Turning the Wi-Fi off at Night

Why not take away these devises until morning.

If they are using cell phones without internet then the data usage will sky rocket.

I never did this, my daughter realized when she needed sleep. Even now at 22 she will block the phone. Communicate with them, they are not little girls.

ETA: I don't get some family rules. I wouldn't make a 10 year old or even a highschooler pay for their their phone, it's a convenience for us as well. There are so many things parents refuse to pay for ( college, a car!!) that I don't get. We are their parents and to me that's part of the deal. She's never lost a phone, is a full time college student, works as a server and a high school softball coach. Hardly a slacker.

I think a better way would be the more direct route - no phones or laptops in the bedrooms. Or if you allow them to use them in their rooms, they must hand them to you every night before bed.

sure. if you have so little say over what goes on in your household that your children are staying up all night and your only recourse is stealth, by all means do it.
a better thing to do would be to tell them to turn them off and have them listen to you because of the respect they have for you as their parent.
but whatever works.
khairete
S.

To me, shutting off the Wi-Fi seems a little passive aggressive, and cowardly. (Not to mention, potentially punishing yourself!).

I think clear boundaries that are explained by YOU...and clearly explained consequences (such as confiscating the devices that I assume YOU pay for) for infractions would be a better route.

I have always found that clear, direct communication with my kiddos yielded better results...even when they overstepped the boundaries, and there were consequences.

Best!

Sure, you could do that. Or just have them turn in their devices at bedtime.

Why not establish house rules and communicate.

If they can't stop using the devices past your cut off time, take the devices away. If they are not responsible and mature enough to follow house rules, don't allow any devices.

Beware about just turning wi-fi off. Jackie is correct about running up data usage which can get very costly.

Take the phones and laptops away at night. Simple.

Not really, but taking their phones and laptops would be.

I think taking their phones at bedtime would be the best way to combat that.

These are the 2 that you previously said were about 13 and 16, right? I'm assuming they don't pay for their own phones, data plans, laptops, etc.

It's time for some boundaries to be established. Even if wi-fi is disabled, a teen can view a DVD on a laptop, or use data to access the internet, or text, or play games.

If your daughters are literally on their electronic devices all night, like when they should be sleeping (like between 10 pm and 6 am, for example), they're not demonstrating responsibility for their health (they need sleep) and they're not demonstrating personal accountability ("I need to turn this off and rest, or do homework"). So you'll have to make some rules for them and enforce them.

If you mean that they're on the devices all evening, instead of interacting with friends or talking with the family over dinner, but they're going to bed at night and getting rest, that's a different matter, potentially. Establish some time limits, and "device-free zones", like the dinner table.

But don't just say vague things like "you shouldn't be on your phones/laptops at night". Be very clear, as though you were giving instructions to employees. No phones or laptops in bedrooms. No phones or laptops after 9 pm (or 10 pm). No phones or laptops at all if grades aren't above a 3.0, except for homework or school research at the kitchen table in full view of everyone.". Establish clear written rules, have them sign a contract, and spell out the consequences. Tell them you'll check the data usage and times that texts were sent with the phone service provider, and for every infraction, they lose their phone for a day. Provide a place to turn in the devices at night. If someone's tablet or laptop or phone is not in the basket or on the shelf by 10 pm, it's a loss of that device.

The best way to "combat" this is with clear, firm, boundaries and consequences, administered logically and calmly. In fact, don't combat it at all. Be pro-active and sensible and help your daughters to learn how to comply with rules and boundaries. If you don't do this at home, how will they get along in a job situation, or at college? It's not too late.

If your daughters are under 18, I would say phones/laptops/ipads get shut off and put in mom and dad's room at 9pm. Shutting off the wifi won't help--they can still text, call, and use data from their phone.

I fell for the "i use my phone as my alarm" trick for a minute until I checked my daughter's call and text times and it went well into the middle of the night. This was 7 or 8 years ago! You can't give a kid of 13 years old that much freedom and expect them to use it responsibly. Time to take up the phones at night and let them get caught up on sleep.

You giveth (pay for) the internet and you can take it away.
Accept that it is your right and duty to do so.
Take away their devices at a set time in the evening (an hour or two before bedtime).
Lock them away in a file cabinet drawer overnight.
They can have them back before they go to school in the morning.
On weekends/holidays - it's up to you to decide how much screen time they need after homework is finished.
You won't be popular at first when you do this - but then being a parent isn't a popularity contest.

My kids had to buy their devices and pay for their monthly bills - they work for this babysitting, shoveling, etc.

As such, when they lose a device, they still have to pay the monthly bill. It was all part of the you have to be responsible talk before we allowed them to have them.

We have rules. If I made it impossible for them to break the rules (like turn off the Wi-Fi) I'm not sure they'd get they have to be responsible.

