O/T - Question for parents

[hardwarz]

Originally Posted by snoack

Gave my son one this year when I renewed our plan. He's 10.

I got one for my son at the age of 10. I'm glad he has it. There was a couple times when my dad forgot it was his day to pick up my son from school and my son was able to make calls.

He's only allowed to use it in case of emergency. What drives me nuts now is he never carries it. I told him that if he doesn't carry it or doesn't answer it when I call, why the hell am I paying an extra $10.00 per month for his cell phone?

Personally, the few times I've had to use it, it's been worth it. Oh, we chose a phone (Sanyo SPC2400) that had Parental Features. Features like he can only call and receive calls from people in his phone book and we locked him out of adding any other numbers to his phone. Mom, dad and other family members only.

Hope this helps.
Hardwarz

[snoack]

Originally Posted by hardwarz

I got one for my son at the age of 10. I'm glad he has it. There was a couple times when my dad forgot it was his day to pick up my son from school and my son was able to make calls.

He's only allowed to use it in case of emergency. What drives me nuts now is he never carries it. I told him that if he doesn't carry it or doesn't answer it when I call, why the hell am I paying an extra $10.00 per month for his cell phone?

Personally, the few times I've had to use it, it's been worth it. Oh, we chose a phone (Sanyo SPC2400) that had Parental Features. Features like he can only call and receive calls from people in his phone book and we locked him out of adding any other numbers to his phone. Mom, dad and other family members only.

Hope this helps.
Hardwarz

I turned him loose with certain stipulations. he knows what our plan is, and also knows that I check the bill every month. I know what it's supposed to be, and if it's more he's got issues, besides the fact that I'll take the difference out of his allowance.

[Khodiak]

We gave our 14 year old son one for his bday. He is always out 4-wheeling, skateboarding, snowboarding so yea I like him having it. The annoying ringtones he puts on the damn thing drives me nuts. Nothing like standing in line at the bank with him and his phone goes into retarded mode and starts saying ring...ring....RING....RING!!...RING!!! until you think it is going to explode. Anyone heard that stupid ass ring tone?

[sonicbnn]

I got my now 18 year old son a phone when he was 15, but he was watching his younger brothers at the time, and we used the cell phone instead of a "old fashioned" land line phone. My other son now 16, had his when he was 14, but he had a job already teaching Karate to the younger kids and we needed to know when to drop him off and pick him up.

They all spend the weekdays with me and the weekends with their mother, when they feel like it. My youngest son is 8, seen as his older brothers will both be gone in 2 years he will have one when he is 10, just for the sake of knowing he is okay before and after school and so I can call him when he is at his mothers.

Guess my point is, if it is a necessity then it is worth it. If it is just because everyone else has one and they want to spend all day texting I would have waited until they were 16 and driving, and now two of them are. They both also started paying for the phones when they turned 16.

[snoack]

Originally Posted by Khodiak

We gave our 14 year old son one for his bday. He is always out 4-wheeling, skateboarding, snowboarding so yea I like him having it. The annoying ringtones he puts on the damn thing drives me nuts. Nothing like standing in line at the bank with him and his phone goes into retarded mode and starts saying ring...ring....RING....RING!!...RING!!! until you think it is going to explode. Anyone heard that stupid ass ring tone?

One of the reasons I got my son his is that I wanted to see what kind of stuff he'd come up with for alerst and ringtones. he's recorded all kinds of different sounds and noises, figured out how to use his alerts, etc... He's a smart kid and very technically inclined.

[kimm4]

I got rid of my home phone a long time ago and we all have cells. My youngest is 10, but she hardly ever uses hers. Mine's always off because I hate talking on the phone...

[datafan]

My son and daugter got them when they were 14 and 12. The second month they had them we received a $1000 phone bill! They went way over on text messages and were using some kind of internet app called "brew".

