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Dad Field Manual · Field card 53 · ScreensIdea · not yet tested

Park the phones outside the bedrooms

Phones in bedrooms keep kids up, and “just ten more minutes” turns into an hour. In thirty minutes you set up one family charging spot in a shared room, pick the time every device parks there each night, including yours, and sort out alarms.

Time
30 min to set up
Cost
$0–$25
Ages
8 to 17
Where
A shared room

What you need

  • A power strip or multi-port charger with room for every device
  • Each person's own charging cable
  • Tape and a marker to label each spot with a name
  • A basic alarm clock for anyone who uses their phone as an alarm
  • A sticky note with the parking time

Before you start

  • Everyone parks, including you. If your phone goes to bed with you, the rule won't last. The AAP says it helps the whole family when parents model the habit too.
  • It's a routine, not a punishment. Don't send a phone to the spot early as a penalty, or the spot turns into jail.
  • Keep the tell-me rule. If something they saw online scares them at night, or someone messages them, they come get you and aren't in trouble for it.
  • If your kid still can't fall asleep or wakes up tired most days with the phones parked, talk with their pediatrician.

Steps

  1. Pick the spot together. Choose one spot in a shared room near an outlet. Every device sleeps there, Dad's too.
  2. Set it up and label it. Plug in the charger, give each person a cable, and label each spot with a name.
  3. Pick the parking time. Count back from wake-up for enough sleep, then park devices 30 to 60 minutes before lights out.
  4. Solve the alarm problem. Swap phone alarms for a plain alarm clock and set it together the first night.
  5. Park yours first. At parking time, plug your own phone in first where they can see, then call the others.
  6. Agree on the morning pickup. Agree on when devices come back in the morning, like after breakfast, and write it down.
  7. Check in after two weeks. After two weeks, ask how everyone's sleeping and move the parking time if it needs it.

If it stalls

  • If a phone sneaks back to a bedroom, don't make a scene. Walk it back to the spot the next night with them: “Phones sleep here. That's all.”
  • If they say they need it for homework, homework moves before parking time or to a shared computer in a common room.
Nights everyone parked on time
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date