Surly Dad Thread

[NoName 16364]

On 12/23/2022 at 7:38 PM, Thatguy said:

 

 

  This @YGIFS guy doesn't know what the fuck he is talking about. Here is some advice. 

 

1) Your little girl will have broken your sorry ass down by the time she is 3 years old. You will tell yourself that she won't but it's damn near impossible unless you're a deranged sociopath. 

2) Whatever age you have in mind that boys come around its earlier than that. 

3) They are emotional. Very. You will never understand. 

4) Start slowly working on a man cave because at some point she will challenge your wife for vaginal superiority and you will want to have your own "Switzerland" when it happens. 

5) Your two ladies will absolutely be dueling banjos for who can take the longest getting ready. At some point the little one will want to wear something like the big one is wearing which is cute, then it will turn into not wanting the big one to look better than her, then it will turn into not giving a shit. 

6) Their periods will sync and you will need to refer to step 4 above. 

7) There will come a point in time where the information will go to momma first. Do not be offended as this is what you want. Let momma filter the stuff about periods and such. Anything important will find its way to you. 

8 ) Girls as g-damned expensive. At some point you will question if you need all this shit. The answer is you do. 

9) When you hear the arguing over insignificant things, DO NOT willingly inject yourself into it. In fact, you will be looked for to settle many meaningless disputes. Make sure you refer back to step 4. As the footsteps approach, the communication device of said time period needs to quickly be dawned. Simply raise a finger and mouth "it's a client". Then pace back and forth and rattle off something about 4th quarter mergers. 

10) Many times your wife will be dead wrong about whatever insignificant thing they are arguing about. Perhaps you will just want to be honest. Perhaps you might see this as a chance to win points with your kid. It's a trap. 

11) Any jokes or comments that would be offensive to women are now offensive to two women. Tread lightly. 

12) You will think every man at the playground is a serial killer until said guy's kid comes running up to him and puts your mind at ease. Just normal behavior for a girl dad. 

13) Never allow them to play with Legos. Trust me. 

14) Every scantily clad coed that you used to gladly look at walking by will now bring thoughts of my daughter better never dress like that. 

15) If you do laundry, DO NOT do laundry after elementary school. 

16) Girls are sneakier than boys are. 

17) Whatever emotional support you think she needs she will need more. 

18) Teach her to do the same things you would've taught a boy. She will appreciate it down the road. 

19) When she gets to the age that her little friends start coming over refer back to step 4. 

20) Even when she gets older you will always be daddy. Girls cherish their fathers. Remember that through the rough times. No one will ever replace you. Even when HE comes along with his white teeth, turtleneck, and blossoming career. 

21) Never, ever say no to hand me downs. will there be some shit in it? sure. will there be some fancy nice things in it made by brands your wife knows? sure. it's all a trade off and you can always donate it / pass it on to other parents.

[NoName 16364]

On 12/24/2022 at 11:26 AM, Celery Man said:

There’s a whole thing around formula and the pressure to breast feed or at least pump. It’s like…. mommy blogs treat formula like you’re using liquid smoke on a brisket or something. Which is bullshit, the important thing is that the baby is fed and cleaned and loved amd safe, and as long as you do that you’re not fucking up. You’re probably aware of the whole thing around pressure to breast feed, so just keep supporting your wife. My wife never breast fed, always pumped- it was great to be able to feed the baby.

this was the best parenting book for me/my style of learning: https://www.amazon.com/Cribsheet-Data-Driven-Relaxed-Parenting-Preschool/dp/0525559256

she touches on it a ton but the important thing is that the baby is fed, period. there are benefits but they do not at all outweigh the importance of baby getting fed and up past and beyond birth weight.
 

Spoiler

had an interesting process with ours that involved 3 different pumps, 4-5 different lactation consultants + doula and a lot of tears from wife before she as able to move on to not breast feeding. literally the week she did baby started going from below 10th percentile up towards 50th. just support her through the process and know that much like us knowing about breast feeding/pumps its a million times more BS that she has read or been told about how the baby will never be ok without breast feeding for the entire first year, yadda yadda yadda. happy to share more info if you or anyone else wants to talk about it/discuss. shoot a PM if you get there.

just support her in ever way around breast feeding and it will all be ok!

 

[tbone_ 14134]

Sucks to be proactive and take care of something, only to get grief that it wasn’t done the way they envisioned.

This is marriage. Such is life.

