Dear Parent,
I know what it's like to be the kid in that argument. The one who knows they've been on the iPad too long, but can't explain why they can't put it down. The one who watches their parent get frustrated, and just... closes off.
For years, my parents tried everything. Time limits. Taking it away without warning. Punishments. Threats. Deals. None of it worked. In fact, most of it made things worse — not because they were bad parents, but because every time they took the device away, all I could think about was getting it back. The restriction made the craving stronger.
Here's the part I never told them: I knew it was too much. I wasn't oblivious. I just didn't know how to stop, and I was too embarrassed to say so. So I got sneakier instead.
Then one evening, my mum sat down next to me — not across from me, not standing over me — and she asked what I thought would be fair. Not what she thought. What I thought.
I didn't know what to say at first. No one had ever asked me that.
But I answered. We talked. And by the end of it, I'd suggested limits stricter than anything she'd been trying to enforce. Because they were mine. I'd thought of them. I owned them.
That conversation changed everything. This guide is my attempt to give you that same conversation — written from the perspective of the kid sitting across from you.