My 16th year old wants to be online all the time!

I have to admit that my 16 year old is sometimes on the computer until 1.00am. I alway tell her off for it but she still does it. She tells me that her friends in America are only just up at that time. I think you are doing right by stopping the computer use at 11pm. It is a big enough worry these days what they are looking at on the net let alone staying up all hours to do it.

I totally agree with you. Ihave always been taught that kids need boundaries. They need to learn from examples that there is a time for everything. During school my kids arent even up that late. Then again they are younger. I think you are doing the right thing and I bet anything that he is just saying other kids stay up later just to get you to let him stay up later.

Being someone who spent most of my teenage years online, I can understand where your son is coming from Mirita. I use to wake up at 6 am, get online for a few hours, go to school, get home around 3 pm, stay online until well past 2 in the morning, and then go to bed. Truth be told: it's an addiction. There are so many things that appeal to youth about the internet. The ability to play fun games with friends, socializing online, funny websites, and other things. It's just a lot of fun and, in a way, it takes stress out of life, but at the same time causes trouble. I believe you are fully justified by making your kids get offline at 11:00 pm. They need sleep to have a better tomorrow, even if they don't know it or feel like it. Your decision is reflective of your great parenting. Kids will be kids and fight against your rules, but in the end you will be helping them in their future.

You are following the right approach, while studying, internet should not come in between studies of children. Be polite but strict on making him undestand importance of studies, once he has achieved something....then there is whole life for going on-line.

Absolutely!Those friends online playing the games probably aren't even teenagers for one and in the second place if they are teenagers their grades are not likely to be as high as your sons'. Your boy needs to respect your wishes and even though he may think that it is unfair now he will benefit from it later. You may want to explain to him that his brain is still growing and without the appropriate amount of sleep that growth will be stunted.

LOL every 16 year old wants to be online all the time. But you are the parent. so make a rule about online time. Its your choose so you really can not be wrong about any rule you set for online time. And is your 16 year old does not like it tell them to add it to the list of thing they do not like and get over it. becuase its the rule you made.

Do you watch him ? what he do on internet .... just playing games ..... Internet is good as well as bad also for kids. Also don't forget using computer for longer time is not good for health.

I think giving limitation is a way to discipline your children, just explain him the benefits of being a disciplind person. When you're online you really won't see that the time moves so fast that's why he thinks that it is still ok to log in.

i have a 14 year old daughter who is the same. our solution is not to have a pc in anyones bedroom...we have ours in a nook in our kitchen...so now she lays in bed and reads till all hours, but i generally tell her lights out when i go to bed (anywhere between 10:30 & 11).

I totally agree with you. My nine-years-old daughter also tries to play online all the time. Luckily; she is still a bit younger that I can be in charge of her, otherwise I cannot imagine. Sometimes, my hubby or I have to find the way to disconnect the internet before going to bed so that my daughter won’t get up later behind our back to play the games. Sometimes I will punish her not to get a present, to the beach or attend the party if she plays too long online. In general, it is not an easy work to deal with the children nowadays. LOL

Not only do I agree with it---I live it daily! My 15 almost 16 year old LIVES for the computer. And if its not the computer, its the darn phone. He gets mad at me because I DO put a limit on phone calls (30 minutes) and started REALLY limiting his computer time. Right now we have one computer--mine--for everyone to use. He wants his own computer in his room and I have told him absolutely not--not until you show me responsibility on computer useage. And yes there are LOTS of teens out there playing online til 2pm (I have gotten the IM messages to my computer at that time) and I just can't believe it. To me that is called poor parenting. Don't worry Mirita, you are doing right in my opinion. And if you're wrong, well then we BOTH are :-) They will realize one day why we did what we did.

I totally agree with you. 8-hours of sleep is very much essential for everybody. Being online is becoming addictive these days. U r so much hooked on to the net that you forget the essentials of life. U r facing a problem with your son and I face the same problem with my hubby. He says he is tired and feels drowsy in the office and when at home he gets hooked on to the net till late night. And when I stop him, he grumbles that I am an irritating wife.

i totally agree with you on this. i used to be one of those kids who wanted so bad to be online till the wee hours in the morning because all my friends were online, chatting, surfing, and playing games and during the day i'd be the odd one out. but now i am really grateful that my mom did not allow me to be like that, that she compelled me to get my 8 hours rest and stay healthy. i still got 20-20 vision today because i got used to not staying too long online. i guess that if you allowed your kid to stay that long online, it would become a habit that he'd find hard to live without. an unhealthful habit at that.

I agree with you Mom! It is a proven fact that teenangers need 8 hours of sleep to be able to function in a healthy manner, and as his Mom it is your job to make sure his has limits because at this age he is not always capable of doing what is best for him. He's already done that my arguing that staying up late will not effect his life. Now with that said, how about proving it to him? A little tough love never hurt anyone. Try it his way for a week or two. Let him stay up on the internet as late as he wants to for as many days as he wants, but when it is time to get up the next morning for school, he has to get up and go. No, if, ands, or buts about it! The first time he is unable to get up in the morning without extra encouragement, as soon as you notice his grades changing in the least little bit, it comes to and end! Okay, it is quite possible that this little experiement could backfire, although the odds are slim, because we both know he will be on the computer well into the wee hours of the morning even though he needs to be up early the next day, but in case it does be prepared to let the argument go and accept that maybe he is mature enough to make a good decsion on the matter, but stick to your original rule. The first time the internet effects getting up or his school work, it's back to you regulating his time online.