Dad’s strict cell phone rules embarrass teen daughter: ‘It’s creepy and invasive’
A parent forced his 17-year-old daughter’s friend to follow the strict cell phone rules that their family follows, which the daughter’s friend’s parents called “creepy” and “invasive.”
The parent told his story to Reddit’s Am I The A******* page, to see if Redditors agreed with the controversial rule enforcement. Spoiler alert: they didn’t!
The poster shared that they have three kids, who are 17, 15, and 8 years old. In an effort to ensure that the older kids are being safe online, the family has a very strict policy regarding cell phone usage.
“The rules are that they are not allowed to have their phone in the bedroom alone or bathroom during any time of the day, and at night they bring us (me and their dad) their phones and we lock them up.”
Recently, the oldest daughter had a friend over for a sleepover, so the parent called the friend’s dad to tell him about the rule. The dad was skeptical, but eventually he agreed. When nightime came around, the friend wanted to keep her phone in case of an emergency. “I told her if there was an emergency she could come wake me and my husband up,” said the parent.
But the friend was still uncomfortable, and wanted her phone to text her mom before bed. But the poster said that if she didn’t want to hand her phone over, she would have to go home.
The girl called her mom, who had just been briefed by her husband on the poster’s rules, to come pick her up. When the mom arrived, she called the rules “creepy” and “invasive,” and said that the poster should have let her daughter keep her phone.
“My oldest is now embarrassed and really upset with me and even my husband thinks I should have relaxed a little,” said the poster. “I don’t think I did anything wrong, but AITA for not letting the girl keep her phone?”
“Sheltering your kids will not teach them life skills”
Almost all of the comments agreed that the stern parent went way too far.
“YTA. That 17-year-old is gonna resent you for being so [damn] strict but yeah you are not in charge of other kids’ phones,” said the top response.
“I can tell you that if my teen daughter went to a sleepover and they locked up her phone those parents would seem more than just strict. They’d seem creepy,” said a protective parent.
Other users not only saw a problem with enforcing the rule on their daughter’s friend, but they questioned having such strict restrictions in the first place.
“Sheltering your kids will not teach them life skills. When they leave your house, they will find some of the unsavory parts of the internet, and find themselves without any idea how to address them. While you still have the chance, guide them not hide them,” said a user.
Regardless of what strict restrictions parents set for their kids, it’s probably best to leave their kids’ friends out of it!
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