We took the phones for a few months and gave them extra chores to do to work it off. Now a year later we don't have any problems with them having phones. It's nice when you're kids call you out of the blue during the day, and it's nice to be able to call them anytime you need to.

I would recommend unlimited text messaging on any kids phone.

[snoack]

Originally Posted by datafan

My son and daugter got them when they were 14 and 12. The second month they had them we received a $1000 phone bill! They went way over on text messages and were using some kind of internet app called "brew".

We took the phones for a few months and gave them extra chores to do to work it off. Now a year later we don't have any problems with them having phones. It's nice when you're kids call you out of the blue during the day, and it's nice to be able to call them anytime you need to.

I would recommend unlimited text messaging on any kids phone.

My boy knows that we don't have texting on our plan, and that I'll know if he has been doing it. No warnings, first time he loses his phone indefinitely.

[SP1966]

Give a kid a phone and they will be in thier room all day.
Give a kid a cell phone and who knows where they will be.

I like to know where my daughters are!!

[snoack]

Originally Posted by SP1966

Give a kid a phone and they will be in thier room all day.
Give a kid a cell phone and who knows where they will be.

I like to know where my daughters are!!

man I'm glad I don't have a daughter.

...for one thing, I'd never get her out of the bathroom (see, I beat you to it!)

[NotTooLate]

The appropriate age is when he can pay for it himself and have it in his own name I did not waver from this with my kids and they survived until they turned 19. It seems you don't die after all if you don't have one lol

If you do give in I would go with the earphones because who knows what cells can do to growing brains when held against the head all the time. Just a thought.

PS I am 50 and I still don't have one. I like being able to go out and no one being able to find me

[snoack]

Originally Posted by NotTooLate

PS I am 50 and I still don't have one. I like being able to go out and no one being able to find me

Mine is almost never on. Never could understand the desire to be reachable at all hours of the day or night. I'm much more of a "leave me the eff alone" person.

[murphy12]

Gave our daughter one @ age 12, but one with restricted dialing. We were able to program numbers that the phone could dial or that could ring the phone. We un-restricted it when she turned 15.

[mic65frit]

My wife and I "caved" last year for both of the kids (boy & girl 13 then) 14 now...funny how that math thing works.

Our littlest ones are 10 each a boy and girl they don't have one yet and won't for at least 3 years.

No we didn't have two sets of twins, we just blended her boys with my girls and "poof" instant Brady Bunch!

Back to the subject...

A couple of positives...

Good for when they want to let you know where they are and when they are going to be home from practice.
My Land Line will actually ring now and people can get through to my wife and I.
With Blended families it also means that they are away a week at a time at their other parents house so it makes it good for getting a hold of them.
No more griping about not being able to use the land line, and my land line doesn't ring at weird times in the evenings after 9pm anymore which is nice.

A couple of Negatives...

They are hard on electronics...phones that have been in pockets in the wash (water and cell phones do not mix!), phones have fallen in pools, phones have been in back pockets while skateboarding (concrete and cellphones hate each other)

Managing their minutes can be a pain in the butt...a few solutions

Unlimited friends and family plans

Unlimited Texting~~~YOU NEED THIS PAY THE EXTRA $19 per family and breath a sigh of relief...My kids this last month have had 1500 in and 1500 out txts per month (each kid) so mulitiple 6000 X .20 and that's a big number.
Phone insurance policies are good too with kids...I've learned this the hard way and am probably a customer of T-Mobile's til at least 4 years after I've already died.


Once I got over the "It's only a Status" thing and started to feel some of the benefits to them being wired with cellular...it's all good now!

Good Luck, Cell phones aren't evil, just the people using them.

Mike

[5krunner]

Originally Posted by GnomusMaximus

I deal with this a bunch at work. Cell phone use is always a problem at schools. I think one good possibility is the Trac Phone or similar set up where you pre pay for a certain amount of time. This way the kid can not run - up a bill and needs to learn if the call is important or not. I THINK (might be wrong) that you can use them to dial 911 even if you have no time left. This way if the kid uses up his/her time you can stick by the guns and not buy more, but still have some of the safety end of things covered.