[Celery Man 20981]

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Yo, my dads, what age did you give your kid(s) a cell phone?

[Thatguy 8761]

3 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Yo, my dads, what age did you give your kid(s) a cell phone?

I tried my best to NOT give her a celly but folded when she was 12. Hell, we were in LA when she was 6 and 90 percent of her class had phones. 

[Anastasis 23480]

11 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Yo, my dads, what age did you give your kid(s) a cell phone?

13 for the daughter. Her whole peer group has them. Its a matter of balancing their ability to socially engage with their peers in appropriate ways vs. keeping them off the stupid social media nonsense.  She has group texts with all of her sports teams and we have the dumb shit locked out. Plus it is nice for her to be able to communicate when needed to coordinate pick ups or other things. Different world these days.  Plus I have that location tracking if needed. Remember when my mom freaked out when I was 14 and showed up with a pager. 

[Modessit 5603]

When did you find out if your kid is a rightie or leftie?
Mine starting grabbing his wiener exclusively with his left, so i think thats a pretty surefire indication.  

A lot of little kids can start out lefties or use both equally and switch to righties by the time they turn 2. After 2 it usually sticks to what it's going to be for life.

My son stayed a lefty. My daughter is a righty.. Both mom and dad are righty.

[Chad Fuck 17698]

A lot of little kids can start out lefties or use both equally and switch to righties by the time they turn 2. After 2 it usually sticks to what it's going to be for life.

My son stayed a lefty. My daughter is a righty.. Both mom and dad are righty.

When I was in second grade the school sent home a note telling my parents to make me pick a hand, because I was using both to write at the time. Sometimes both at the same time. They ignored it, figuring I’d work it out on my own eventually.

Now I write and eat left handed, but do nearly everything else (shoot guns, basketball, play guitar, etc.) right handed.

It all worked out.

[South Austin 52523]

5 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Yo, my dads, what age did you give your kid(s) a cell phone?

Middle school. It came in handy for communicating about pick ups following after-school activities, last-minute changes to a carpool situation, and things like that.

[NoName 16364]

9 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Yo, my dads, what age did you give your kid(s) a cell phone?

i know more than a few folks who have given their kids an apple watch + cell plan on it so they can call mom/dad if need be, can see where they are but not give them a full on phone.

alternatively:

 

[Jerry Callo 8709]

11 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Yo, my dads, what age did you give your kid(s) a cell phone?

7th grade when they started playing school sports and practicing before and after school.  

[tbone_ 14134]

13 for the daughter. Her whole peer group has them. Its a matter of balancing their ability to socially engage with their peers in appropriate ways vs. keeping them off the stupid social media nonsense.  She has group texts with all of her sports teams and we have the dumb shit locked out. Plus it is nice for her to be able to communicate when needed to coordinate pick ups or other things. Different world these days.  Plus I have that location tracking if needed. Remember when my mom freaked out when I was 14 and showed up with a pager. 

Fucking with me cuz I’m a teenager, with a little bit of gold and a pager

[mdmost 43011]

We haven't given in on the phone yet for our 7th grader. She rides the bus every day and it's pretty regular. The school is also the type that collects phones if they are out at inappropriate times. She's asked before and plans on asking again when her birthday rolls around in April. We told her to wait till 8th grade or later. She's going on a school trip to DC and NYC in summer 2024 so we may aim for that time. It's not like she's living in the dark ages. She has a laptop and an old wifi only iPhone 8 that she can use to text friends and play games with when at home on our internet service that we can keep tabs on. Yeah, she gets shit from her friends at school but we've had too many bad experiences with the older one and not being ready for a phone.

The younger one is a great kid. We don't have as many worries that things will go off the rails like it did with her older sister. However, why risk it when she has as much opportunity to do online stuff, albeit monitored heavily with programs like Bark, without the peer pressure of the fully unlocked phone? When she raised the objection about me needing to know if the bus was running late, I told her we could do like a teammate on her volleyball team's dad did and get an AirTag to put in her backpack. That way I know where she is at all times. She was not too keen on that. Instead, we're going to just trust that things are going to run normal like the bus and school schedule and if there's a little waiting involved, so be it. She's made it work so far. If anything, her older sister puts more pressure on us to get the younger one a phone than the younger one ever does.

I think we're just not ready for her to turn into the kid that buries her head in a phone to exclusion of things she used to enjoy doing. And trust me, as a person who is online constantly, I get it. It's an amazing thing to have at your fingertips. But it does change you and she's doing so well right now without one. 

