This is most definitely not a cell phone. This is most definitely a problem.
For the last week or so, Elena’s been acting weird. Or, at least, wierder than usual for your average tween. We’re slowly getting accustomed to the mood swings, the tears, the grumbles and grunts. But this week found Elena at the PC nearly every free moment. Now, that alone isn’t suspicious. Girl loves her screens, and it wouldn’t be unusual for her to want to spend hours perfecting her Minecraft worlds.
But this was different. She didn’t want us coming anywhere near the computer. There were hushed conversations with friends while she furrowed her brow at the screen. Because I am my mother’s daughter, I naturally went to dark places. She’s met an internet predator! She’s started her own gambling ring! She assured me she was working on something “big and important,” something she couldn’t wait to share with us. My anxiety level went down, as I realized she was probably just developing her own Pinterest boards.
On Saturday night Mike and I were escorted into the office for a serious presentation. What unfolded over the next ten minutes will go down as both one of the strangest and most awesome parenting moments ever.
All those hours in front of the computer had gone into creating a PowerPoint presentation entitled, “Why I Should Have a Cell Phone.”
There were statistics.
There were promises and pie charts.
There were admonitions about what would and would not constitute an acceptable cell phone.
Finally, there was the realization that we are simply no match for this kid. I smell a cell phone in this kid’s near future, although I make no promises that it won’t be an “old people phone.”
This smacks of awesomeness for so many reasons. Good luck my fellow tween parent.
Well, it would be very hard to argue with that!
Awesome. Simply awesome.
this is so awesome. And as a mom to both an 8 and 5 year old girl, I’m watching you. Because I look up to you. 🙂
Well, you just made my morning! My first piece of advice: stock up on adult beverages (for you, not them, obviously).
Wow, Alaina doesn’t even know what Power Point is. They are the same age, right?!
Alaina asks me almost every week when she can get a cell phone and my answer is always “never” so that if I change my mind at any time I’ll come out a point ahead. I always tell her that I didn’t have a cell phone until I was like 28, so her asking me for one in 5th grade is easy to say no to. 🙂
Yup, 5th grade. She started using it in school this year. She wants to learn coding … soon she’ll have an entire website dedicated to calling out her parents. We were getting close to the point of getting her a phone. She’s been asking for a year now, but we always told her it would happen when we found it was more inconvenient for her not to have a phone for us. We’re getting to that point. Between after-school activities and her doing more things on her own, I would feel better if I could call or text her at times. Better tell your Alaina to work on her PowerPoint skills!