Who wants two teenage girls?

[Bigdog]

Holy crap. I have 10 year twin daughters and not looking forward to those teenage years. I just wish they never grow up but they do. I told them they can't date until I am dead and one of them said that mom said she can arrange that and the other quipped in but she has to up your life insurance first.

 

[silverbear]

So, I opened my phone bill and WOW! $270 in long distance charges. Mind you, that's the landline (which I keep active for emergencies). I pay for unlimited Long Distance on their cell-phones, .10/minute for the land-line. When I asked them 'what the heck' I'm told that "we use the cordless when our cells are on the charger"! BTW my next bill already has almost $600 in long distance charges.

I live in East Texas, and am (somewhat) considering dropping them off at the closest 'occupy' protest.

:bang2:

thanks for letting me vent

First, I'm going off on a bit of a rant here, and I want you to know it's not aimed at your daughters... they're just representative of the problem here...

270 dollars in long distance charges??!? For a KID??!? And over 600 bucks on your next bill?? Man, that's obscene; there was a time when I was engaged to a girl but working out of state one winter, and I regularly ran up 300 dollar phone bills, all of them to her... and friend, we used to talk for like 3 hours at a time... but I never came CLOSE to the kinds of phone bills you're talking about...

This society has become addicted to their telephones, and it's not a good thing... frankly, if I were in your situation, I'd take your kids' phones away, force them to get out into the real world and see what's out there...

Again, though, your girls are not unique... but their excuse is hilarious; they can't go without their phones long enough to allow them to recharge?? They can't recharge them overnight, while they sleep?? Or do they use the phones so flippin' much that a single charge won't last them the whole day??

Kids and adults alike need to get weaned off of their cell phones (said the man who refuses to own one)...

Now, for some practical advice; tell your girls that they're allowed to use your "house phone" to make long distance calls if they like (and why exactly are they making long distance calls, don't their friends live locally??), but they have to PAY FOR THEM when the bill comes in... and stick to it...

Watch how fast they stop making long distance calls on your house phone... LOL...

 

[silverbear]

just cancel the long distance, if it is for emergency, you shouldn't need it to make a long distance call anyway

That's actually what I've done at home... I have local service only, and keep a calling card in my wallet for when I must make a long distance call...

I bought that 30 dollar card about 3 months ago, and still have 15 bucks left on it... who needs to pay the phone company for long distance calling??

 

[silverbear]

Yep, I'm just putting the dang land line phone in my closet.

Apparently, they like to talk on one phone... so they can text with their cell.

That's EXACTLY what I'm talking about-- they're junkies...

 

[silverbear]

Just curious, but why couldn't they use their cell phones while they are charging? If it's plugged in, it will work. Don't want to be hampered by that pesky cord?

He's already explained that their first excuse was a fib; seems they like to use the land line to talk while texting on their cells...

Can you believe that happy horsebleep?? Communicating with one person at a time isn't good enough for them??

If so, get rid of the cordless and put a phone with a cord on your landline.

Hey, that might work... put the phone in the living room, where they're guaranteed not to have any privacy...

 

[CliffnDallas]

Loops... I guess I should have read the thread before calling the police.

 

[silverbear]

Easy and best solution: make them get a job and pay for their own phone charges. Or tell them that you will subtract the charges from their Christmas presents. Watch how fast they learn some common sense and the value of a dollar.

This is a good teaching opportunity for you. "What we have here is failure to communicate." Failure on your part to communicate discipline and common sense. No way on earth would I have ever racked up phone charges like that. That would have been a beating of epic proportions from both my mom and dad. Followed by a command to go get a job (cutting grass, newspapers, etc.) and repay every cent.

Yeah, my dad would have strangled me with my own belt if I'd done something like that...

 

[Yeagermeister]

A land line? That's like so 2005. I got rid of my land line yrs ago.

 

[VietCowboy]

First, I'm going off on a bit of a rant here, and I want you to know it's not aimed at your daughters... they're just representative of the problem here...

270 dollars in long distance charges??!? For a KID??!? And over 600 bucks on your next bill?? Man, that's obscene; there was a time when I was engaged to a girl but working out of state one winter, and I regularly ran up 300 dollar phone bills, all of them to her... and friend, we used to talk for like 3 hours at a time... but I never came CLOSE to the kinds of phone bills you're talking about...

This society has become addicted to their telephones, and it's not a good thing... frankly, if I were in your situation, I'd take your kids' phones away, force them to get out into the real world and see what's out there...

Again, though, your girls are not unique... but their excuse is hilarious; they can't go without their phones long enough to allow them to recharge?? They can't recharge them overnight, while they sleep?? Or do they use the phones so flippin' much that a single charge won't last them the whole day??

Kids and adults alike need to get weaned off of their cell phones (said the man who refuses to own one)...

Now, for some practical advice; tell your girls that they're allowed to use your "house phone" to make long distance calls if they like (and why exactly are they making long distance calls, don't their friends live locally??), but they have to PAY FOR THEM when the bill comes in... and stick to it...

Watch how fast they stop making long distance calls on your house phone... LOL...

yah, but sometimes it's hard. My boyfriend's parents have 3 boys, and they all live at home. My boyfriend though actually contributes to the household expenses. His younger brothers pretty much have all their living expenses paid for. Their parents have paid for 5+ years of COLLEGE tuition, and they are 22 and 23 years old and still have 2-3 years left of undergrad because of dicking around and failing classes and taking the minimum credits each semester. Because they aren't paying for college, they have no incentive to finish. Their GPAs are horrendous and they will likely have to depend on the family to get internship/jobs. My boyfriend got a scholarship so his parents never paid for his tuition, he became an RA to get free room and board, and finished in 6 years (got his MS too 4 years BS, 2 years MS). My boyfriend lives at home right now because he's applying to pharmacy school but he pays for groceries and some other household expenses to cover the free rent.