School Chrome books/distractions

[SurvivorFan]

Hi!

How have other parents dealt with kids being issued chrome books at school?

My son is 9 (In 3rd grade). This year, they get chrome books to use at certain times of the day. My son got into a bit of trouble this week for looking at Roblox videos on youtube with another student during math. The teacher told him and the other students they don't get chrome books the next 2 days. The next day at chrome book time, my son had a bit of a melt down when he didn't get it. He admitted to me at home that he sneaks and looks at youtube sometimes and that it is very difficult for him to not be tempted to do it.

I knew this would happen so wasn't surprised. It's bonkers to me that they issue these to Elementary children. Its not the teachers fault. How can she be expected to monitor 28 chromebooks all the time? She said it's a problem for all students. WHY in the earth do they keep them then? I asked her and his IEP lead if we could please block youtube on his specific chromebook. Apparently, the IT person told them that if they block it on his then it will block it for all students AND staff computers.

This is the first year my son is doing so good in school behavior wise and it frustrates me to no end that we are just supposed to shrug our shoulders and do nothing. I want it written in his IEP for this and following years that he can't have access to YouTube and other laptop games. I know there has got to be others dealing with this or who have been through it.

What did you do? Why can't we go back to an hr or 2 a week of computer lab learning typing and Oregon trail? 😆

[Onthemove1971]

Thanks for your message this is an issue for all children with impulse control. What about asking if you can provide a computer and add all the blocks on it.

When children are young they do not have the maturity to be able to handle certain things.

Or no computer time.

I remember our son was suspended from class becuase he did the same thing. He was told no and he didn't listen.

Our schools us Go Guardian to block content on computers.

There is also a YouTube version that is educational and our school district uses it.

Good luck

[SurvivorFan in reply to Onthemove1971]

I had not thought about offering to provide his own computer. If it stays at school, I can't see why they would not allow it. It is absolutely ludicrous to hand these devices out to kids in general, let alone kids with lack of impulse control. How they can expect kids to not sneak onto these websites and games is beyond me. The argument of "they will fall behind tech wise or education wise" is also b.s.

Thank you for the advice

[Onthemove1971 in reply to SurvivorFan]

Or you could ask about Go Guardian for the whole school! Then other mothers like us with children who struggle won't have it!!

[SurvivorFan in reply to Onthemove1971]

I will definitely be bringing that idea to the discussion!

[WolfPackMama]

First I loved your comment about Oregon Trail. Those were the good old days. I don't have an answer, but can agree with you that this is a problem that the children shouldn't get punishment for, especially those with documented impulse control issues. They should find a way to fix it. They let my son stay in the resource room at recess and just found out that they let him watch YouTube. I wasn't happy about it and asked that they don't let him have access to YouTube and the teacher begged me not to take it away. It's a mess giving elementary children computers with access to anything on the internet period.

- Mom to 9 yo son.

Good luck!

[SurvivorFan in reply to WolfPackMama]

Oregon trail was the best!

It's especially frustrating when we work so hard to keep screen use limited at home, but then they are given at school for work and AWARDS. Ugh. I would be livid if I found out my son was being kept inside at recess first off, and then to find out they just gave him a screen to pacify him. No way. Kids need outdoor time. My son has social anxiety and some days would probably prefer to stay to himself inside but that only feeds the problem. Kids need to feel "uncomfortable" to grow. For the past yr we have let our son feel the discomfort across all boards and have seen a lot of improvements in the anxiety department.

I hope they find ways to help your kiddo be successful outside with his peers

[Chicagomom]

Unfortunately my daughter has had a Chromebook in school since first grade. They do monitor with Go Guardian but not sure how successful that is. Much of her school and home work is online, and she brings the laptop home each day. It is very frustrating, I constantly have to monitor her use. She’s in 6th grade now.

[SurvivorFan in reply to Chicagomom]

Just one more thing parents who care have to try and monitor. It's just beyond frustrating when we work so hard to not have cell phones, gaming systems, etc and then school says "here ya go!"

[arrh121]

We are also having major issues with Chromebooks with our son. As it turns out, many parents in our district are having issues with them too, and plenty of non-ADHD kids are overusing these devices and doing non-educational things.

We are trying to advocate for limits/reduction in device usage in our district, it might be worth it for you to talk to other parents and try to raise the issue, maybe starting with the PTA or grade level representatives.

