Do your kids have their own cellphone and

[daisyduck123]

DD11 wanted one for her 11th b-day & that's what she got.

She's on a year-round competitive swim team & swims 5 or 6 days a week. She gets dropped off at the pool for 1.5 or 2 hours each day so we did see how the phone was needed.

Before getting the phone for her, there had been a few times when she needed to call us from the pool (like the time practice was canceled due to someone throwing up in the pool) & she'd had to borrow a mom's phone to call us.

 

[shortbun]

My son has one. It's for security. He's used it to contact us from a few events for help/to advise us of things. He's made wise choices. He was 10 when he got it. He has it in school too. It stays turned off unless it's an emergency. It
s part of our family plan and well worth the piece of mind.
My friend's daughter did not have a cell phone the other day when her bus was sitting for over an hour in 92 degrees waiting for security/police to come for a student who had damaged a car by throwing something out an open window. Children having a phone called their parents a got rides home. Susie sat in the hot bus the whole time because kids would not let her use their phones and the driver could not release her to anyone but her own parents.

 

[Marseeya]

DS got one when he was 14 because I wanted an electronic leash for him. At the time, I gave my old Tracfone to my DD, who was 9. I didn't have a "good" reason for giving it to her, but just wanted to because she's a great kid and deserved something special. She hardly ever used her minutes, so it got to be a pain adding minutes, so I finally just added her to my plan.

 

[miss missy]

I am going with when DD is away from us for more than school. She is 12 and just doesn't need one yet for saftey. I aint paying the bill till I have to!

 

[Kitty 34]

My youngest DS was 16, my middle DS got one at 18 and my oldest got his at 19. The last two got theirs as they headed off to college.

 

[N.Bailey]

My children are 14 & 15 and they're both headed to the high school next year. I believe we got them Tracfones in either 5th or 6th grade. This pass February (8th grade) we got a family share plan from Verizon. The Tracfones; while okay, didn't provide service in all areas of our town and I found myself very frustrated (and scared at times) when the Tracfones would ring and ring without being answered. I knew it meant that there was no service, but as a mom, I needlessly worried WAY too much and we just decided to go with Verizon.

My children don't have these phones because it's the "IN" thing right now. They have them so that my husband and I can have peace of mind.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

My DD got her's when she was 13. She was the last one in her class to have one. Everyone in our neighborhood seems to get them around 10 years old. I just think that is a little young to be that responsible.

 

[golfgal]

DS13 got one last year in 7th grade. It was more for me then him. He could use it to call me when he got back from sporting events, got done with practice, call me after school if he was going to go to a friends house, etc. It saved me a lot of unnecessary trips of the that past couple years.

The twins don't have one yet but we are thinking about getting them one when we move. I am probably going to be getting a job so it would be nice to have a way to contact them for ride pick-ups, etc. They are also going to become more active with after-school things this year so that will be handy too. With the family share plans the cell phones are cheaper then pay phones over the course of a month, that is if you can find a pay phone.

 

[Marseeya]

My DD got her's when she was 13. She was the last one in her class to have one. Everyone in our neighborhood seems to get them around 10 years old. I just think that is a little young to be that responsible.

What do you mean by responsible?

I've found that having a cell phone has taught my daughter a little more responsibility. She found ways to earn more minutes (when she was on a tracfone) and it taught her to reserve her minutes.

 

[DVC-Don]

Our two kids got their own cell phone last fall at ages 13 & 14. They've been pretty good about usage and have not gone over their time limit to date. So far they've mostly used them on weekends (free minutes) to call friends and weekdays to call us to pick them up after sports or after school activities.

 

[noodleknitter]

We have one spare phone, and are on a Cingular family plan, so it costs us $10 a month. Whoever needs it just takes it with them. It has worked out well for our family.

 

[makinorlando]

My DD got her phone when she was 6 for Christmas. It is on my plan, $10/mo, and many times over the past 3 years has gone unused for weeks. I bought it for her when she was being picked up from school a couple days a week by other mom's who on two occasions had signals crossed and FORGOT to pick her up. The school is very close to our home, and I work from home, so my thought was if she realized they had forgotten her (if she didn't see the other kids) she could call me to run over to pick her up quicker than she could get the attention of the teachers who are loading kids into the cars in car line, get someone to walk her to the office, and then use their phone. In that amount of time I could have been there. This past school year I picked her up each day, so this was no longer an issue.

