Who else takes their DC's phone away overnight?

[RealHousewivesOfTaunton]

14yo DS and I have a running battle over this. I make him hand over his iPhone at night and put it on charge in my bedroom. He says none of his friends' parents do this and if perverts, drug dealers, bullies and terrorists want to target him via his phone then they can do it just as well during the day. I tell him that I don't care what his friends' parents do and he needs to be able to sleep without those people having access to his room. Quite apart from him using it to play games at all hours of the night!

Does anyone other parent take away phones overnight, or am I truly the only parent in the universe who does this? Apart from my next door neighbour, who does it too...

Yes I did until after GCSEs.
And even after, threats if grades were slipping whipped them back into line.

Hell yes

DS is 17 and has his at night now but as a pp mentioned, we kept it downstairs to charge overnight until he completed his exams, same with DD 12, they have them on Friday and Saturday nights but Sunday to Thursday downstairs.

Interesting. How did yours take it? Did they kick up a fuss or understand your reasoning?

Mind are adults now, but when they were young, yes I did. They would come in to say night night and hand me their phone. I charged them over night and kept them in my room, they got them back when they were ready for school the next day.

yes they complained, but some of their friends parents did the same. I wasn’t a monster, if someone needed them urgently I would take a message on my phone or if it wasn’t to late let them have their phone back to speak to the person, I have to say this only happened a couple of times though.

I felt it was more to stop them scrolling when they should be sleeping

DD 19; only recently allowed to keep hers at night. DD 17/13 def not. DS 11, no phone yet. 19 yo DD never on hers during night-or even late at night. I think not having it at night has developed good habits......

Yep, we do.

You controlled an 18/19 years old’s access to a mobile phone?

This is admirable with your younger kids but a 19 year old is a full grown adult, how do you enforce this and why didnt you trust them at 18 to manage their phone?

My teens hand them over at 8pm during the week and at 9/9.30pm at weekends. They all go on to charge at a shared station and they aren’t given back until they are ready to leave for school the next day. Apparently I am the only parent in the world who does this and am SO embarrassing, but I don’t care. It gives them a break from the constant buzzing and group notifications. The deal is that DH and I do the same thing though - (although I often sneak mine back when they are in bed!)

Make them watch the c4 documentary about smart phone usage with emma Willis. It shows the damage it does and the truth about taking phones to bed - that they are often on them, or there is a pressure to keep checking them, till on average 2am for a 13 year old.
Mine now have them removed post 10pm (13&15 years) and both will do till post exams.

Yep DD 14 has family link (android) on her phone and I have a schedule set up. She loses access at 8pm every day, later if she's out at an activity.

We still pay for her phone, she is still at school-repeating her final year. When she turned 18, we told her she could choose to pay for her phone & keep with her at night, or continue as she had and she chose the latter.

I had a schedule set up on DS' phone but he bypassed it somehow, despite me putting it back over and over again. I suppose I should be grateful that he's learning something in computer science.

Greetings, fellow only parent in the world who is "so extra".

DS is 14 and during term time he needs to handover the phone at 14. He has trouble regulating himself on it and would watch it until all hours otherwise.

Yes, I did this until they were 18. We started it when they were 11 so it just felt normal and didn’t cause any rows. My son did sneak down in the night to get it a few times if I remember rightly, but we just let that go. No big dramas.

Honestly -I truly believe they're all ok with it; 17 yo DD leaves hers down earlier than she is supposed to. 12yo tells me in horrified tones about how late some of her friends are on their phones. I really think it has set up a solid foundation of good habits. Two of them read lots...don't think for a second this would be the case if they'd had their phones.

We're the same here. DS complained loudly and consistently about it! But that was the rule from day 1 so it was easier to stick to it. I'm so glad we did. We used to take it into our bedroom (along with game controller and tv remote!) and sometimes we'd forget to turn it off it would be beeping and pinging at all hours so clearly lots of his pals were still awake at 2/3/4am 😳

Another of the only parents in the world who does this! Incredible 😉

There's no good reason to need it in their room overnight unless they plan to be using it when they should be asleep.

@noideaoffuturenow I love the 'keep it overnight if you pay for it yourself' deal! Noting that down.

Missunshine-DD has ADHD. Immature in some ways-hence the repeating of last school year.

They understood my reasoning but still tried to kick up a fuss and tell me I'm the only mum that does this (I wasn't and you're not either)
I uttered the line "I don't care about what your friend's parents do. Let them parent their way, I'll parent my way" and variations of it many times.

Yes, I did/still do for DS, 16. DD is 19 and away at uni, but I still did until she was 18.

They moaned a bit but nothing major. I think they were glad of the boundary on some level tbh.

I do sometimes if DC need to not be distracted.
My DCs complain about my various social media boundaries at the time but without fail at a later date they’ve told me they’re glad I did what I did.

Dd's keep their's downstairs at night. Dd1 is nearly 14 and not particularly bothered. Dd2 is nearly 12 and has already asked to have her phone at night. She would be up all night, where as dd1 would decide to turn it off at a reasonable time. I often have to tell dd2 lights out and to stop reading on school nights. I haven't decided when it will be allowed yet.