Janell Burley Hofmann is a writer and mother of five (Gregory of 13 years, Brendan 10, her 8, Lily 6 and Cassidy 5). It is also a collaborator of The Huffngton Post and other American media and has a blog.
It was this last medium Janell told that his eldest son, Gregory, had been almost a year asking him to buy him an iPhone.
Janell reflected and given that it is aware of the responsibility that requires the use of technology and the risks involved, and decided to make him sign a contract to the child to give him for Christmas.
In Exchange for this gift, that according to the mother in your blog deserve it, imposed a contract with 18 clauses:
1. It is my phone. I bought it. I paid it. I will pay you. What am I cool?
2. I will always know the password.
3. If it sounds, it serves. I say ‘Hi’. I know educated. Always, always, attends the call from MOM and dad.
4 Delivery the phone to MOM or Dad at 7:30 in the morning every day of school and at 9:00 in the evening during the week. It will be off all night and will start at 7:30 in the morning. If you do not call telephone someone, because they can answer their parents, you either call or send messages to the mobile phone. Respect the other families like us to respect us.
5. Do not you win the iPhone to school. Conversation and talk with people and with your friends in person. The days of half-day excursions and extracurricular activities will require special considerations.
6. If the iPhone falls, hit or is damaged, you are responsible for. Therefore, you are the replacement or repair costs. This saves money for your birthday or other works: cut the grass, Kangaroo beam… If the iPhone breaks, you have to be prepared.
7. Do not use the iPhone to lie, be silly or deceive another human being. You do not engage in conversations that are harmful to others. I know a good friend.
8. Do not send messages, e-mails or say anything through the iPhone that you would not say in person.
9. Do not send messages, emails or tell someone something that you would not say it aloud and in the presence of their parents. Autocensurar you.
10. No pornography. You are looking for on the website information which you openly share with me. If you have any questions about something, ask someone. Preferably, your father or me.
11 Turn it off or mute it when you’re in public places. Especially in restaurants, in the movies or while you talk to another person. You’re not an impolite person, don’t let the iPhone to change that.
12. Do not send nor receive intimate images yours or other people’s. Don’t laugh. Someday you’ll be tempted to do so, despite your great intelligence. It is risky and you can ruin your life of adolescent, young person and adult. It is always a bad idea. Cyberspace is more powerful than you. And it is difficult to do something of that magnitude to disappear, including a bad reputation.
13. Don’t millions of photos or videos. There is no need to document everything. Live your experiences. Store will remain in your memory for all eternity.
14. Sometimes you should let the iPhone at home. Feel secure that decision. It is not a be live or any extension of your body. Learn to live without it. You have to overcome fear to miss something that is happening and to be always connected.
15 Download music that is new or classic or different from the millions of guys like you listen, that it is always the same. Your generation has access to the music more than any other in history. Take advantage of this gift. It expands your horizons.
16 From time to time you can play words, puzzles and puzzle games.
17. Keep your eyes open. See the world that surrounds you. Looking through the window. Listen to the birds. Take a walk. Talk with a stranger. Ask yourself if it is necessary to search in Google.
18 You meterás leg. You take away the phone. We will sit and talk about it. We will return to start. You and I we are always learning. We are a team. We are together in this.
The result after a year of contract
Janell wrote an article in The Huffingon Post admitting that the contract worked, although it had not been easy. As she hoped, he had to remove the phone and start all over again. But the results have been positive: she has learned, thanks to his son, about new applications and social networks. Although it is not the most important thing: the family has become responsible for technology users.
Janell provides a final conclusion, which seems to encourage other families. “Technology is a beautiful, exciting tool, our world. Lets make it fun, make it a social, creative and expansive tool. Gregory knows that you can never replace reading a book or a cup of coffee with a friend, or a walk through the forest, but both can coexist”.
Now it is the turn of her daughter, who is now asking its iPhone in Exchange for the contract. “Well, I did not see that coming! «-It says in the post – but I’m!».
It should be noted that Janell Burley Hofmann leads a movement that aims to educate on the responsible use of the phone