[YGIFS 19452]

8 hours ago, Chad Fuck said:

When I was in second grade the school sent home a note telling my parents to make me pick a hand, because I was using both to write at the time. Sometimes both at the same time. They ignored it, figuring I’d work it out on my own eventually.

Now I write and eat left handed, but do nearly everything else (shoot guns, basketball, play guitar, etc.) right handed.

It all worked out.

Brother?  My handwriting was so horrible, school told my parents I should practice left-handed.  That didn’t work either.  Then as I grew, just used right hand.  From 20’s and beyond, I still write with right.  Anything else requiring just brut strength is right hand. Anything more nuanced like laptop mouse, cutting veggies, pleasing a woman, painting, steering wheel, etc. that’s all left handed.  

I’d say I’m about 60/40 right.  As my father once said, “there’s no such thing as right or left handed.  Unless you only have the one hand.  Otherwise, it’s a spectrum.”  Then he smacked me with his left hand to get my penmanship grade up from C. 

[next2naus 439]

8 hours ago, Chad Fuck said:

When I was in second grade the school sent home a note telling my parents to make me pick a hand, because I was using both to write at the time. Sometimes both at the same time. They ignored it, figuring I’d work it out on my own eventually.

Now I write and eat left handed, but do nearly everything else (shoot guns, basketball, play guitar, etc.) right handed.

It all worked out.

I'm left handed, my dad was left handed and few others in my family are. Part of me wanted one of my twins to go lefty but then again I did not. I surely didn't want to force it and there are times that being a lefty sucks....so righty they are. 

[atomheartbevo 89758]

15 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Yo, my dads, what age did you give your kid(s) a cell phone?

5 hours ago, NoName said:

i know more than a few folks who have given their kids an apple watch + cell plan on it so they can call mom/dad if need be, can see where they are but not give them a full on phone.

This is what we are doing when our oldest is in middle school - they can do quite a bit with an Apple Watch - call and text us, we can se where they are at, but not really browse the internet and do too much in terms of social media.

We've got several friends who are going down this road as well.  None of us want to give them a full-on phone.

[Anastasis 23480]

The apple watch idea is a good one for limited call capability and GPS. 

[atomheartbevo 89758]

5 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

The apple watch idea is a good one for limited call capability and GPS. 

It seems to strike a decent middle ground between a full-on modern phone with GPS and an ancient phone like @NoName posted (and 3G networks are now shutdown, so many older phones may not even work well, if at all).  

You can load all of the phone numbers/contact info you/they need into the watch for them to call or text folks, etc.

[Anastasis 23480]

6 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

It seems to strike a decent middle ground between a full-on modern phone with GPS and an ancient phone like @NoName posted (and 3G networks are now shutdown, so many older phones may not even work well, if at all).  

You can load all of the phone numbers/contact info you/they need into the watch for them to call or text folks, etc.

Might be a good option for my boy in the future.  He has a cardiac arrhythmia that requires heart rate monitoring from time to time, so it hits a number of the buttons.  

And there is no way in hell that one is going to be given a device with full internet activity any time soon.

[atomheartbevo 89758]

And if your son has an Apple phone with a cell plan instead of an iPhone, he can't take and send dick pics to girlfriends (or boyfriends if that's the case).

I'm not saying my son would do that.

But I sure as fuck would have been doing that 40 years ago.  Would have beat hauling Polaroids around, and the film cartridges were expensive, and there was always the chance of being caught with a bunch of them and trying to explain it.

[atomheartbevo 89758]

6 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Might be a good option for my boy in the future.  He has a cardiac arrhythmia that requires heart rate monitoring from time to time, so it hits a number of the buttons.  

Okay, would absolutely have an Apple Watch on my kid if we had to deal with that.  My dad has a heart condition, and his Apple Watch has picked up on it, and he's actually been able to give his doctor some kind of logs from it.

The nice thing is that these days, they can charge almost all the way up while showering/eating dinner or whatever, so you can wear them most of the day/night.  And they've got an EkG built into them (it's not a fancy EKG, but it's on their wrist most of the time, and  the best kind of EKG is the one you always have with you).

This article has screenshots on what all it can do

https://9to5mac.com/2022/12/23/apple-watch-heart-rate-history/

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by atomheartbevo

[Jerry Callo 8709]

My girls signed phone contracts before getting theirs.  No questions about the expectations.

