Texting 1, 2, 3
Although this week's episode of "Little People, Big World" was a celebration of Jacob's birthday, it also tested his limits with new responsibilities.
To celebrate his 12th birthday, Jacob had some friends over. Before they celebrated, Jacob called Jeremy to see where he was. Jacob made a comment here that he couldn't wait to be old enough go out with his friends. While his friends were over, they celebrated with a cake and presents.
For his birthday, Matt came up with the idea to give Jacob a cell phone. He thought it would help keep track of him easier. Amy, however, didn't like the idea because she thought Jacob was too young for it. Matt decided to give him the phone to him anyways. Matt and Amy set some rules for Jacob about using his phone; they included: Jacob couldn't go over on his text messages, couldn't use his phone until he was done his homework, and couldn't use it after nine p.m.
After Jacob's friends left, the Roloffs had Jacob's girlfriend, Taylor's family over for dinner. Here Jacob made a side comment that he thought it was cool to have a girlfriend. He liked to have someone to talk to besides his parents. Amy was a little worried that Jacob was too young to have a girlfriend.
As soon as he got his phone, Jacob was breaking the rules. He was texting Taylor all the time, and wasn't doing his homework. Amy took his phone away because he was breaking the rules. Jacob didn't think she was being fair, and he thought she was overreacting.
Amy and Matt then talked about Jacob and his phone. They didn't agree upon when to give Jacob back his phone, and what his punishment should be. Matt was frustrated that Amy hadn't given him time to be as much of a parent as he wanted to be.
The two spent time apart because they were both frustrated. During this time, Amy left the house. Matt was now frustrated that Amy wouldn't answer his text messages or phone calls. Everyone tried calling her. When Amy returned, Molly talked to her about it. Amy said she was at a banquet for the American Heart Association. She said she had told them about it. Amy commented here that maybe Matt and she didn't understand each other as well as they thought they had.
The next morning Matt and Amy talked about the night before. Amy said she had had a fun time, and that she didn't know why Matt was so upset. She was glad he was checking up on her though.
Amy then gave Jacob back his phone. She reiterated the rules again. Right away Jacob was back to texting and breaking the rules. He wouldn't do any homework because of this. Jeremy even said Jacob relied on texting for everything, and that it was starting to become a problem.
Again, this led to Jacob talking back to his mom about the phone. Amy took his phone away this time for a week.
At the same time, Molly couldn't find her phone, and everyone thought Jacob took her phone to text Taylor. Molly said she had thrown her phone into Jacob's room when they had gone on the roof the other day. Molly asked Jacob if he knew where it was. He went to go look for it, and "found" it. He gave it back to her. When he did, Molly found the text conversation that Jacob had been texting Taylor with, just five minutes ago.
Then Amy and Matt received the phone bill. They found out how much Jacob had really been texting. He had racked up a bill of over 8,000 texts, which was more than 1,400 dollars. No one realized he had been texting so much. Matt and Amy were very upset. They had a disagreement over how to discipline him. After some time, Amy and Matt agreed upon how to discipline him: they took his phone away, this time for a long time. They concluded that he was not ready for the responsibility.