I see many kids in middle school running around with their own smart phones. I would not be surprised if some elementary school aged kids have them. My 5 year old which is in kindergarten this year already asked for his own which is obviously preposterous. I told him he can get a phone when he pays for it himself. About what age do you think kids should get their own phone?
Does going to school count as going somewhere by themselves? He rides the bus everyday. How about riding their bike around the block?
I got my son a cell phone when he was 7. I bought it for him so I could talk to him on weekends that he visited his mom.That was the only time I gave him access to the phone. She was notorious about not answering my calls to her cell or not paying the phone bill for the landline. Granted, this was 10 years ago, so it wasn't a smart phone. This was a cheap net 10 phone. If that situation hadn't presented itself, I'd say 11 or 12 years old if the child was responsible.
We aren't going to until the start to drive. We'll make our kids have a pre-pay phone and pay for it themselves. But, I think we're trying to go old school, "you want it, you earn it", know what I mean?
It's a parental decision. Every kid is different. As a high school teacher, even in a rural area, almost all students have them, even low income families. Some are responsible enough to know when to use them, but most are not. Having a cellphone for a means to contact your child is one thing. A full fledged iPhone 5 or Galaxy is another. If my yet to be born children want whatever the equivalent of a smartphone today is, they better be ready to pay for it themsleves. It's a want not a need, therefore it should be earned.
We gave our daughter one when she was 8. We want her to be able to contact us at any point she feels like she needs to. It's a hand me down Iphone 3gs. I have the internet disabled on it. Ideally I would have preferred to wait a few more years, but she goes places and does things with her friends, and we really do feel that it's important for her to be able to call or text us if she needs to.
One comment I have is that when I was young there was a payphone on everycorner so if you needed something you could always call. These days those payphones are gone. Man, am I old.
I think you nailed it. These thing are expensive to own and if its just a toy, shut it off. Every month when the bill comes in I question if I really have to have one. $200 a month (for my wife and I) would be a serious investment plan if you put that into stocks or funds. I shut mine off for a few years when I realized it wasn't making me any money. Great question though. I think their marketing fills us with fear about your wife breaks down at night in her car or your child needing you. For the most part that would never happen. IMO. But it sells cell ph.
My parents don't like cell phones, they both have them but only calling not texting or anything. My 16 YearOLD sister doesn't even have one. I'll probably get one in collage no sooner than that.
My almost 9 year old is hounding me for a phone. I gave her an iPod touch as a test last year and to my surprise she had it for 11 months before accidentally dropping and breaking the screen. I thought for sure she would have lost it after a few weeks. Nice part was she could text and make calls from it as long as she was connected via wifi. Because of her responsibility with it I feel much better about getting her a phone soon. Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2
We got our daughter 1 when she started spending the nights @ friends houses. which was about 8 y/o. It only added 19$ to our plan and i can see everything she does. The gps feature is nice also. The next step is getting a micro chip implanted in her.
I almost feel like a tyrant. My wife and I made each of our 3 kids wait until the age of 12 before a cell phone and no smart phone until they can pay for the cost of the phone and the data plan.
My nine year old has been bugging me. To be honest, 2 years ago I would have said 12 or so. Now I am leaning towards maybe sometimes next year at the conclusion of 4th grade. He does have a buddy whose parents are divorced and he has a phone for the reason mentioned earlier. I pick him up everyday after school, but if he was riding a bus, I would probably get him one now. I did have an incident a few months ago where the school sent him and his younger brother home on the bus instead of afterschool and I would have been nice if he could call me instead of panic. luckily a neighbor/friend called me.
I got mine entering 6th grade and I think that is a reasonable age to get a kid a cell phone. I had just started going off and doing things on my own around then. It was not a smart phone by any means- just a little Nokia flip phone. I do have a smart phone now though.
i got mine when i really started hanging out so around 5th grade for me. now in highschool i spent a good deal with my friends and it is nice to stay intouch
The real question is what coins were you carrying >just in case<? Or the classic 'reverse the charges'...good times. We paid the service for our oldest, but made him buy the phone. After he was irresponsible and did some stupid stuff, we kicked him off the family plan and made him go to pay per use. The new policy is- you want it, you pay the phone cost AND the monthly service bill. But we do have a default "in case of emergency" pay per use phone they can take on field trips, friends houses, etc.