                                                        Cell Phone Agreement

            In exchange for the privilege of carrying and using a cell phone, I agree to the following terms and conditions:

1.         I understand that the rules below are for my safety and that my parents love me more than anything in the world.  I understand that my parents want to give me freedom, while also giving me enough security to make smart choices.  Initial here: ____

2.         I promise that my parents will always know the phone passwords.  I understand that my parents have a right to look at my phone whenever there’s a need for them to do so, even without my permission.  Initial here: ____

3.         I will never ignore a phone call if the screen reads “Mom” or “Dad.”  Initial here: ____

4.         I will hand the phone over to one of your parents promptly at 9:30 p.m. every night.  It will be shut off for the night and turned on again at 7:00 a.m.  I will not let my phone interfere with sleep, schoolwork, or other important activities.  Initial here: ____

5.         If it falls into the toilet, smashes on the ground, or vanishes into thin air, I am responsible for the replacement costs or repairs.  I will tell my parents right away if the phone is damaged, lost or stolen.  Initial here: ____

6.         I will NEVER use my phone or social media to bully or tease anyone, even if my friends think it’s funny.  I will tell my parents if I become aware of a cyber-bullying situation.  Initial here: ____

7.         I will not text, email, or say anything through this device I would not say in person.  I will not text, email, or say anything to someone that you would not say out loud with their parents in the room.  Initial here: ____ 

8.         I promise I will tell my parents when I receive suspicious or alarming phone call or text messages from people I don’t know.  I will also tell my parents if I am being harassed by someone via my phone.  Initial here: ____

9.         I will never search for porn or anything else that I wouldn’t want Mimi and Meemaw finding.  Initial here: ____

10.       I will turn it off, silence it, and put it away in public.  Especially at a restaurant, at the movies, or while speaking with another human being.  Initial here: ____

11.       I will not send or receive pictures of my private parts or anyone else’s private parts.  It is risky and could ruin your teenage/college/adult life.  It is always a bad idea.  Cyberspace is vast and more powerful than you.  And it is hard to make anything of this magnitude disappear – including a bad reputation.  Initial here: ____

12.       I will get my parents’ permission before downloading or purchasing apps.  I will not sign up for social media without my parents’   permission.  Initial here: ____

You’ve made it this far without the necessity of a phone – don’t make it a necessity.  You will mess up.  We will take away your phone.  We will sit down and talk about it.  We will start over again.  You and us are always learning.  We are on your team.  We are in this together.

I understand that this is NOT my phone and that it was paid for by my parents.  Having a phone is not a right - it is a privilege that can be taken away.  As such, I have read the document and agree to the above rules.  I understand that if I have any questions, I should talk to my parents face-to-face.

 

[atomheartbevo 89758]

4 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

9.         I will never search for porn or anything else that I wouldn’t want Mimi and Meemaw finding.  Initial here: ____

Wouldn't work for my kid, my dad had an amazing stash when I was a kid, that I accidentally stumbled across in the very back of his closet, inside of a box for vacuum tubes, that had a bunch of vacuum tubes still inside of it, under a bunch of shoe boxes with old shoes and stuff in them, with a stack of boring work-related magazines on top of those,  with clothes on top of the magazines. And all of that was between the wall and a heavy box junk that kind of hid it from view.

[YGIFS 19452]

We're not there yet, but this non-profit makes a strong case:

https://www.waituntil8th.org/

Based in Austin FWIW.  I assume experiences in suburbs and rural areas is different just based on geography and distances.  Likewise a deeply urban experience may also effect your mileage.  I dunno how the fuck we did it but if I was to be picked up 8:00p after practice or was to meet my friends at 9:00p, somehow we were just all there.  But I get it, shit's different.  But I think something like 12-14 seems to be the right window.  But like anything else regarding teenagers, it's dependent upon the kid.  

Shit, if I had a dollar for every dead-drop/pickup I made as a teen for beer or a Dead show.  I'd have a cell phone by now. 

[Anastasis 23480]

2 hours ago, YGIFS said:

But I think something like 12-14 seems to be the right window.  But like anything else regarding teenagers, it's dependent upon the kid.  

Agree with this.  

At 13 I was basically a free ranging latch key kid.  Had a couple quarters in the pocket in case I needed to phone home. Nobody freaked out about shit like we do today. But for good reason. Different world and all. 

