<p>We all know the iPhone is in their hand 18 hours a day. It's made even worse when you can see they're free enough to tweet. The rudeness is tough to ignore.</p>
<p>I don’t send texts to my kids unless it’s important. Because I’m careful about this, my texts get answered. </p>
<p>How often do you text your kiddo? And do you need a response? </p>
<p>When I really need a response, I call and leave a voicemail.</p>
<p>If your kid had an Android phone, u could get the "Ignore No More " app:
<a href=“The 'Ignore No More' App Forces Kids To Call Back Their Parents”>http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2014/08/20/the-ignore-no-more-app-forces-kids-to-call-back-their-parents/</a></p>
<p>I seriously tried to get my software developer brother to write an iphone version, but he says iphone’s platform won’t support it.</p>
<p>Don’t pay the phone bill? </p>
<p>I made it clear that my paying for things for them (tuition, trips, phone) requires that they respect me, and that includes responding to me. My daughter was mad that I was on her school account on day, and I suspect she changed the password. I was checking for an email that said the insurance had been waived on her account. I told her fine, that I wouldn’t go on her account any more and she could pay her own bill. Oh. Never mind.</p>
<p>But really, if you want your child to answer you, tell him, and tell him what the consequences will be if he doesn’t within a reasonable time (no phone, no allowance, no whatever). My daughter changed the password and now I cannot pay on her account and cannot put money on her student card. Her choice.</p>
<p>I love this tip I learned here on cc. Text “Did you get the money I sent you?” Gets a response every time. ;)</p>
<p>I don’t get upset if my daughter doesn’t respond to my texts. I just figure she doesn’t feel the need to respond or is unable/unwilling to at the moment. If I need a response, I’ll either call or, if it’s not urgent, I’ll text her something like “Please let me know the answer to this when you get a chance”. Now, if she never responded to any of my texts at all, I’d probably give her a call and ask her if there was something wrong or if my texts were getting too much or too intrusive. </p>
<p>Never happened yet. I would just pretend not to pay bills if my kids ignore my texts.</p>
<p>Who pays the cell phone bill? With one phone call you can have the phone turned off. With another call . . . back on. It’s like magic. Your texts get answered.</p>
<p>We pay the bill. I don’t think turning it off would matter. With campus-wide wifi, they get all data iMessages and email, so they might not notice for a day or longer. And even then, they could probably live with it if they wanted. I don’t think kids talk on the phone at all.</p>
<p>To be clear, I assure you I don’t bother my kids with tons of texts. Maybe once every 3 or so days.</p>
<p>Jay…if you disconnect the phone from your service…the student will not get messages, or anything else. The phone will be disabled.</p>
<p>I text pictures / videos of the dog doing something adorable (in fact, sent a dog video this morning). Always gets a response! </p>
<p>Text a picture of the dog. That generally works for me. </p>
<p>^^^haha- dogs… Cats work, too. </p>
<p>I don’t bother my kids a lot either. But I think respect is respect. I pay tons of bills for them, not just phone bills.</p>
<p>My DS doesn’t answer texts unless there’s a specific question asked (and it isn’t attached to something that isn’t a question). I don’t think he realizes that I send texts so I can get a response. He sees them as informational unless I specifically ask him for a reply. It just means I’m not sending the right text! 
If I need to talk to him I text “call me” then add when you have time, asap, etc depending on the importance of the call. Or I say, answer this text!</p>
<p>My sons answer enough that when they don’t I don’t worry about it. </p>
<p>If something needs an answer within a specific time frame, I make that clear
But if it doesn’t, I don’t expect an answer for a while.</p>
<p>If it goes on too long and you are worried that there is no response, call campus security and have them check on your kid. Peace of mind for you, embarrassment for kid. (I actually did this once. D never called after driving back to campus after a break. We didn’t know if she had arrived on campus. After 3 days of calling/texting and no answer, H called security and they found D at her apartment. Her phone was dead and D was busy working on a big project that was due, so she didn’t even notice. D is the one who might not answer. 3 boys always respond right away. I don’t call/text them very often–maybe once or twice a week. Sometimes it is just “Everything OK?” “Yep.” Sometimes it’s a picture of the cat. . .</p>
<p>My son almost never answers my texts, so I have stopped sending messages. He is extremely busy. But I have a work around through another person… And I sometimes message him via Twitter. My daughter is more reliable, and generally acknowledges emails and texts. They both have their own lives and there’s not a lot of reason for texts or calls, unless we’re planning something.</p>
<p>Look at the number of texts/month on your kid’s phone. You’ll understand why yours might fall down in the list, not get a response. </p>
<p>You could try this convention (for texts and email subjects) - </p>
<pre><code>- “FYI” is just informational (no reply expected).
- “?” means answer needed. Note - If you do this, only include one question. Otherwise the one word yes/no answer might confuse you… been there, done that.
</code></pre>