Teens and The Telephone.
@queenhoneybee (139)
United States
September 2, 2007 10:02am CST
I have a seventeen year old daughter, and a fifteen year old son. The constantly fight over the phone. Even though they have cell phones. The reason for them getting cell phones was to reduce the fighting over the house phone. Tell me why didn't this work. Well my son do odd jobs to earn the money to keep his cell on but he wants to spend money on clothes instead of paying his cell bill. My daughter braids hair to earn the money to pay her cell bill. Now she do keep hers on most of the time, but even when their phones are on they fight constantly over the house phone. I think that I need to shut off the house phone. What do you think ...
5 people like this
8 responses
@limcyjain (3516)
• India
10 Sep 07
Children continue to fight over small things and this is a part of their life but if you find that they are just crossing limits i would suggest that you ask them to contribute to the phone bill as per their usage. This would make them turn back to their own mobiles and at the same time see that they use them more wisely.
@queenhoneybee (139)
• United States
19 Sep 07
I have thought of telling them for all the minutes that they use on the landline that they have to pay for. That way they would be paying double, cell bill and house bill. : ) They have a time limit on the landline which I think that causes some fights. They have one hour of talk time and they have to use them before 8pm and NO incoming calls after that time also. The biggest issue is that they do not charge their cell phones and wants the other to do as they say. My oldest will be going to college next fall and the next child is only ten (but a female) So hopefully I wont have to listen to it much longer or unplug all the other phones in the house besides mine in my room. Hopefully something will settle it, but I really think they like fighting. The fights are not serious but they happen too often. I usually stops when I say something or walk in the room. So I guess teens will be teens.
@jennybianca (12912)
• Australia
3 Sep 07
Well, seeing as they both have their own mobile phones, I really don't know why thet are fighting over the house phone? Unless of course, they have figured out it is much cheaper to use landline than a mobile.
It is very good that you make them work to pay their phone bills.
@funnysis (2619)
• United States
11 Sep 07
I think the best way to solve it is tell the kids that the house phone is yours and that they have their own phones and it is their responsibility to keep them turned on if they want to use the house phone charge them for every 5 min of time if they get a call on the house phone start timing and let them get a bill from you once a week and like the phone company if they don't pay they can't talk.Sounds like a fair thing to me.Have a great day.
@queenhoneybee (139)
• United States
19 Sep 07
Yeah I thought of that but the childrens friends do call the house phone if they cant reach them on the cell. I find other children are real hard headed and I had to tell them a few choice words. Only one time I had to contact the parents, but I have thought of charging them per minute for landline usage. Or taking the other phones out so they would have to resort to using mine in my room. Hopefully things would get better once my daughter goes to college next fall.
@aidonia (4209)
• Greece
2 Sep 07
I have a son almost 12 years old.I'm happy that I have few years until he start keep the telephone only for himself.Of course being the only child help a lot lol:
Also I have two lines so he can keep one ,now about the bill.......wait and see!!!!
@queenhoneybee (139)
• United States
19 Sep 07
Well you are very lucky to have only one, that will keep down the fighting. Hopefully he wont tie up both lines. My nephews do that to my sister. One nephew dont use the phone alot, the other gave out both numbers and would talk on both phone lines at the same time but on speaker phone. He hates when I come to the house and tell him that is what 3-way calling is for. He thinks it is cool! Just dont give him both numbers, ha ha ha GOOD LUCK
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
11 Jul 08
Oh man. They will fight over anything. My 18 year old daughter moved out recently, but prior to that, it was like the phone was surgically attached to her ear. Now my 17 year old son spends much more time on the phone than he used to =P They would sometimes fight over the phone, but they'd also fight over the tv, I had to get all over them for hiding the remote from each other!
Question about the cell phones - do they have unlimited minutes or texting or anything like that? If it's a big minute pool or unlimited, then I'd just use the cell and quit worrying about fighting over the landline. If it's a matter of using up all the minutes, I can see why they are still fighting. I personally use my landline when I'm home unless I'm calling one of my 'free' numbers. I hate to waste minutes if I don't need to. Do you think that may have something to do with it? My kids have prepaid phones and I normally make sure they have a text package loaded but with prepaids, the minutes tend to be expensive so I prefer they text instead of talk.
@Lydia1901 (16351)
• United States
5 Jul 08
That is the thing with the kids and it doesn't matter if they are teens or not. They like to get attention somehow and fighting is usually the way that works.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
3 Nov 07
I have no idea what you should do. You probably need the home phone, and to cut it off would inconvenience you. You could tell them that it is their responsibility to pay for the use of their cell phone, but as for as legal matters go, they are both underage, and you would be held responsible. As for the contracts, are they are on pay-as-you- go or a contract? Some of the contracts have free time periods where your son or daughter does not have to pay for the use of the cellphone, like it is usually weekends and after a certain hour in the evening. So tell them, they can use the cellphone during those hours but not the home phone. That will cut out some of their time squabbling.
