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

[castmember19]

And what rules do you have regarding cell phone usage? I ask merely out of curiosity.

I am not a parent, but a daughter and all my friends had cell phones by the time they were in middle school when I was growing up. I was finally granted a cell phone my sophomore year of high school.

However, the rules on my phone have always been strict. I used to get my phone taken away all the time because I would be caught talking too late at night. Which is understandable, looking back.

Of course, my dad takes things to the next level. Last year I remember he one) blocked some numbers on my phone that he had decided that I was texting too often and two) set my phone so that it could not send or receive texts after eleven at night. I was already in college. I found it more funny than anything. I survived for a good week until he finally (for whatever reason) decided to lift those blocks.

I do remember that in high school I used to be sneaky... I bought myself a go phone and whenever my parents tried to take my phone away, I took the SIM card out of my own phone, put the fake SIM card that came with the go phone inside my phone, handed it over to my parents, and then put my real SIM inside the new go phone. I never got caught. Man, I was bad.

 

[rchristiansen]

We made the decision that once DD8 starts middle school she would have one. Middle school starts in 5th grade here. (Long story, but DD will be going to the middle school for 4th grade next year and she's excited because she now thinks she gets a cell phone - jury is still out on that one).

Anyway - we felt that by 5th grade, there are more after school activities and the need to phone home may arise while participating in an activity after school. When I was that age, my mom would give me a quarter. Since there is no such thing as a pay phone anymore, we'd give her a cell phone. We decided that any data plan would have to be paid for out of her own money. We'd also have access to any passwords and text messages. She knows these rules already.

 

[RockAndRollBallerina]

When they start middle school.

 

[Aisling]

We made the decision because of extreme circumstances. We live in NYC and when 9/11 happened I was the only one in the family with a cell phone. The landlines went out when the towers fell and I couldn't reach my husband at work or my kids schools. Right then and there I decided that my 8 year old and my 14 year old and my husband were all getting cell phones. So my kids learned at an early age how to be responsible with them, not to overuse them because we were sharing minutes, and not to take them out of their school packs unless it was absolutely necessary. It made me feel A LOT better being able to reach each other at any time in case of emergency.

 

[JennaTX]

We have gone with when you hit double digits...10. That was the summer before Middle School for DD.

So far we have not had a problem with her using the phone late, etc. But it is one of the first things taken away when she is grounded.

I think it depends on your situation. My thought is when your kids are spending time where they are not with you, in school, or with friends that you know...then they need a cell phone.

 

[superme80]

We don't have to worry about it yet. So far as the rule stands if you can afford to pay for your phone you can have one.

 

[enchantingodin]

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.

 

[NHdisneylover]

it really depends on the kids and the family and your individual situations.

When the kids were little (4 and 6 I believe)we did not have a landline. Initially we got "their" cell phone primarily to leave home when we had a babysitter (since all of the babysitters did not have their own cells) and then once in a while one kid or the other would have t in their backpack when going to a birthday party or whatnot as it made them feel safer. By the time they were 6 and 8 they each had their own phones and they did carry them with themselves pretty much any time they went away from home.

DD pretty much never took hers out and DS used his like an iPOD. Once in a blue moon they would need to call about something and then they would use their phone and not have the parents call (but they would ask the parents before calling). Mostly I recall DD calling a few times with headaches or because they were going to be somewhere late and DS calling to ask if it was okay to eat such and such or watch such and such movie).

We moved to Germany right after the kids turned 10 and 12. They take two street cars and a train to get to/from school. The schools let the kids leave early if a teacher is sick (without notifying home) and leave directly from field trip locations. Both kids have cell phones and use them every day to call me when they leave school. They also sometimes use them to call friends, to call the ballet teacher if a train is late and they will miss class, etc.


Neither kid cares for texting so we do not have a plan for it on the phones. Both know that if they ever want t o get into that they have to talk to us first and give us a chance to add a plan.
Both know about how many minutes we have and neither has ever gone over on minutes.
My son (now 12) has lost one cell phone over the years (so have I).

I see no reason to create a bunch of rules for cell use given that there are no problems with how they use them.

 

[skiingfast]

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.

Agreed.

When they can pay for thier luxuries, which certainly sending texts that only say hi are, then can buy thier own phone.

While I got injured and in accidents while young, I never died because I didn't have a cell phone. Think about it, ever heard of someone crashing and dying while talking on a cell phone? Want to bet cell phones cost more lives than they save?