[Celery Man 20981]

"Collect call from 'heymomthemoviesoverpickmeup'"

[Jkwellborn 6714]

"Collect call from 'heymomthemoviesoverpickmeup'"

When my grandfather was in basic, he would call collect to let them know he’d made it home from leave.

[Damor 1236]

@Jerry Callo, I think we probably started on the same template for the phone contract.

Here are a few more tweaks we made:

-- I will never give anyone other than my parents my PIN code.  If I choose to allow another person to use my phone, I will be held fully responsible for anything they do with it (messages, photos, searches, etc.) as though I had done it myself.

-- I will never delete messages, emails, browser history, or anything else from this phone without a parent’s assistance.  I will not try to be sneaky or devious about my activities.  It doesn’t do any good, anyway, because nothing ever disappears from the internet.

-- I will never give out personal details of myself or my family over the internet, and if asked for them, I will notify a parent immediately. 

-- I will always maintain enough battery (>15%) to use this phone as a tool for communicating with my parents, meaning that I cannot use it for entertainment, photos, schoolwork, or any other purposes below that battery level.

-- I will not share pictures or videos of another person without asking for and receiving their permission.  I will never use my phone or social media to bully or tease anyone, even if my friends think it’s funny.

-- If I ever receive anything inappropriate or find myself in a place on the internet I do not belong, I will immediately notify a parent, show them the problem, and allow them to help me resolve the issue.  I know that this will happen at some point and that I can come to them openly without fear of punishment.  Now, if I try to fix it myself or hide, it… boy, look out.

 

Ours are now 17 and 15 (boys), and over time they've gotten graduated privileges (often grudgingly), but they have managed them reasonably well (there will always be fuckups).  We were very glad to have done the contract to have talking points to return to and to cease arguments and whining.

And I'm sure Apple has an equivalent, but we used the Google Family Link app to limit their access to certain apps and set time limits both for apps and overall screen time until we eventually gave up on that.

Probably the best thing that happened for their caution and awareness, though, was when one of my son's best friends got catfished via Insta to send pics... then got the blackmail threats.  Nothing quite cements the lesson like hearing your buddy talk about getting interviewed by the FBI and Homeland Security, unfortunately.

[next2naus 439]

Tonies

https://us.tonies.com/

 

has anyone here purchased theses and if so...how the fuck did you get them set up? I'm technically competent and work in technology and I cannot get it to work. I would be pleased to if you could Zoom with me or walk me through it

[tbone_ 14134]

Those contracts are great ideas and at the very least generate very good discussions.

Not trying to be a dick, but your kids will violate every one of those terms at some point. You probably already k is that though.

[52-80 19205]

One nice thing about having kids is you see the nicer side of humanity. Staff at the airport have been extremely nice to us. People will proactively offer up seats and stuff. 

[atomheartbevo 89758]

On 1/13/2023 at 10:51 AM, 52-80 said:

One nice thing about having kids

is that I now understand why my parents did very little to help me with science fair projects.

[hookemATL 11803]

On 1/7/2023 at 3:43 PM, next2naus said:

Tonies

https://us.tonies.com/

 

has anyone here purchased theses and if so...how the fuck did you get them set up? I'm technically competent and work in technology and I cannot get it to work. I would be pleased to if you could Zoom with me or walk me through it

We have several of these that read stories/sing songs on the little cube/speaker thing. My wife recorded soMe bed time songs for our eldest and she likes to use them at bedtime sometimes. Good luck figuring it out, I didn’t even bother trying to set it up. 

[52-80 19205]

4 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

is that I now understand why my parents did very little to help me with science fair projects.

If my kid depended on me helping him with science, hes in for a very bad time at school….

 

especially chem. fuck chem

[fuggled 576]

Does anyone have good solutions for monitoring kids' texts on an Android phone?

My wife has not been happy with the Gabb phone my 12 year old daughter has.  She (wife) is pushing for a Pinwheel because it has text monitoring built in, but I don't really want to shell out for a kid-specific device that is locked into it's own OS and set of apps.  (Partly because we're only halfway through the 24 month contract on the Gabb phone that my wife didn't realize was a 24 month contract, but that's another story...)

I'm trying to setup my old Pixel 5 for her and I like most of what you can do with Google Family Link.  Part of why I like it is we can still give access to any apps we want, like Netflix and such, without worrying about social media apps.  Having that flexibility is nice for traveling and things like that.  I've got it locked down where she can't install apps or even visit sites without permission.  The time limits and locking are great for what we need to do.  But there's no text monitoring and my wife is really set on this for some reason.