Well, it's one approach, but it might not solve the problem. It's also the more difficult one, and the one that is feeble in the sense that they still get to have their phone/laptop, and they *will* find a way to do what they want to if they have them. Even using data. Or sneaking out to turn wifi back on. It also doesn't require them to change anything themselves. That's the biggest issue I'd have with your plan. Don't you want to actually TEACH them something? Help them learn to be disciplined?

Have them turn in the devices before bed. Not necessarily even in to YOU, but to a location. When you go to bed later, if the devices are not there, then further consequences can be applied/handed out. But the ONUS will be on THEM to turn them in. This will teach them to turn the tech off at night. And that's a great habit/practice that they can take with them in the years to come.

I haven't done this in a while with mine, because they do not stay on it all night. They turn it off and go to bed and get the sleep they need. If they didn't, well, then they'd be putting them in the kitchen every night before they retired to their rooms.

I wouldn't turn the Wi-Fi off but I would turn the kids off. My daughter has to leave her ipad in another room when she goes to bed. We've had 2 occasions where she continued to play on it when I told her to put it up. The 1st time I took it and she couldn't use it the next day. The 2nd she couldn't use it all weekend. It was punishment for me but I haven't had anymore problems lately. I told her if it happens again it will be mine for a week. Good luck with your decision.

I would have my kids turn them in.

My kids do use theirs too often and we're working on that, but I would be flat out honest with them and just take the device.

I agree with just having them turn their devices in at night. The screens are bad for sleep anyway no matter what they're doing on them (reading something, listening to music, etc.). Electronics should be out of bedrooms, for everyone.

just take the phones and laptop away at their bedtime

We set an auto shut off Wi-Fi between 12 am - 4 am so our teens can't have all night access. No, it doesn't punish us, NO ONE needs Wi-Fi in the middle of the night?! But if we wanted to, we could unblock just our own devices. We bought a "Family Base" plan from Verizon for 5.00 extra per month. Our teens have no phone service either between 12 am - 6 am. No Wi-Fi or data can be used. Plus we use Family Base to cap their data use each month. When they reach the limit, it shuts off data completely. My youngest always runs out before month end, but too bad. There are limits. I'm a big fan of this Family Base because it is so easy to shut off services during certain hours/days. It also makes blocking or tracking calls and texts very easy.

Personally, I'm not a fan of physically gathering up everyone's devices each night. This way works better for us. The kids are responsible for managing their own devices, include school I-pad and laptop, which they need to be responsible for charging. Our kids also use their phones as alarm clocks.

My kids' electronics stay in the living room at night. That's where the chargers/plugs are. The kitchen is also a common place families use. Depends on where you have space.

If you think your kids would sneak past you and get their phones/laptops back at night, then I suggest you put them in your own bedroom.

Added: If they try the excuse of "my phone is my alarm clock" then buy them a real alarm clock to use.

Turning off the Wi-fi may not be the solution with 'data' always available. Turning in their electronics to charge at night at a particular time might help. If they can't abide by leaving their electronics, then could you opt to keep them in your room at night or take them away for a while? Good luck.

We do this. Our oldest son cannot make good choices about not being on electronics all night (which then makes him very crabby the next day). I don't have him turn his electronics in because he is 18 - if he was 14, I would. I choose to allow internet in my home until 10:00 p.m. at night. After that, I unplug it. I also have the data turned off (through the provider) on his phone at 10:00 p.m. I pay for the phone, so my rules. If he paid for his own phone, it would be up to him.

We take my kids phones and charge them in our room. No way am I leaving them with their phones.
You could take their laptops too.
How about stepping in and just taking them from your daughters at night? Seems pretty simple to me!

Depends if they have data plans on their phones. If they have a data plan, you might just end up racking up a big bill when they exceed the data allottment.

I would suggest that if they are caught using their phone after a certain time, then they lose the phone entirely for 24 hours.

Turning off the wifi punishes you as much as them. Make use of devices after bedtime punishable by having the devices confiscated.

I suppose it might as long as they can't "steal" a connection from a neighbor. We have a rule that all electronics have to be turned in to us at 9:00 p.m.

Kids are smart, if your homes are close enough, they will just use the neighbors wifi. Yes, that is if they know the password, but if they are friends...it's been given out before.

If they have mobile data they'll just use that. So turning off the wifi will only cost you more if they go over their data limit...go in and take them away at bedtime. If they're getting up and going to school, doing their work and stuff then they're doing okay in my opinion. Once they have to get up and go to school and can't sleep in they are so tired by evening that they can't stay awake.

It's pleanty of apps for phones to schedule the device time on/off, just look for parental control. The same for laptops, in windows you can easily turn on parental control for an account and set the time it's allowed lo log in.
You have to set that just one time and it will go automatically everyday.

No because they can still run up the data just not on your wifi. Plus you don't need wifi for some games and apps so it wouldn't solve the problem anyway.

Phones, laptops, thingamabobs, jackmuhgacks, doohickeys all go in a central location (like the kitchen) at night. Good luck!

Take their electronic devices. No need to turn off the Wi-Fi.