AMBASSADOR TIPS & TOOLS
Pacts
Learn the difference between the main 2 pacts to determine which is more suitable for your class.
Sample Texts/Emails
Make them your own and share with the moms in your class to introduce the MUST program. (Note: Phone calls are THE best mode of introduction, however, when that is not feasible, feel free to send this introductory text or email instead. Find the one that is most relevant to your class.)
Surveys
Not sure if your class needs a survey? Find out & request one here.
Sample Text/Emails
Dear Parents of grade——We are reaching out to you about something that we are sure has you concerned as well as parents all over the world: Kids getting their own devices at younger and younger ages and how we can deal with it in the best way possible. We have come across a program that can help address these concerns and would like to share it with you.
The program is called M.U.S.T., which stands for Mothers Unite to Stall Technology.
The concept of the initiative is simple, yet effective: if mothers of a particular class would collectively make a decision, as a unified group, to postpone getting their child a device for as long as possible, or choose to limit their usage if they already have one, the peer pressure associated with it, would be eliminated, or, at the very least, significantly decreased.
The program can be tailored specifically to each class’s needs. For example, in a younger class where the children don’t yet have a device at all, the parents can have an agreement to completely hold off for as long as possible and reevaluate on a yearly basis. In a class that has already advanced in their technology use, the agreement, which should be formed at a joint meeting, can be customized specifically to pause the progression of the class. This type of “pact” can have many different factors; the options are really limitless and are decided at the discretion of the parents in an individual class.
What differentiates this initiative from all others is that it does not originate from the school. It is completely mother driven. It’s up to us to make the difference in our kids lives! There is much more information available on the MUST website about the program. Please check it out and learn more at MUST-CH.org.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!
Hi everyone! So I know this may sound funny because I can’t imagine any of our kids in this class have devices, but I heard about a program called M.U.S.T., which stands for Mothers Unite to Stall Technology, and I wanted to see if we can get our class on board.
The idea behind it is that if we create an environment for our kids where it’s the norm not to have their own personal devices (iPod, iPad, Kindle, smart phone, etc.), then we can hopefully hold off for a really long time.
If we can make an agreement as a class that none of us will get devices for our kids, then we won’t hear things like, “But everyone has one!”
What does everyone think?
Hey {Sara},
{So good to see you at the open house. How’s Baila doing with the new Morah?}
I wanted to ask you something… hope you might be interested in getting involved. Have you heard of MUST?
{If they haven’t heard of MUST, a phone call is in order so it can be explained well. If they have heard of MUST, you can continue with this text.}
I recently got involved as a Grade Coordinator which means I’m working on finding ambassadors for each of the {2nd grade classes}. Would you consider being an Ambassador for your daughter’s class? It’s pretty straightforward and I think coming from you it would go over very well. The training video is about half an hour long. After that, setting up the Pact can be done with the other moms in your class via Zoom or WhatsApp. That’s the whole thing!
{If she agrees, send her to https://www.must-ch.org/become-an-ambassador/ and she will automatically receive the training video. If she declines, ask for an idea of someone else in the class who can do a good job.}
Hi First Grade Moms,
It’s so great to be back. Hope you all had a lovely summer. We just wanted to check in regarding our class MUST Pact. As discussed, every year we will revisit the pact and make changes as needed. Are we all on board for another year of not giving our girls any personally owned devices? Does anyone feel like this won’t continue to work for them? You can post here for a discussion or pm me.
In addition, now that the girls are reading and writing, should we add the following to the pact?
*No group chats even on a shared/parent’s device.*
You can post a thumbs up to confirm your continued agreement to the pact and a double thumbs up if you’d like to add the addition about group chats.
Thank you all for making the struggle that much easier. We will not subject our daughters to the “failed experiment” as Dr. Rosen so aptly called it. Looking forward to another great year.
Surveys
Does my class need a survey?