 

[aprilgail2]

My daughter got one when it was going to make MY life easier and that was in 5th grade when she started to be able to go to the park and ride her bike over to her friends house. She would call and let me know she got there, when she was leaving and if they were leaving the one park and going someplace else. She would certainly not have as much freedom without one.
I never made any official rules- she turns it off before she goes to sleep and I know she is not using it since I can just look at the bill and see if any calls or texts were made during the night. Should that happen then I would have to do things differently but until then all is good.

 

[JerseyJanice]

My son got his own cell phone when he turned 11, which was the age when he started coming home from school on his own.

I went back to work full time when he was 10, but the first several months, I had him going to a sitter after school. When we decided he could come home by himself, we decided we wanted him to have a cell so we could reach him.

Have never had a problem with him using except for when we didn't have unlimited texting on his line. Got an $80 bill one month, added unlimited texts, and it's been all good ever since.

 

[DeniseinNS]

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.

I totally agree!!!!

 

[Acklander]

We got rid of the land line when DS was about 8 so that's when he got a cell phone added onto our plan. I think it only costs us about $5 extra a month which is much cheaper than the land line was. We all have unlimited texting, and the calls he makes to DH and I don't count towards any minutes.
With his friends he mainly texts, so he probably only goes thru about 10 minutes on the family plan each month.

I can't imagine taking the phone away as punishment for anything since that's how we get a hold of him. Also, we tend to make punishments related to the "crime" so unless he was doing something wrong with the phone it will stay as is.

I think he was one of the first of his classmates to get a cell phone, but now that he's 11, I'd say about 80% of his classmates have one.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I agree with aprilgail2. DS got his when it was convenient for me that he have one. We started with two rules - 1) if you take it to school, it must remain in your locker, and 2) no sending any photos you wouldn't want Father Mark at church to see. Like NHdisneylover said, I haven't needed to make rules about time limits, etc., as he doesn't overuse it in the first place.

 

[Darcy03231]

My kids got them when they were 12. There were several reasons. One, we decided to get rid of our landline, so all of us got cell phones. Two, my children spend quite a bit of time at their father's house and his phone was always getting disconnected for non-payment. I was really nervous about them not having a way to get in touch with me (or vice versa). Three, they were starting junior high (7th grade) and becoming more active in sports and afterschool activities.

 

[sam_gordon]

My DD got hers when she started staying home alone after school (no longer going to daycare). This was at the end of 5th grade. DW & I both work in a neighboring county which is a LD call. We don't have LD on our home phone.

Also, after school activities "require" the use of a phone. When I was growing up, there was a payphone at our school. We could call our parents and tell them we need to be picked up. When's the last time you've seen a payphone ANYWHERE?

 

[DeniseinNS]

Also, after school activities "require" the use of a phone. When I was growing up, there was a payphone at our school. We could call our parents and tell them we need to be picked up. When's the last time you've seen a payphone ANYWHERE?

My kids are in after school activities and they do not "require" the use of a phone. We pick our kids up when activities are scheduled to end and that's never been a problem for us or any other parents, EX- activitity is 4:00-5:00-we pick her up at 5:00, it's simple.
There is a payphone at my work so they are still around.

 

[aprilgail2]

Also, after school activities "require" the use of a phone. When I was growing up, there was a payphone at our school. We could call our parents and tell them we need to be picked up. When's the last time you've seen a payphone ANYWHERE?

They removed all pay phones from our schools years ago. I always find it comical when parents refuse to get their kids a cell phone but they have no problem with their kids having to borrow someone elses to call them and use that persons minutes! My daughter had a kid like that who was in drama with her-when rehearsals ended early the kid was always asking to use other peoples cell phones to call their parents!!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My oldest got one when she started babysitting her sister afterschool, which was 6th grade and that is when I got mine too.

My youngest got one when we were in process of moving and had to move into an apartment and had no landline for over a yr. One apartment in TX while kids were finishing up school and one in Missouri while we house shopped.

Living in an apartment with no phone is not something I would NOT be comfortable with my 5th/6th grader.

 

[J3nn78]

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 also will be there to pick up my kids when they are scheduled and will not need them to phone me to tell me to pick them up. My mom was always there. I only recall having to use a payphone on just a few occasions-like when I was not feeling well and wanted to leave practice early.