Thursday updates and questions

[mae0111]

waverly, DD2 is still in a group chat like that with kids from her old school. She woke up to 125 text on Sunday morning, many of which came overnight at like 3-4am. This is why I don't allow charging devices in bedrooms.

All of that to say that it is FULL of DRAMA and DD2 almost never chimes in. The last time she did was to find out if someone's baby brother/sister had arrived yet (the kid is lovely and had posted that her mom went to the hospital thinking she was in labor), and one kid immediately jumped on her and called her stupid for asking. She is staying on the chat because FOMO, but she is just keeping to herself.

[waverly]

mae0111, We don't allow devices in the room at all either. I just can't imagine talking bad about people in a group text or taking people off a group text or texting at 3 am. DS doesn't really group text, so these are my first experiences with it for the kids.

[mae0111]

The talking bad about others happened ALL THE TIME at the Catholic school last year. DD2 and her BFF were two of 3 kids that left their grade last year (out of about 19 kids). One kid texted BFF to tell her that all the kids were talking about how she left the school because she "money is tight" for her family.

WTAF? She left because the kids were treating her sister horribly and the school was not worth it anymore.

BFF's mom took a screenshot and sent it to the kid's mom and thanked her for having such a caring child that would keep her DD informed.

And the group texts in DD1's class were as you would expect. Then they all moved over to Snapchat, and I wouldn't let her have it. I can only imagine what happened there.

I keep a close eye on the text exchanges with both kids. I want to know what's happening - both that my kids are acting appropriately, and that they're being treated properly by their friends. I'll continue this for quite a long time.

[waverly]

Snapchat is a hard no for me right now. I am monitoring it daily at this point. DS I don't really have to do much so maybe weekly on him. Both devices are as locked down as we could get while still having an iPhone and iPad. I know people say it's easy to get around the parental controls but screen time seems to be working for us, and DH set up DS to be younger than he actually is.

[librarychica]

My younger daughter uses iMessage to chat family from an iPad. Shortly after both my older daughter and goddaughter got their first phone, goddaughter started a group chat that included like everyone they’d ever known, including DD2. So I told DD1 to tell goddaughter to take DD2 off. This ensued.

DD1: R remove E from chat.
*like a dozen tweens swarm in for the gossip and start pot stirring, not even knowing who E is*
R: okay, why?
A bunch of tweens: yeah, why? What’s going on? Spill the tea? Do you not like E? What’s going on?
DD1: Because my mom said so. She’s my sister and she is 7!