I've been playing with Qustodio also, but it has limitations.  It captures SMS messages, but won't log MMS or any message when Google Chat Features are enabled.  I'm not sure if there's a good way around that without going to something like Pinwheel.  I'm leaning towards dumping the data plan, limiting her to SMS and sticking with Family Link and (maybe) Qustodio for now.  That would work for me, but the wife is really hung up on having a real-time feed of all texts (even if the kid deletes some).

Any suggestions?

PS - @Jerry Callo @Damor thanks for sharing the contracts above, those seem like a good idea.

[Celery Man 20981]

i remember how slick I felt when I installed netscape in some deeply nested innocuous looking folder. yeah dad i mostly just use the computer for encarta

[PvilleStang 2917]

This is what scares me most going forward. I did everything one could possibly imagine (short of illegal prons) on computers growing up, but was the technical guru of the house, so knew how to hide it well enough and my parents either didn't know or didn't really care.  

 

Now having two of my own, I can at least lock down the internet at the house using a decent soho firewall with web filtering (but isn't cheap).  But hearing how you can set up app proxies on many current OSs (essentially, have an icon on the phone for "calculator", but it launches a hidden instance of Instagram or tiktok), I'm worried about how clever my kids will be and how far they'll go to keep up with their peers.

[atomheartbevo 89758]

3 hours ago, PvilleStang said:

This is what scares me most going forward. I did everything one could possibly imagine (short of illegal prons) on computers growing up, but was the technical guru of the house, so knew how to hide it well enough and my parents either didn't know or didn't really care.  

Now having two of my own, I can at least lock down the internet at the house using a decent soho firewall with web filtering (but isn't cheap).  But hearing how you can set up app proxies on many current OSs (essentially, have an icon on the phone for "calculator", but it launches a hidden instance of Instagram or tiktok), I'm worried about how clever my kids will be and how far they'll go to keep up with their peers.

During the start of COVID, when my kids went virtual, my oldest was 7 then.  He figured out how to multitask on an iPad, and have his teacher minimized to a small window in the corner while he played games, which I didn’t know he was doing (having to help the youngest navigate her classwork).   His class would send messages in the Zoom chat, and they figured out things like the poop emojis so the teachers would lock down chat and you had to have your messages approved.

Everybody thought they had the kids locked down on doing silly shit and wasting time, since there was no chatting/texting without the teachers approving each message through the one or two programs that were dedicated to that.

Nope, the kids figured out they could share a Google Slide document or whatever, and they could use that to chat/text in pretty much real-time, and could send funny pictures, etc. to each other, as well as be dicks to each other.  If parents or the teachers weren’t paying attention, they might think the kids were doing homework or working on a presentation.

 

And now those kids are all older and know how to get around all kinds of restrictions on iPads and Chromebooks, which will translate well over to iPhones and Androids,

[PvilleStang 2917]

Sounds about right.  Glad my kids weren't doing that remote learning crap during Covid.  The oldest should start kinder in the fall, and the youngest, well, I've got a few years before I need to sweat too much with him.

[Modessit 5603]

During the start of COVID, when my kids went virtual, my oldest was 7 then.  He figured out how to multitask on an iPad, and have his teacher minimized to a small window in the corner while he played games, which I didn’t know he was doing (having to help the youngest navigate her classwork).   His class would send messages in the Zoom chat, and they figured out things like the poop emojis so the teachers would lock down chat and you had to have your messages approved.
Everybody thought they had the kids locked down on doing silly shit and wasting time, since there was no chatting/texting without the teachers approving each message through the one or two programs that were dedicated to that.
Nope, the kids figured out they could share a Google Slide document or whatever, and they could use that to chat/text in pretty much real-time, and could send funny pictures, etc. to each other, as well as be dicks to each other.  If parents or the teachers weren’t paying attention, they might think the kids were doing homework or working on a presentation.

 
And now those kids are all older and know how to get around all kinds of restrictions on iPads and Chromebooks, which will translate well over to iPhones and Androids,

I had to look to see if I wrote this. My 7-yr-old was doing the same thing, but watching YouTube while I helped my 5-yr-old. I tried to lock YouTube but since it was a school-issued iPad I didn't have admin access.

