4/7/09 Does Your Daughter Need A Mobular Intervention?

My girls are ADDICTED to texting and technology. They cannot stop texting. My husband and I have tried to talk to them rationally about the fact that their texting habits are invading their time and space, and affecting their performance in the classroom. We are speaking different languages.

I have tried to think back to the mid to late 80's when I was their age. Back in the day when the olive green, banana shaped push button phone was attached to a jack in the wall, and to my ear. I have tried to recall all of the obsessive forms of communication that I used to constantly access my friends/boyfriends. So the list goes a little something like this:

*Talking on the phone for hours on end. Don't forget the fact that there was no call waiting. So if there had been an emergency well...tooo bad I was talking about everyone elses outfit from that day. and who was talkin' to who's boyfriend. So much drama! I'm quite sure none of it was about my homework or my impending educational path. It was all nonsense. Never the less it was seemingly very important to me.

*The NOTE. The handwritten, creatively folded, multicolored ink NOTE. Oh the note. I got in trouble and grounded so many times because I accidentally left a note in the back pocket of my jeans and when my mom was doing me a "favor" by washing my clothes (please refer to day one...I do "favors" or snoop all of the time for my girls) she would find "the note". It seemed that she always found the notes with damning information. Who was having the kegger, how I didn't have any lunch money left for cigarettes. They were always chucked full of curse words, and ever so colorful descriptions of my Mom. We even had a NOTE - Notebook. A designated notebook that we passed back and forth that was just "notes" talking back and forth about----nothing...

So, first let me say I LOVE my cellphone, so on some level I get the cellphone connection. BUT...I pay the bills. Bottom line. So, when is it time for an intervention? How do you get past the entitlement they feel about having the cellphone? What are your rules about usage? Does it even matter? What about texting during school hours? Sound off Mommas. This is an issue at our house for sure!!! Let it all out!