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04/26/2016
Dr. Laura:
I've been married for 14 years, and my husband and I have a 9 year old daughter and a 5 year old son. My daughter "earned" an iPod Touch, which we proudly gave her at Christmas, but we quickly saw her inquisitive and adventurous personality disappear as she was consumed with messaging her 9 year old friend. We took the iPod away since she didn't follow our rules for using it, but she found it where we had hidden it.
Then I heard you talking to a parent on the air saying that they were responsible for their kid's behavior with a cell phone and they should never have had it in the first place. It was my "aha" moment, which I shared with my husband, and we agreed the iPod Touch was toast.
We discussed it with our daughter, and she actually said it would probably be better for her NOT to have it. She handed it over to us and said "I'm so mad at myself - I wasted three days of my school break on that silly thing!" A week later, our adventurous daughter is back - climbing trees, reading books and engaging with the family. We scratch our heads now to think that she "earned" such a device from us in the first place - what were we thinking??
Thank you, Dr. Laura for your blunt words which have profoundly changed the dynamics in our family for the better. Thanks for helping us do the right thing.
Dottie
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