Annie (AKA Hey Terra!) has been around long enough to have experienced a lot of what Life can dish out. But, it hasn’t been so long that she's forgotten what it's like to be your age. Check out some of the thousands of email questions teens from around the world have sent to Terra. You may learn something useful from her answers:
“My parents won't let me have enough time on the computer!”
(Continued)
Hey Terra,
I think they are restricting it because they think that I have too much, but this morning I was on for about an hour and they said that that was enough. They normally would let me have a few hours on the weekends. As to your question about what I enjoy when I'm not on the computer/TV, I really like to read. I also had a friend over the other day and we played some board games and we talked about school and stuff.Bored
Dear Bored,
It's good that you had a friend over and really interacted with each other. And reading is always great!
It sounds like part of the problem is that your parents haven't been very specific about the computer/TV guidelines they'd like you to follow. It sounds like you could actually deal with the rules if you knew what the rules were and if the rules didn't change all the time.
If that's the case, then I'd suggest you talk with your parents... calmly and respectfully. Work together to come up with some weekday and weekend guidelines that you can all respect. ("Guidelines" sounds much better than "restrictions", doesn't it?)
If you are willing to follow the guidelines, in exchange for their letting you have the time you're allotted -- plus address any concerns they have by showing that you do know how to balance your time on computer/TV with healthy, creative and social time with friends -- then it sounds like you could reach a new agreement.
Your thoughts?
In friendship,
Terra
Need some advice? Write to Terra.
She'll give you a straight answer you can trust without any lectures.
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