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| At what age would you consider getting a cell phone for your child?
Posted: 7/12/2009 6:05:40 AM | The age that it becomes a convenience and necessity for the parent.
Both of my children have had cell phones since grade school. It works well in our family dynamic and keeps me sane. It has truly been a great tool for us and proven to be invaluable. I don't see it as a luxury at all.
I think the younger the better. It is like any other tool available. You teach your children what is appropriate and what is not. My kids have never broken or lost a phone. Both are respectful about using it and aware of appropriate times to turn it off. My oldest is 17 and is ranked #9 in his entire class. Like anything else, the phone is not the problem with kids today... it's how they are raised and socialized.
I've have never used prepaid plans so I really don't have any info about them. My sister does with 2 phones and I know she constantly has to juggle the minutes, the money on them, not going over, worrying about this or that. Too much hassle for me and typically she pays way more out of pocket than I do and I have 4 phones.
With the plan I have we have unlimited data and texting so never any worries about going over. Like others have mentioned, kids don't really talk on the phone to communicate so I have a pretty low minute talk plan and never, not once have we went over it.
It's not something we have ever had to utilize but the best part about it is that if you are a parent that needs it, you can have complete control over their phones. You can shut the service off at certain hours like night time or when they are in school, you can limit the amount of texts they can send and receive as well as how many hours of phone usage they have available. You can shut the service off if you ground them from it. You can specify the numbers that can be dialed from the phone as well as the numbers that are allowed to call it. | |
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| At what age would you consider getting a cell phone for your child?
Posted: 7/12/2009 10:10:33 AM | My oldest had his first at 5 yrs old. There are circumstances as to why he had one so young. Basically it boils down to the fact his dad and I live 2000 miles apart and at times we were not able to speak more then about 10 minutes without arguing. Giving our child a cell phone was the best thing to keep communications open with the parent he wasnt with. After our custody hearing was over, he kept the cell phone to call both members of his family and that was it. We both paid for minutes. The phone was a child type and I had put in the numbers he could use and put timers on them ect. Hes 9 now and no longer has a cell as hes got access to phones and can call either of his parents at anytime from any cell or home phone at either of his parents homes. While his dad and I have become friendly again and can talk w/o issues, most times its easier for our son to just call which ever parent directly and then if we need to talk we either tell him so he can hand off the phone when hes done or we email.
Hes wanting another cell now and Im not buying it. I dont see the need for it anymore. When hes older no doubt he will have one or if his medical conditions go back to being horrible then yes I will have no issues giving him one for medical emergencies only. If I let him he will spend a ton of time on the DS or comp. playing games and so Im not going to give him another reason to not sleep at bedtime. If he wants to talk to his friends he knows the numbers and has free access to all phones in his parents homes as long as its between certian hours. | |
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| At what age would you consider getting a cell phone for your child?
Posted: 7/12/2009 11:15:59 AM | | My daughter got her cell phone at Christmas. She was 12. I was tired of not being able to use the house phone because she was on it, friends calling all day, couldn't use the computer because she was on it. She has text, web, email. Its also easier for her to check in with me when she is out with her friends. Or I can call and let her know when and where she is to be so I can pick her up. Sometimes to check up I will show up where she is suppose to be and call her and tell her to show herself so I know she is there. Works for us. I should mention that she is a straight A student and a child who has never lied to me. She is a good kid. | |
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| At what age would you consider getting a cell phone for your child?
Posted: 7/12/2009 8:39:43 PM | K.. so here's the deal. I found a phone and a cheap plan. I'm not unhappy about it.
No one around here carries the kids cell phones at all, and because I wanted it for Friday, I went with what I found. I might very well change my mind about it in the next couple of days and take it back and keep looking. But I wanted him to have the ability to get in touch with me should he feel he wanted to, or in case he needed to.
When he's at home with me, we use the walkie-talkies. Thing is, he isn't always at home with me, so I wanted him to have an alternative means.
He's a good kid, but does hyperfocus on things, and I can see how it would be easy for him to do so with the cell... which is why when he's at home with me, it's in my possession, or will be. | |
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dam70
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Joined: 6/7/2009
Msg: 55 | |
| At what age would you consider getting a cell phone for your child?
Posted: 7/12/2009 8:59:50 PM | | I think it depends on the circumstances too, in my case I had to get my daughter a phone when she was in first grade. Im a single parent and well my ex really went off the deep end after our divorce and married a serious nut case, so for me it was protection, since mom can't come near the kids with out supervision, it gave me a way to trace her. We like to think law enforcement is there for us but once you cross a state line you are basically on your own. Hence GPS tracking, same feature should prove to be really usefull when she gets to high school too | |
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