At what age is it appropriate to give your child a cell phone?

[NHdisneylover]

When should kids get a phone? When they get a job and can buy it. Seriously. I don't get why all these kids have cell phones. It's insane.

Kids have all kinds of non necessary items which they did not pay for. Toys, fancy clothes, TVs with cable/satellite, DSs and games, dance classes, music lessons, computers with internet access, etc.

WHY is this one thing so different to so many people

 

[Acklander]

Kids have all kinds of non necessary items which they did not pay for. Toys, fancy clothes, TVs with cable/satellite, DSs and games, dance classes, music lessons, computers with internet access, etc.

WHY is this one thing so different to so many people

I think because people are thinking of the cell phone of the old days - expensive phones, with expensive plans, you paid for each text, and only the wealthy "entitled" kids had them. Things have changed a lot over the years.
I don't remember how much extra it costs us to have DS on our plan, but it's less than $10 a month. Most people spend more than that on their kids at McDonald's every month - my kid doesn't like fast food, so we're probably coming in cheaper.

 

[LisaR]

One thing that REALLY bugs me about parents who refuse to get their kid a cell phone is that they don't have any problem allowing them to use their friend's phone to call home.

We live in an area where there aren't any pay phones. The community college doesn't have any on campus, there aren't any on or near the sports fields, they don't have any in the building where choir practice is held, there aren't any phones at our mall, and the list goes on.

So when the teens who aren't allowed phones until they can pay for them need to contact their parents, they use up my kids minutes. The parent never offers to pay us back and never seems to have any problem letting their kid use our cell phones. I've been standing next to one mom on more than one occasion when she drops her kid off at the mall, movies, etc and says, "just borrow a phone and call me when you are ready to be picked up." Yet, I find these to be the same parents who love to say, "My kid doesn't NEED a phone." Well, duh! When you sponge off of other people of course your kid doesn't need a phone.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

As soon as I feel it is needed for safety issues. We carpool all of DD10's after school activities so there is always an adult around who can get in touch with us if need be.

Plus, at this point I have the max amount of people on my family plan so if I were to get DD a phone it would cost me a lot more than the $9.99 add on.

and on a side note: Verizon feature phones do not need the $10 data plan to work, you only need to get that data plan if you actually plan on using those specific features. If you're just using it for calls and txts, then you're good to go. The smart phones on the other hand, you must sign up for a data plan before you can use them.

 

[tlbwriter]

I've been standing next to one mom on more than one occasion when she drops her kid off at the mall, movies, etc and says, "just borrow a phone and call me when you are ready to be picked up."

If I were there, I'd say "Oh, that reminds me, honey. Be sure not to let anyone else use your phone. Don't want your friends to use up all your minutes, you know."

 

[castmember19]

Anyone have teenagers who overuse? It alarms me that none of the stories I've seen here include teens who overused their phones like I did. It makes me think, was I really that bad?!

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

Kids have all kinds of non necessary items which they did not pay for. Toys, fancy clothes, TVs with cable/satellite, DSs and games, dance classes, music lessons, computers with internet access, etc.

WHY is this one thing so different to so many people

Add "Disney vacations" to that list and you have voiced my thoughts perfectly!

 

[kinntj]

If I were there, I'd say "Oh, that reminds me, honey. Be sure not to let anyone else use your phone. Don't want your friends to use up all your minutes, you know."

Or say "you may want to reconsider getting that cell phone for (kids name here)".

I think the optimal time for our kids to have cell phones is around 12 years old. I would consider 11 ok if I felt the need was there.

I think there needs to be a couple of rules, especially when the cell phone is new to the kid.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Anyone have teenagers who overuse? It alarms me that none of the stories I've seen here include teens who overused their phones like I did. It makes me think, was I really that bad?!

Most kids text anymore and unlimited texting is really cheap nowadays. It cost us $20 to add unlimited texting to all of the phones on my plan so it ends up costing $4 per person.

Now that I text everyone, I think I use on average 10 minutes a month on my plan. Of course most people I call have Verizon so it doesn't use up any of my minutes.

 

[allison443]

I don't think I will allow my boys to have one until they can drive-and at that point they can pay for it themselves as well. I don't get kids having cell phones. I chaperoned on a 5&6th grade ski club trip one day and as soon as the kids were on the bus they all whipped out their phones-and not cheapy basic phones, more than half were smart phones. Why?

I guess they can afford smartphones....like they can afford skiing.

 

[Pooh Crew]

Anyone have teenagers who overuse? It alarms me that none of the stories I've seen here include teens who overused their phones like I did. It makes me think, was I really that bad?!

Our eldest did during her 10th grade year. She went way over on her texts (we weren't bright enough to have the unlimited texting back then) and dh told her if she ever did it again, we would take away texting. She was over again the next month, so we disabled texting. She never got texting again until she was out on her own. She's 22 now and we learned a lot from that experience. Our other children all have unlimited texting.

