Katherine Heigl Set These Phone Rules For Her 3 Kids and 'Felt So Much Relief'

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15 hours ago

Katherine Heigl and her husband, Josh Kelley, have instilled a set of rules for their three children when it comes to their phones.
Heigl said that she noticed her three kids, Naleigh, 16, Adalaide, 13, and Joshua, 8, were becoming 'little addicts' with their phones, leading her to create some new rules for their household, she told People in July.
'We started back in September because grades were slipping,' Heigl told the outlet. 'We always said no phones at bedtime, but there was sneaking devices and staying up really late and not getting good sleep and being unbearably cranky the next day. And it was just like, this isn't healthy.'
As a result, Heigl and Kelley made the decision to put some limits on their children's phone usage. The "Grey's Anatomy" star said her kids don't have access to their phones at all three days out of the week, specifically Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
'Saturday they get it after lunch,' she said. 'And they would only get them Monday, Wednesday and Friday after school, after homework, until bedtime — we start that process at 8 p.m."
She added that her kids cannot bring their phones to their rooms at night "ever," and they put their phones in their parents' bedroom to charge.
When it came to her children's reaction to the rules, Heigl described it as 'withdrawal for the first couple of weeks,' sharing that her kids expressed 'anger,' 'boredom' and 'frustration' before they got used to the schedule.
After the adjustment period, Heigl said her kids 'started developing other interests."
'I felt so much relief," she said. "Kids have not yet learned how to self regulate and self discipline, so we have to teach them.'
During the interview, Heigl shared that she and her husband waited until their older daughter, Naleigh, was 12 to get her a phone, noting that they were 'going to try to wait until 16.'
As for her two younger kids, Adalaide was around 10 when Heigl caved and got her a phone, and Joshua got one when he was much younger.
Heigl previously opened up to "E! News" in April about how she navigates phone rules, sharing that it's a way to 'mitigate' how much time her children spend on the internet and encourages them to find alternative ways to entertain themselves.
'Modern moms have to really deal with that in a way that our mothers did not,' Heigl said at the time. 'I have always felt like I can't take it away completely, because then they aren't really in the world. All their friends are on it and all their the schoolwork is on it.'
She also opened up about the new skills that her kids picked up with their free time, sharing that Naleigh took up baking and cooking and Adalaide expressed a desire to be an actor.
It's also helped her children bond.
'(Adalaide) and her brother have been starting to play music together," she said. "Adalaide is playing the electric guitar, Joshua's playing the drums — and they're actually really good.'
This article was originally published on TODAY.com