a few days where they have woken us up through the night at god knows what time when we have to be up for work in the morning. It’s not so much them talking that wakes us up (although that does sometimes) it’s hearing them move about the house because they are still awake, opening and closing doors, flushing toilets, turning lights on, going downstairs etc.

my 14 year old has kicked off about this and is begging for it to be left on telling me all their friend are allowed all night.

AIBU to implement this new rule? I think 12.30am is a late enough WIFI curfew for a 12 and 14 year old whilst they are off school and actually quite generous.

does anyone else have a wifi curfew?

It would be 10.30 to 6 round mine.

@JosieJones1987 no 12 year old needs to be up after midnight every night on a school holiday. That's very poor.

OP it sounds like time for a full reassessment of sleep patterns, times for access to Internet and devices (such as all Internet enabled devices have to be in your hand by 2100 each night and you'll keep them away from the kids over night), earning the right to have access to them in the first place (such as not being a whinger, chores, leaving the house!), and how you'll differentiate between school nights, weekends and holidays to be a bit more lax versus kids with exhaustion.

Sounds like you've never had a life

Don't give in Op, it sets a pattern for all the holidays where they'll be up half the night and ruining their sleep patterns. Your DC need to understand it isn't fair to keep everyone wake because they don't have to get up in the morning.

My son still had a bedtime on school nights at 14 (9pm) and no tech was allowed in bedrooms (applied to me too).

Far less faff and deals with the tech addiction too. He was free to be awake in bed reading if he wanted, or writing/drawing, but teens need a 'wind down' time and tech doesn't allow for that.

I'd also be concerned about unsupervised internet access. Plus teens going to their beds no later than their parents even during holidays is not an unreasonable expectation at their ages.

set up device restrictions instead. Turning the wifi off actually slows it down and causes issues.

It’s a privilege for them to have it at any time and they should be reminded of that.

Turning the wifi off actually slows it down and causes issues.

No it doesn't. Turning the router off will though.

We have satellite internet and just can just set sleep mode on the app for whatever time you want to

More than reasonable OP, stick to your guns.

Mine had to leave tech downstairs every night until they'd finished GCSEs at 16. Then I let them have free reign and get on with it.

My wi-fi goes off at 23.00-06.00. TBH this is mostly as a prompt for DH and I to turn netflix off and get to bed, but it does the 17yo and 13yo no harm either. Last night the 17yo asked for it to be turned back on, and as she's off college for the week I was fine with that.

I don't mess with the wifi but use family apps to control time limits and downtime on devices. No phones in rooms anyway at night and everything switched off by ten/ten-thirty. 12/ 14 year olds. I don't understand why tech seems to be an issue that parents struggle to control - you wouldn't let them eat chocolate from dawn til dusk or run across busy roads playing chicken. You'd be secure in your knowledge that that is dangerous. I get that we didn't grow up with it so they pull the "you don't understand" thing but it doesn't matter. You are the adult, you pay the bills, you set the rules. I certainly wouldn't be tolerating any noise that disturbed me after I'd gone to bed. No tech at all the following day if that happened.

Exactly this.

DH working all week and next so DC who are teens have to accept games console and PC have to be turned off at 9pm. Quiet time in their room with headphones 🎧 on listening to music. 10pm on non work/school nights.

They weren't happy but have accepted it as we also have younger children who also wake us up early so we need our rest!🤷‍♀️

DC allowed phones in their rooms at night as that's how they listen to their music with their headphones on.

I also have to weigh up that my eldest is almost 17, so gets some say in using his phone after 9pm if he wants to in his room.

Agree. Mine have music to listen to after 9pm or read a book. An actual book with pages of paper. Crazy. Outlandish.

Mine are the same age and the router goes off at 10pm.

Must say I miss watching Netflix myself in the evenings, though

You can set timers on different devices on most routers.
I turn the playstation off over night (my DS is older so I am not too restrictive) but other devices are still connected.

I think restrictions on 12-14 year olds are very reasonable to have.

Just say no OP.

14 year olds have no common sense and do not get to have free access to the internet all night. The only one allowed to do what she likes at night in my house is 17 (so stays up late revising for A levels at the moment). and if she was disturbing the rest of us that would very quickly end.

Personally I think it's nuts not to have a bedtime for 14 year olds and younger, school holidays or not. They're still children, they still need sleep and they still have to live by the rules of those who have to get up at the crack of dawn and work.

I think it's far, far too late too on a regular basis. My older teens are told to go upstairs much earlier than that. Although we don't insist at weekend (but they tend to go up before 12 anyway).

Our Wi-Fi curfew for our 13 and 15 year olds is 8:30pm 🙈. We want their eyes and brains to decompress from blue lights well before bedtime and would prefer that they are doing other things like reading books, etc.

I had a mobile phone (I was an early user due to work admittedly) and was driving when I was 17 in 1994. I used to collect my parents late from restaurants/pubs etc as their in house taxi service (It also served as part of my car repayment scheme to my parents) I can't imagine them stopping me using the internet at that age and we did have it very early on because of Dad's business too.

How do I turn the WiFi off? Just press the off button on the plug?

Surely most kids will just use data instead if the wifi is off. Most data packages are pretty much unlimited these days.

Only if they are given it.

See also: removing devices.