Yahoo Lifestyle Drew Barrymore Shares Tough Love Moment After Discovering Texts On Her 11-Year-Old Daughter's Phone
Drew Barrymore is determined to be a better parent.
Drew has long been candid about her turbulent upbringing, which saw her using drugs and alcohol at a young age, in rehab by 13, and emancipated from her parents by 14.
In a new Instagram post titled "Phone Home," Drew reflected on growing up with "so much autonomy," "access," and "no guardrails" and the role it's played in her relationship with her own kids.
She shares two children, daughters Olive, 12, and Frankie, 10, with ex-husband Will Kopelman.
Drew said she's "never wanted to be more protective of [her] kids in general" before going on to share what that means for their phones.
She revealed that she had previously gotten a phone for her daughter's 11th birthday, admitting she had succumbed to "pressure" from her daughter since "all her friends had one." Her condition was that the phone should be used only "on weekends and for a limited time" without social media.
Three months later, Drew said she "gathered the data of the texts," leaving her "shocked."
"Life depended on the phone," she wrote. "Happiness was embedded in it. Life came from this mini digital box. Moods were dependent on the device."
Drew said she decided to have a talk with her daughter — papers in hand: "I printed out every single text onto paper. I handed her a stack of pages and said this is not a black void that these travel to. They're permanent somewhere where we don't see it, so we don't believe in its retractable and damning nature if we fail digitally to act with decency."
During the conversation, Drew said she made sure she let her daughter know she was "a good person" and that "this was not a punishment on her character."
"She is so awesome, and I so understood her desires to be part of it all," Drew said, explaining she realized it just "was not time yet" for her daughter to have a phone.
"And I came to the conclusion simply that I am not ready either to allow my kids to have a 'phone,'" she added.
"I want to let parents know that we can live with our children's discomfort in having to wait. We can be vilified and know we are doing what we now know to be a safer, slower, and scaffolded approach," she continued.
"I am going to become the parent I needed."
You can read Drew's full message here.
