Day 8 Phone Bills

8. Phone Bills:

Another frequent area of tension is that of using the phone. Many teens use their parents and carer's land-line and run up huge bills. Other children are given a mobile phone so that parents can communicate with them in an emergency situation. They often fail to answer the phone when their parents and carers call and sometimes exceed their contract limit. This causes them to run up large bills which their parents have to pay.

Parents and carers sometimes combat this by applying a pin number to their home phone which prevents their teen from making unauthorised calls. 

Teens sometimes reverse the charges when phoning their parents for a lift once they have exceeded the calls allowed on their mobile phone contract. This can create a dilemma for parents and carers. If they refuse the reversed charges they run the risk of ignoring their teen when they are in a dangerous situation so they usually accept the charges only to find that the call was not urgent. This runs up their bill still further.

In this situation it is best to remain calm and to make your expectations clear. Your child has been given a phone so that they can be contacted in an emergency and so if they fail to answer the phone there should be consequences. These could include being told that they must return home early from a social event such as a future party or concert.

Every time they use the land-line without permission there will also be consequences which can include loss of pocket money or other privileges.

It is very difficult to remain calm when facing a huge phone bill but try to manage this situation in such a way that your child learns for the experience and makes an effort to do better next time. 

Sometimes teens act like Ollie, jumping about without a care in the world while you struggle to pay the bills!