Chip and Joanna Gaines have a rule in their home: You cannot use social media until the summer before going to college.
The couple, HGTV sensations, appeared on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna to discuss their marriage, family, and show, Fixer Upper.
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You Get Social Media The Summer Before College
Jenna asks the couple about their stance regarding social media and their children. “Our house rule is you get social media the summer before you go to college,” Joanna says.
Chip comments about how the kids aren’t exactly in agreement with no social media until they are 18. “But you can tell these kids want it before that…they wanted it at 12, 13, 14,” he says. Joanna tells TODAY that the kids do understand the heart of the rule.
The famous couple discusses the fact that all the kids’ friends seem to have social media and that having a no social media rule in that environment can be hard. However, as Joanna comments, “We can say you have these other things that are really great. Our life is a little different.”
It’s Better to Wait
Taking the focus off of social media, even if everyone else around you is on it, and focusing on what you do have is a great idea. There is so much more to life than having your face in a phone. Making memories and having experiences outside of your phone makes for an ideal childhood.
Chip and Joanna then discuss how social media isn’t good for kids at an earlier age and that it is better to wait. Chip asks, “What benefits have we personally experienced…?” referring to his and Joanna’s use of it.
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While they can admit that social media has helped their careers, Jenna comments that they are, in fact, adults, not kids, which makes a big difference.
Parents Need to Decide What to Do
Deciding on when to allow your child to have social media can be such a difficult parenting decision to try to figure out. There is a lot of outside influence, from what their peers are doing to what the media asks of them.
As parents, you need to figure out what works best for your family, whether implementing a specific rule, as Chip and Joanna have done or creating limits on when and how your child accesses social media.
Many parents today did not have social media growing up or in their teenage years. They do not have that type of reference to fall back on. Social media usage is a modern problem, but each parent needs to work out what to do and figure out a good solution for their own children and teens.
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WATCH: Chip and Joanna Gaines Talk About Their No Social Media Rule
Chip and Joanna have five children. Drake, 19, Ella, 17, Duke 16, Emmie, 14, and Crew, 5. They are returning to Fixer Upper to mark the show’s 10th anniversary with Fixer Upper: The Lake House. The new show will follow the couple as they work on and revive a “unique mid-century modern lake house flip near Lake Waco” that was built in the 1960s. The show started June 2nd.
“My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of your mother:” – Proverbs 6:20
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h/t: Country Music Family
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/ TODAY with Hoda & Jenna