Also, it is rare that I am out of the house for work during the day, but in the case that I did have to be, I would tell her to turn it on if she did not see me in the car line when she got out of school, as I would call her and let her know that I was running late due to things beyond my control. Again, this has never happened, but it was a comfort to me to know that I could reach out to her if need be.

We live in FL without any other family, and although I do have a neighbor as an emergency local contact, I can't always count on that, so this was just one more layer of comfort that I gave myself!

My entire family in PA (including DDs cousin who have more like a brother sister relationship) all have our same carrier, so she is free to call the whenever she fees like it. She is using the phone a bit more to call a couple of friends. Her phone is a ROKR phone, so it also doubles as an IPOD type device and we have downloaded the High School Musical soundtrack, Disney tunes, and other favorite songs for her to listen to.

It is also good for the times that DD rides her bike to school. She did not do this often this past year, but one day recently she wanted to ride her bike, and was with a group of kids 2 5th graders, one 4th grader (all who ride each day) - and on the way out of our neighborhood she fell - so instead of holding them up, she called me and I went to pick her up and drove her to school. It's nice to again have that extra link of communication.

All this for $10/month.

 

[DaisyD]

My now 23 y/o DD didn't get one til she could afford it herself. Back then no one really had one around here. My now 17 y/o got one when he was 15. My 7 y/o DD won't get one til she is around 15.

 

[tkd lisa]

I just switched on a 2nd cell phone for our family. DD is 14, DS will be 13 this summer. I ended up dropping our house line, and the 2nd cell phone is officially our family phone. Whichever kid is away will take it with them so I can reach them. Neither kid is allowed to take it to school (my rule, not the schools). If they start after school activities where they won't be home first, I may reconsider that one.

As someone else said, it's cheaper overall to use the cell phones now. My regular cell phone bill was about $45 for one line, and my landline was about the same. I dropped the landline, switched to a family plan (went from 450 to 700 minutes, Verizon mobile to mobile free, etc.), added two cell lines (the "family" phone and one for my mom), and my new bill is $80. So I saved $10 out of pocket, and Mom is going to give me the $10 a month her phone will cost (She was paying $15 a month for 2 hours of pre-paid).

 

[dazeddaisy]

My neices and nephew all got one around the age of 7. (they are 7, 10 and 11 now)

I have no idea why though. They never leave the house without the parents, they never go anywhere with friends, they are no in any clubs. The only time they are without a parent is at school - which is 10 houses down from them.

I do know that each child goes through about £20 a month which surprises me because I barely go through £25 and I use my phone all the time.

 

[Blondie]

Last year, my then 15 y.o. son wanted a cell phone and he bought it himself. It's a T Mobile pay as you go phone.

Just last weekend my current 15 y.o. son did the same thing.

I'm not going to pay for them to sit for hours and talk mindless chit-chat. If they want cell phones, they're paying for them. It's taught them to conserve their minutes and use them wisely! It's amazing how their attitudes change when it's their money they're spending, as opposed to mine!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

My 15 year old has had one since about 7th grade. I originally got him a prepaid phone because I wanted to be sure he wouldn't run up a couple hundred dollar cell phone bill. He did very well with it, but I was always having to add minutes to keep his minutes from expiring. I think the smallest increment I could add was $15 a month. By the time we dropped that thing he had thousands of minutes piled up. Like others, when he reached High School we added him to our Cingular plan for $10 a month.

My middle son is now entering 7th grade and will also be more involved in activities and sports away from us. I'm still deciding whether or not to get him a prepaid phone or just go ahead and add him to our plan. Our Cingular contract expires this summer. We want to switch to a carrier that has better reception at our house, so we are looking around right now.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

What do you mean by responsible?

I've found that having a cell phone has taught my daughter a little more responsibility. She found ways to earn more minutes (when she was on a tracfone) and it taught her to reserve her minutes.

I just mean that my DD10 would want to take it with her everywhere. Which is the purpose of having one I guess. She is constantly loosing things (or misplacing) around the house. I would hate for her to loose the cell phone. That's all I meant by not being responsible. She will get one at 13 just like my other DD.

 

[geffric]

My kids are 7th grade and HS freshman ( at least for another week) we got 1 cell phone for both kids to share. Whoever has the late practice / game/ boy scout event gets to take the phone.We have Nextel and added the phone for $10 per month sharing my minutes.

 

[Evil Queen]

DS10 keeps asking for one. I'm thinking of making that his 5th grade graduation gift, next year. I figure in today's world he may need one about that time, as he starts venturing out more without me.