A father-of-two who was fed up of his children shunning the Great Outdoors to spend time online took the WiFi box for a stroll through the Peak District when they refused to join him.
Simon Warren, 49, packed the router in the car and left his children disconnected when Ryder, eight, and Lux, 14, wouldn’t embark on a family walk on Saturday.
The pair didn’t have mobile data access to power Fortnite or Netflix, and, to the shock of their father, decided to instead clean the house and play Monopoly together.
Mr Warren, from Greystones in Sheffield, shared a photograph of the Sky broadband router while on his walk, with the idyllic scenery of the Peak District in the background.
He said: ‘The kids always like it when they get out, but getting them out of the house is just murder. They just say they don’t want to go.
Simon Warren, 49, packed the router in the car and left his children disconnected when Ryder, eight, and Lux, 14, wouldn’t embark on a family walk on Saturday. Pictured: The router in the Peak District
Mr Warren posted the photograph to social media, writing: ‘So took the WiFi for a walk instead’
‘They’re cosy and they’ll say they’re watching something, but I have a duty to exercise them and get them some fresh air to broaden their horizons and appreciate nature.
‘My boy was already in a bit of a tiz because he didn’t want to stop playing to go on the walk. So I unplugged the WiFi booster and hid the iPad. I just snapped that day and said “Sod you”.
‘I’ve never turned the WiFi off before, so this was a spur of the moment thing. Ryder was playing Fortnite and my daughter will have been watching Netflix upstairs.
‘I took the router out, put it in the back of the car and me and Charlotte drove off and took it for a walk instead. They didn’t realise the full magnitude of what we’d done until we’d left.’
Mr Warren admitted he had expected to find ‘misery and chaos’ when he and his wife, 48, returned home, but the children ended up tidying the entire house.
The children didn’t have mobile data access to power Fortnite or Netflix, and, to the shock of their father, decided to clean the house and play Monopoly together. Pictured: Mr Warrenw ith the router
Mr Warren admitted he had expected to find ‘misery and chaos’ when he and his wife returned home, but the pair ended up tidying the entire house. Pictured: Mr and Mrs Warren with children Ryder and Lux
‘We got home and expected to find misery and chaos, but my son had asked what they were meant to do now and my daughter must have felt a bit guilty,’ he said.
‘They ended up tidying the whole house, putting the washing away and then were busy playing Monopoly together and they hadn’t fallen out, so it worked quite well.
‘Screens are good, but they have come to dominate everything and you can be so blinkered. I don’t think it’s cruel to sometimes turn them off to do something else.’
The cycling writer said the family-of-four used to have weekly walks as a break from being stuck in the house during lockdown.
But his post on Twitter, which has been shared upwards of 115,000 times, sparked controversy with some who claimed the act could damage his relationship with his children.
Mr Warren has brushed off claims he shouldn’t have taken such extreme measures, noting ‘there needs to be a balance’ between screen time and fresh air.
Pictured: Mr and Mrs Warren with their children Ryder, eight, and Lux, 14, on an earlier walk
The cycling writer said the family-of-four used to have weekly walks as a break from being stuck in the house during lockdown. Pictured: Mr Warren
He said: ‘There’s a few people saying you’ve got to let them play computer games. My son loves Fortnite and he can play that, but then I can take him for an hour’s walk too.
‘Fortnite’s brilliant but there are other things to life. With lockdown you can’t take him to his swimming club or his athletics club, my daughter can’t go shopping, so walking is good.’
His social media post read: ‘Kids refused to come out and we gave up trying to drag them so took the WiFi for a walk instead.’
Dozens of users praised his action, with one writing: ‘Good job. I’ve done that many a time when my boys were younger.
‘I’ve taken the Wi-fi router to work with me and phoned the mobile network provider to block their phones for 24 hours saying they’d lost it and not to cancel it in case we found it.’
Another said: ‘That made me laugh out loud!! Perfect idea. I’d love to see their faces when they realized what you’d done.
‘I’m glad I don’t have to parent kids during this time of internet overload.’
His post on Twitter, which has been shared upwards of 115,000 times, sparked controversy with some who claimed it would damage his relationship with his children. Pictured: Ryder with his mother Ms Warren
Mr Warren has brushed off claims he shouldn’t have taken such extreme measures, noting ‘there needs to be a balance’ between screen time and fresh air
Others were less understanding, with one saying: ‘I never understand this. They don’t want to come out, why make them? They’ll just ruin your walk by moaning and b****ing.
‘As a grown adult, the cry of “Let’s all go out for a lovely walk” makes me want to hit people, but at least I can say no and not be punished for it.’
Another said: ‘The only thing it’s really teaching kids is to resent their parents.
‘Pull stunts like this and, once they’re out on their own, they’ll want nothing to do with you.’
Mr Warren and his partner lived in London for 20 years before moving to Sheffield three years ago, where they are enjoying their close proximity to the Peak District National Park.
Passionate cyclist and part-time graphic designer Mr Warren published his most recent book Ride Britain in November, but he admits he’s grown to enjoy walking since the first lockdown.
He hopes his children can learn to enjoy the outdoors more, even when the pandemic is over and his daughter can go shopping in Sheffield again.
The father-of-two said: ‘I hope when the pandemic’s over and my daughter’s with her friends, she continues to walk west into the hills rather than east towards the shopping centre and becoming slaves to consumerism.
‘I hope they both learned a bit of a lesson from [the stunt], but we’ll see what happens this weekend.
‘If we were better parents we’d probably have done it sooner and more regularly, but you’ve got to keep them on side and look after their wellbeing. It’s the constant battle of being a parent.’