[SurvivorFan in reply to arrh121]

I think your right

[Lanego]

I posted about this same issue last year or the year before. My son would get in trouble for looking at non school videos during school time. I emailed the school principal and he said there was nothing they could do about it in school. IT gave me the same answer you got, "if we block one thing the entire school gets blocked." I will say that once my child got into 7th grade he was able to control himself better. I asked my son just now about it and he said the school is able to now block YouTube videos of Fortnite and other games, and even if they google something and it's not school related the school will block it. He says the school uses Securely.

For at home I have set a time limit on how long they're on the Chromebook. As middle schoolers I don't think they have 3 hours of homework daily so 1-2 hours and they have to be off. I also try to encourage them to print off notes when they have tests instead of studying off the chromebook. It's a struggle.

[SurvivorFan in reply to Lanego]

I am glad your son is able to better control the temptation. Its such a shame the schools put the students in this position.

[Lanego in reply to SurvivorFan]

It is a shame, and maybe in our kids' generations they will have the wisdom or the knowledge to do better manage this. I like the computer as a one stop for notes, homework..., but if we could somehow manage the internet access that would be great.

[Krll]

you should look up resources for opting him out completely and see if that’s a path that might work for your family.

my son is in first grade and uses his chrome book for “reading time” at school. We are going to have our first opting out convo with the teacher at conference next week. Wish us luck ugh!!!! When we do, we will be talking to him a lot about why.

We are already prepared to keep him off individual screen devices at home (smartphone and tablet) at least until the middle of high school.

Emily Cherkin at screen time consultant has a book and a lot of free resources about how to actually work on opting your kid out and pushing the school to consider their ed tech use.

The adhd guys have a lot of podcasts and info about how specifically terrible individual screens are for adhd kids in case you need more info to back up or contextualize your experience.

My wife and I decided this is one of the few hills we will actually take a major firm stand on, and are prepared for the consequences in whatever realm they come over the next ten years. His brain health is worth more to us than the social discomfort or hard talks with teachers / in school.

Good luck, all - I think this is truly one of the hardest things about being an adhd parent.

[SurvivorFan in reply to Krll]

Yes, completely agree. I also follow the screen time consultant, adhd dude and the podcast. Have learned so much from Ryan's posts and parent training. Feel so lucky I stumbled upon his content a few years ago and saved ourselves a lot of trouble going down wrong paths. It's not perfect by any means, but with medication and following his advice, my kids are doing pretty good. Keeping gaming systems out of the house, extremely limiting I pad use and also having the discussion of no smart phones until mid high school age has also been game changer. By doing this, we prevent so many arguments and back and forth! My boys have to earn their 1hr of i pad time in the evening by being respectful to everyone in the house, doing their homework and chores, and continue to be involved in outside of school activities. Just this morning at swimming lessons, my son said he wasnt going to get in. All I said was "that's your choice if you want to not earn it back until NEXT Sunday when you get in the pool." He thought about it for a minute then got in.

Currently, the principal, my sons IEP team and head of IT are discussing options on how to make this work for our family. I made it clear I will be wanting something written into his plan so that this carries through his schooling. I dont want to fight this with every new teacher/grade. If we can't come up with a solution, then I have no problem saying he will not be using a chrome book at all.

[adoptivemom]

I totally agree. It's so aggravating to have to manage all of this on top of everything we manage already!! And I think the excuse that it's impossible to restrict his access without restricting the whole school is ludicrous . They must have some way to restrict his login.

My son had no screens currently which is miraculous and wonderful. He prefers playing outside with friends and at friends houses. He has done a few video games at their homes but I don't think he likes them overly much (so far so good). YouTube was a problem so we eliminated it. He would watch hours of nonsense (not necessarily bad, just stupid prank stuff) and I didn't like how he behaved. Keeping him off is better for him (and us).

The problem we're facing is his friends - several have phones already! He gets obsessed with videos on them. It's so hard to control. I miss the old days when we were all unplugged and actually read books, wrote on paper and played outside.

I hope the communication with school goes well. Please update us as you move though this process.

[SurvivorFan in reply to adoptivemom]

Still awaiting a response from the school. In the meantime, his teacher has told him she can see what he has been doing on his i pad so she will be periodically checking in to make sure he is staying on track. He was receptive to this for now.Everytime a new friend comes over they bring their Nintendo switch and pull it out immediately. I have learned to just say we don't play that here. They always end up having so much fun doing crafts, baking, nerf guns, etc that when they leave, they are wanting to set up a time to come play again!

I know some of the kids in his grade have phones but thankfully none have brought one over yet. I plan to do the same though, Either phone stays in their bag or on the counter until they leave! I can't control what the rules are in other homes but I can in mine and I am hoping if I keep it fun, my house can be the spot ☺️