I agree...this is exactly what I was thinking!

[KLMARB]

Originally Posted by kimm4

I got rid of my home phone a long time ago and we all have cells. My youngest is 10, but she hardly ever uses hers. Mine's always off because I hate talking on the phone...

I also got rid of my land line a couple of years ago. I was seldom home to use it and had a cell phone anyways. What I did for my two sons was to get them each a "pay as you go" phone. I buy each of them 300 mins every two months, with the understanding that if they run out of minutes, they have to buy more with their own money. They will lose their phones if they are not active, that was the condition. Since they don't want to spend their own money, they have been forced to make their calls short and not spend much time talking. At least I can always contact them now, as the other rule is that they always HAVE to answer my calls. At ten cents a min. it works out fairly well...

[glwanabe]

Well,

I'm 46 and I still don't have a cell phone. I'm not seeing a mental health specialist at this time. I feel just fine being disconnected.

I don't think kids need a cell phone for the reasons they want one. The, I gotta have eveything mentality, you owe me a phone, your my Parent, your supposed to get me one.

I do see a need from time to time for them to have them. Pay phones are not as prevalent as they once were. So having one for school functions or when they actually need to be able to contact you is a valid reason to have one.

As a tool as part of a social network with their friends, naaa!

Plus they don't give them away! Somebody has to pay for it.

[Eileen]

Originally Posted by phikappa

What do you think is an appropriate age for kids to get a cell phone? My son is 12 and is about to have a nervous breakdown because he doesn't have one and "everyone else" does.

After years of saying mobile phones for kids was a bad idea, I allowed one child to buy one with money she had earned doing chores. Then I had to get one myself so she had someone to contact if necessary. Then the other two bought their own phones. And lost them.

Actually, I find it very reassuring for me when they have phones. It's easy to make sure they are where they are supposed to be, and can contact me if they need to.

In practice, they make very few calls or texts, except to me. What they do is play games, listen to music, take photos, use the phone as an alarm clock, and keep track of stuff they are supposed to do. They have way more credit on their phones than I do.

[greyhair]

Originally Posted by GnomusMaximus

I deal with this a bunch at work. Cell phone use is always a problem at schools. I think one good possibility is the Trac Phone or similar set up where you pre pay for a certain amount of time. This way the kid can not run - up a bill and needs to learn if the call is important or not. I THINK (might be wrong) that you can use them to dial 911 even if you have no time left. This way if the kid uses up his/her time you can stick by the guns and not buy more, but still have some of the safety end of things covered.

x2
The cell phone should be for serious use, not texting to friends.

[Inthegrass]

I've never been a fan of things like that.
Still, because of what I'm doing right now and the amount of time that I'm away from my kids (who are 9 and 11) I have gotten them a cell phone that they use to text message me throughout the day and I to them. They only use it for that reason. It has really made a difference for us in being able to keep in contact with one another.
As for getting a phone just because everyone else has one I say tough. If you have a legitimate use for one then get one otherwise..... I guess it's up to you.

Jeff

[bodyhard]

My grandson is 11 months old I bought him a cell phone he drolls all over it

[crazycelt]

We gave our son (now 13) a cell phone when he was 11. With the phone, came the rules: You call Mom, Dad, Grandma (if necessary 911). You DO NOT lend it to friends. You are alloted a certain number of minutes per month (I used the card system). If you use up the minutes too soon, you lose the phone. NO TEXT MESSAGES. When you are home, the phone needs to be on the kitchen counter charging (if needed). To his credit, he has handled the responsibility very well. I'm glad he has it. He calls us from wherever he is, keeping me informed of his location, activities, who he is with and asking when he is expected home. As a result of his responsible behavior, we have expanded his "call list" to his friends who also have cell phones.