My Two Writing Teachers colleagues and I are hosting the 13th Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge, in which hundreds of teachers participate in posting a story per day.
Dear Kids,
I want you to know that your father and I are trying really, really hard to model good cell phone behavior for you. We try not to have our phones out when we’re home. We try not to look at our phones every time a message comes through. We try not to have them out at dinner.
It’s a challenge! And now that Lily is getting her own phone, we really have to buckle down. We have to follow all the same rules we set up for Lily, and someday when Jackson is old enough, we’ll need to make sure we follow all the same rules for him too.
Tonight, I’m going to stop charging my phone on my bedside table and instead put it right next to Lily’s in the kitchen. That means I won’t be able to look at it before bed, or hear any of the late texts coming through from my friends. It means I won’t be able to look at the news or the weather first thing in the morning, or scroll through Instagram and Twitter, which has become a habit that I am not so happy about.
I know that this will be a change for the better for me. I want you to know that I’m walking the walk. So, when I tell you to put your phone away - I will too.
Love,
Your Mom