Whose phone rules apply when my 8 year old nephew spends Sundays at our place?

mango_lantern_507623 Apr 2026

My sister's son comes over most Sundays. At home he gets thirty minutes of tablet a day, strictly. At our place he has discovered that his mama will hand over the phone if asked nicely, and he asks very nicely. We don't have kids, so we've never had to hold a line on anything. I'd hate to be the fun uncle who undoes her work, but I also don't want Sundays to become an afternoon of me saying no. Do you expect relatives to follow your rules exactly, or is a bit of give at someone else's house fine?

1 comment

ivory_camera_41823 Apr 2026
I had exactly this uncle growing up (ours is still a toddler), and my mother's problem was never the extra screen time. It was me coming home saying 'mama lets me'. Agree a number with your sister once, and then you can say 'your amma and I decided' instead of no. Takes it off you 🙂
- mango_lantern_507625 Apr 2026
  Spoke to my sister and we've settled on twenty minutes at ours, after lunch. He comes tomorrow, so I've practised my line: 'your amma and I decided'. I fully expect him to ask for a meeting about it, and then for a 'bonus'.