Surveys are useful if you do not know where everyone is holding in the class in regards to technology usage. Every ambassador that requests a survey will get a customized survey for their particular class. It is important to relay to the moms that this survey is completely anonymous. This allows for open and honest responses. Once the current climate of the class is determined, the moms can form a pact that is both realistic and suitable for their children’s needs.
Each class gets their own survey with a unique link so as not to mix their responses with the responses of other classes. Therefore, never share the link of your survey with ambassadors of other classes.
Hi All,
We’ve gotten so much positive feedback and we are ready to take the next step. The best way to accomplish implementing the MUST program is to begin by realistically assessing where the class is at in their technology usage. The best way to do this would be by using the MUST survey. The link to this survey is at the bottom of the email. Your responses will be received anonymously by google drive. It will only give a tally of answers for each question. It is completely anonymous. Please please fill it out. It’s so important for us to have everyone’s input to make this successful. Once we have that information, (which we will provide to you) we can take the next step by figuring out together an appropriate pact for our individual class.
I’m excited about rolling this out. I think we can really pull this off and do the right thing by our kids.
Pacts
The most ideal pact is called “The Preferred Pact.” Whenever feasible, this pact is preferred as it shields the kids from any unwanted phone or internet use and creates a powerful positive peer pressure among mothers, as well as the children, in the class.
These are the suggested guidelines:
- No personal ownership of devices with internet capabilities including, but not limited to, iPods, iPads, iPhones, smart watches, Androids, Kindles, etc., even if they are fully blocked and restricted.
- If the child is using a family shared device:
- a) It should be filtered and password-protected; the child needs to ask permission before using it.
- b) Children may not participate in social media of any kind, nor group chats via text or WhatsApp – even on a parent’s phone or tablet.
- No screen time during get-togethers.
Once you and fellow mothers have decided that the Preferred Pact is not realistic for your class, you can customize a Pause Pact that suits your class’s needs. The pact should not aim to reverse progression of technology, but, rather, to “freeze” the class at its current level of use so as to “pause” its progression.
This makes the choice of pact relatively straightforward- simply set it at the current level of use (send out a survey if you’re not sure where that level is), and agree not to proceed to the next level.
These are a few suggestions to be included in class pacts:
- No advancement to the next device i.e., if they have iPods with internet capability, you all agree not to buy smartphones.
- No social media
- No participation in group chats
- No internet browsers
- No screen time during get-togethers
- An agreed-upon filter installed by a professional
- Acceptable apps approved by the parents
- Implementation of agreed-upon parental restrictions on the device
- Shut-off times (For example, a 7th grade class might agree that devices will be turned over to the parents at 9:30pm every night.)
- Not to allow phones/devices to be kept in the child’s bedroom even just for use as an alarm.
- No multi-player gaming.
This pact is most useful in older grades (7th/8th grade) where students are holding at a wide range of levels in internet usage. This is most difficult to implement especially if you don’t have a large amount of students in the first tier.
Hi 8th grade moms!
We were so gratified to read your responses to the survey. Mostly because now we know that so many of us are on the same page. Based on your feedback it seems taht a three-tiered pact would work best for our grade. So let’s get started.
If you like what you see and would like to join a pact please respond here with the number that works for you or feel free to private message any of us. These pacts can be updated at any point that we, the mothers in 8th grade, feel necessary. Also, the commitment to these pacts are for 6 months at a time at which point we will reevaluate.
Pact 1- Stall Pact: I’d like to stall for the next 6 months in giving my child a phone. This includes dumbphones or smartphones.
Pact 2- Pause Pact: My daughter has a flip phone with no internet capability and I’d like to pause here for the next 6 months.
Pact 3- Freeze Pact: My daughter already owns a phone but I’d like to freeze where she is right now in the usage of her phone. For the next 6 months I will not add any apps, social media accounts, WhatsApp, etc to what he currently is using.
Kudos to all of us! Here’s to raising healthier, happier teenagers.