No, Seriously, My Daughter Sent Me 106 Text Messages in 3 Days

So that is not a typical post title, but she really did! Now I am sure that there are parents everywhere shocked that I would give my 10 year old a cell phone of her own, and even more shocked that I don’t have a problem with the fact that she really did send me 106 text messages in 3 days. Why, you ask?

A few weeks ago I was scheduled to go to a very cool conference in Chicago. As fate would have it (as it does every time I try to do something exciting), I get a phone call at 2 p.m. the day before I was scheduled to leave that my 10 year old daughter – let’s call her Miss M – was in the clinic at school with a sore throat.

I took her into the doctor and as suspected, she had strep throat. Talk about throwing a wrench in my plans! She couldn’t go to school the next day. We had carefully planned everything out so the 3 kids would go to a friend’s house before school and that same friend would pick them up from school then take them to another friend’s house who would then have them until the next day when they would go to my parents’ house for the remainder of our trip. With Miss M unable to go to school I had to take her to my parents’ house before we left and she would be there until her siblings caught up with her the next day.

So here is where the fun starts. First thing Friday morning I get a text from Miss M as to our whereabouts. Are we on the plane yet? How is the airport? Etc, etc. The string of texts continued throughout the day. Everything from what she was doing to questions about our hotel, what we ate, what we were going to bring back for them, to a simple Goodnight.

At the time I really didn’t think much of it. I was really happy to know what she was up to, give her a sense of connection to us, and some of her texts were pretty amusing (like the one where she told me she was swinging on the swing at my parent’s house and it broke and she fell in dog poo!). But on the ride home I decided to count the number of messages I got from her in one weekend and I was shocked to find out that it was 106!

After I had been home a few days I decided to use it as an opportunity to discuss responsible cell phone use. We are a very technology comfortable family and we all use texts to communicate with each other – its convenient and doesn’t have to be disruptive at all. For that reason we chose to get a family plan with unlimited texting. But there are guidelines.

My kids know that I can and will pick up their phones and review their calls and texts – its not really a matter of privacy as far as I am concerned. The same rules go for computer and email use too. We have discussed at length the dangers related to technology (phone, text, web, email and even real life) and we have set very clear guidelines and expectations. We talked about the reasons they don’t need to take their phones to their rooms at night (they need sleep and so do their friends), along with how it is a waste of a text when they just text a friend “hi” or jibberish. And we talked about how it was great to be able to stay in touch with parents while they were away, but that a text every few minutes was a little extreme.

So far just my two older kids – 12 and 10 – have cell phones and so far, they have been pretty responsible (ok, 106 text messages in 3 days is a bit much – but they served their purpose in many ways). I’m not sure when our youngest will get a phone of her own – as she is always with me or one of her siblings.

What are your thoughts on kids and cell phones or texting? What are your family guidelines or rules for cell phone use?

Here are a few more resources on kids and cell phones that you might find interesting: