Kids View

J had some interesting views on this latest attempt to police kids time online. She said it is a dumb idea - this was parents outsourcing parenting to a piece of technology. A good parent must do their own job. She also said that it would make kids dependent and unable to self regulate - which is not a set up for success in their adult life. At some point they will need to hold down a job and make their own decisions. Something like this would seem like a good idea in the short term for both parent and child but long term would not serve the kid well at all. 

Instead she recommends a blanket ban on unsupervised time online for kids too young or too irresponsible to know better. For the rest, J would have the kid self regulate with lite supervision but not policing by the parents - which is the rules of engagement in our home.

Full disclosure, it is not easy to get J to do her chores every day but on an average more things get done than not. With time, some good habits do get formed. And every so often I have a full on meltdown over the mess in her room. In return for her "valuable" opinion on this piece of technology she asked for her bed time to be extended by thirty minutes. The fact that I acquiesced to such demand may make me a fairly questionable parent.