 

[castmember19]

Our eldest did during her 10th grade year. She went way over on her texts (we weren't bright enough to have the unlimited texting back then) and dh told her if she ever did it again, we would take away texting. She was over again the next month, so we disabled texting. She never got texting again until she was out on her own. She's 22 now and we learned a lot from that experience. Our other children all have unlimited texting.

When my dad would take away my phone, it was never because I went over. We always had unlimited texting and free evening minutes, so that wasn't the issue. Just the fact that I was using them too late for his liking. Oh well.

 

[mass01581]

My step son had a cell phone that we paid for. After one month we took it back. He was using the phone every second of the day. When the bill came in it was 10 pages long, just for his phone. Between texting, sending and getting calls the phone was always on. The bill was in the hundreds. He was 17 at the time.

He got his own phone after that.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Now that they have better parental controls it isn't as easy for kids to be "sneaky" like you were, at least if their parents are watching what they are doing.

My goddaughter's cell phone is only suppose to be used during certain hours; her step mother can go on and see what times the phone was turned on, when it sent/received text messages and when it sent/received phone calls. Whenever she broke the rules the phone was taken away and your sim card trick wouldn't have worked since the step mother would have noticed activity on the phone.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I think because people are thinking of the cell phone of the old days - expensive phones, with expensive plans, you paid for each text, and only the wealthy "entitled" kids had them. Things have changed a lot over the years.
I don't remember how much extra it costs us to have DS on our plan, but it's less than $10 a month. Most people spend more than that on their kids at McDonald's every month - my kid doesn't like fast food, so we're probably coming in cheaper.

Yeah maybe. Neither of my kids has a protable gaming system (heck, we only got any gaming system at all last year) and I know most of their friends have had 2-3 systems and have dozens of games--this costs a lot more than the 7 Euro a month we pay for each of them to have their phones.

Anyone have teenagers who overuse? It alarms me that none of the stories I've seen here include teens who overused their phones like I did. It makes me think, was I really that bad?!

Sorry, I can't help you. The only problem we have had in the 6ish years my kids have had phones are fogeting to charge it or take it and ONE lost phone.

Add "Disney vacations" to that list and you have voiced my thoughts perfectly!

True

 

[Colleen27]

We decided that we wanted the kids to have phones for middle school. In elementary they take the bus and parents have to pick up from any after school activities, but we live close enough to the middle/high school complex that from 6th grade on they are walking or riding bikes back and forth. That's also the point when kids around here do more getting themselves to and from activities, and when they start having more of a social life independent of direct/constant adult supervision (we're in a small town, and the kids ride their bikes everywhere). Right now that means that only my oldest has a phone so as far as setting rules go we're in pretty new territory and things could change if there is a need.

We don't really have set rules for DS's phone, other than that he has to follow school policy about leaving the phone turned off and out of sight from the first bell until the last. He's on our unlimited talk/text/web plan and hasn't given us any reason to restrict the hours he can use the phone, though for convenience he leaves it downstairs when he goes up to bed at night because the charger is on the desk with the ones for my and DH's phones.

 

[Poohforyou]

DD got her phone last summer before the start of middle school. Before that she didn't need one. Now she rides the bus to/from school and I work so I like to know when she gets on the bus or if she needs to stay after for something. She also goes off with friends quite a bit so it's peace of mind knowing she can contact us or we can contact her if necessary.

She was addicted to it the first few weeks she had it which is why we got it over the summer. The novelty wore off pretty quickly.

 

[liamkelly]

Well I'm from Canada so our schooling is a little different. There is no "Middle school", it's just elementary, jk - grade 8, and High school, 9- grade 12.

I gave my daughter her cell phone in grade 8 for graduation. Some students had one before then but why on earth would you need one before grade 6?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Well I'm from Canada so our schooling is a little different. There is no "Middle school", it's just elementary, jk - grade 8, and High school, 9- grade 12.

I gave my daughter her cell phone in grade 8 for graduation. Some students had one before then but why on earth would you need one before grade 6?

Because you don't have a landline.

So you are saying you would be OK with your kids without a phone at home while you were away.

 

[msjprincess]

Well I'm from Canada so our schooling is a little different. There is no "Middle school", it's just elementary, jk - grade 8, and High school, 9- grade 12.

I gave my daughter her cell phone in grade 8 for graduation. Some students had one before then but why on earth would you need one before grade 6?

Like I said earlier. My son is in 4th grade but he rides his bike around the neighborhood with his friends and rides his bike to school most days. I like being able to get in touch with him whenever I want . Sometimes he'll call me when he gets out of school to ask if he can go to a friends to do homework. Before had a phone he would ride his bike all the way home ask and then ride back to his friends house.