r/mildlyinfuriating • u/TheAeroplaneBear2906 • Jul 16 '26

Unskippable ad Clear Backpacks + Pay to Keep Your Phone

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My freinds school is now requiring these items, and is also using AI to promote this 🫠

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u/ImaginaryAlpaca Jul 16 '26

My son is a latchkey kid because I am a single parent and I work second shift. My son having his phone is not optional because if he gets locked out, I won't be home until close to midnight. But it's not one of the listed exceptions for the new policy our school is implementing this year. He doesn't need to take it out during they day, but they surely cannot have me pick it up for him at any point. That's what schools did when I was in high school and the phones in class thing was a brand new problem. I think I am going to have to email someone and make 100% sure he can have his phone at the end of the day, even if it's taken from him. Keeping it overnight is unacceptable. But I know that this is extremely rare now, having a latch key kid. Circumstances outside of my control unfortunately, second shift jobs are in abundance and first shift jobs I qualify for don't pay well enough.

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u/etcpt Jul 16 '26

It's wild how this new phenomenon of latchkey kids can only exist in a world with cell phones. Sociologists must be salivating at the thought of studying the emergence of such a new phenomenon. /s

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u/ImaginaryAlpaca Jul 16 '26

When I was a kid if I got locked out I just was stuck outside. My kid should totally be hanging out outside by himself until midnight. You're right, how could I possibly think it mandatory that he be safe and indoors after nightfall in an area where three men and their dog have taken up residence in the parking lot outside my back door.

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u/etcpt Jul 16 '26

Well, your irresponsible parents clearly didn't set you up for success so my sarcastic hinting isn't helping, that's fair. What I was getting at is that there are ways to get your kid in the house that don't require a cell phone. You can keep a spare key somewhere, or your kid can use a trusted neighbor's phone to call you, just to name two. Heck, if your kid recognizes they've lost their key while at school they can use the office phone to call you. There have been latchkey kids for decades if not centuries before the invention of cell phones and not all of them were left outside until their parents got home, a cell phone is not the only option. Most convenient, sure, but not sole.

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u/syrvyx Jul 16 '26

The objective isn't for the kid to learn critical thinking, problem solving, or self reliance. It's just for the parent to be slightly more hands off than the "lawnmower parents", not realizing they're still a helicopter parent.