(NewsNation) — HGTV “Home Town” stars Ben and Erin Napier have made a commitment to keep their daughters away from smartphones and social media.
In an interview with Yahoo, the couple said their plan for their daughters, Helen, almost 8, and Mae, 4, is almost too successful.
“The thing that’s happened now is they’re probably a little too judgmental of (other) kids using phones,” Erin Napier said.
“If they’re (somewhere with other) kids who are on phones, they get really frustrated,” Ben Napier added. “Because it’s distracting for those kids, and (our kids) get upset.”
The Napiers set boundaries with smartphones
The Napiers said they’re figuring out how to set boundaries when it comes to smartphones and have cofounded the nonprofit Old School Parents Raising Engaged Youth (Osprey), helping families adopt a tech-light plan for their kids in order to have a “social media-free childhood from grade school to graduation,” according to Yahoo.
“It’s easy when they’re little. Since they were infants, they’ve known that (a smartphone) is not a toy. This is a tool for grown-ups,” Erin Napier said. “They’ve never held one. They know that there’s a very dark place here that can be found. But we don’t use it for that.”
The couple doesn’t plan to keep their children away from that technology forever, but will wait until they’re older to have those discussions.
“I don’t know how the rubber is going to meet the road in a few years, if they start asking for one,” Erin Napier said. “But, like, right now, Helen says, ‘I think that when I become a teenager, I should get a flip phone. I think that’s appropriate.’ And I was like, ‘I think it’s appropriate too. That’s a good plan.’”