He got in big trouble one day because he figured out you could change your name in the chat and changed it to his teacher's name and was telling the other kids to do stuff.

[NoName 16364]

5 minutes ago, Modessit said:

I had to look to see if I wrote this. My 7-yr-old was doing the same thing, but watching YouTube while I helped my 5-yr-old. I tried to lock YouTube but since it was a school-issued iPad I didn't have admin access.

He got in big trouble one day because he figured out you could change your name in the chat and changed it to his teacher's name and was telling the other kids to do stuff.

[Celery Man 20981]

14 minutes ago, Modessit said:

He got in big trouble one day because he figured out you could change your name in the chat and changed it to his teacher's name and was telling the other kids to do stuff.

[YGIFS 19452]

20 hours ago, Modessit said:

I had to look to see if I wrote this. My 7-yr-old was doing the same thing, but watching YouTube while I helped my 5-yr-old. I tried to lock YouTube but since it was a school-issued iPad I didn't have admin access.

He got in big trouble one day because he figured out you could change your name in the chat and changed it to his teacher's name and was telling the other kids to do stuff.

Like a digital age Frank Abagnale.  "Your son held a teacher-parent conference yesterday, and was planning a class field trip to a French Bread factory in Trenton."

[Armybrat 40857]

On 1/5/2023 at 10:30 PM, Patricio Swayze said:

Yo, my dads, what age did you give your kid(s) a cell phone?

Youngest grandkids got theirs when they started 7th grade.

[Armybrat 40857]

On 1/5/2023 at 10:46 PM, Anastasis said:

13 for the daughter. Her whole peer group has them. Its a matter of balancing their ability to socially engage with their peers in appropriate ways vs. keeping them off the stupid social media nonsense.  She has group texts with all of her sports teams and we have the dumb shit locked out. Plus it is nice for her to be able to communicate when needed to coordinate pick ups or other things. Different world these days.  Plus I have that location tracking if needed. Remember when my mom freaked out when I was 14 and showed up with a pager. 

Damn pagers were annoying if one went off in the classroom

[Armybrat 40857]

On 1/6/2023 at 11:20 AM, YGIFS said:

Brother?  My handwriting was so horrible, school told my parents I should practice left-handed.  That didn’t work either.  Then as I grew, just used right hand.  From 20’s and beyond, I still write with right.  Anything else requiring just brut strength is right hand. Anything more nuanced like laptop mouse, cutting veggies, pleasing a woman, painting, steering wheel, etc. that’s all left handed.  

I’d say I’m about 60/40 right.  As my father once said, “there’s no such thing as right or left handed.  Unless you only have the one hand.  Otherwise, it’s a spectrum.”  Then he smacked me with his left hand to get my penmanship grade up from C. 

You are an MD?

[YGIFS 19452]

14 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

You are an MD?

No, but my cursive sure looks like I am.  I have to block print everything, otherwise nobody can read it-including me.  Invariably people will ask if I'm an engineer because of my block handwriting in a generic font.  Nope, not that either.  I learned to type much earlier than most of my classmates because it was the only way I could communicate legibly. 

So then a couple years ago my wife has to tell me not to block print stuff for the girls because they have to learn to make lowercase letters at school and I only use all capitals.  So I had to go back and relearn how to write lower case/cursive legibly.  It's damn hard, but it's the stuff dads do for their kids. 

You see those commercials where the dads let the daughters dress him up and put makeup on him and paint his nails.  I'd much rather do that than practice cursive after everyone has gone to bed.  Holy shit, does anybody remember how to make a capital "Q"?  It's goofy as fuck and not at all how you remember it from primary school.   

[Armybrat 40857]

I have rarely written anything longhand on paper for the past 20+ years except for my signature, thanks to computer devices & mobile phones.

This past Christmas I struggled terribly to write a private note to put in my late grandson’s stocking which we will continue to hang on the mantel as always. The words flowed, but my hand was barely able to remember the cursive mechanics.

[YGIFS 19452]

I am still so sorry you lost that young man.  That's a great way to remember him.  

I was helping my daughter reorganize her nightstand compartments the other day.  And came across a box that had all the handwritten notes I've been putting in her lunchbox all these years.  She's been saving them since preschool.  I just assumed they went in the cafeteria trashcan at the end of the week.  I can't read half of them, due to a combination of shitty cursive and tear-filled eyes.  

May we never miss a chance to tell our children and our grandchildren what they mean to us.  And to the world.