Digital Childhood Script Series
"I need a phone for school."
What to say
Start here
"Okay, let's find out together what school actually asked for, because I want you to have what you need and I don't want to guess at it."
Separate the work from the rest
"The Chromebook for the assignment is a yes. What I want to look at is everything else that came along with it, because the school gave you a device and mostly left the rest of it up to us."
Make a plan you can both point at
"Homework happens at the table, not in your room, and when it's done the device goes back on the shelf. That way I'm not standing over you the whole time, and neither of us has to argue about it every night."
What not to say
"School doesn't need you on that Chromebook all evening." You probably don't know yet what was assigned on it, and if you guess wrong your kid will remember that you did, and next time they will not bring the homework question to you at all.
Why this matters
School devices are the one place a lot of families never made a rule, because it feels like the school already did. They mostly didn't. This gets you to the actual assignment first, so you are agreeing about a real thing rather than arguing about a suspicion.
Follow-up questions
- "Can you show me the assignment page so I know what you're working with?"
- "What else is on that device besides the school stuff?"
- "Where do you think homework goes best in this house?"