Appropriate Age for Cell Phone?
Good morning! Looking for input on an 11 year old having a cell phone? I personally think it's too young, but my hubby wants the kid to have a way to get in touch. She's had a very basic (and used) pay month-to-month smart phone for about 6 months. She gets grounded from it at least once a month for either abusing it or misbehaving otherwise. I'm all for getting her a flip phone JUST for calling/texting, and I think he may be on board with it too. But he doesn't want her to be embarrassed and picked on for it. He made the mistake of letting her have Snapchat without us discussing (I bought the phone AND pay the bill) and needless to say, it didn't end well. With her getting off the bus and being home alone before we get home from work, I agree that she should have a way to contact us if need be. We don't have any need for a land line so that's not an option.
Thoughts?
I know, right? It's laughable
I know, right? It's laughable at this point. She's a CHILD. If he just wants her to be able to get in touch with us, that's ALL she needs. We've had so many issues with her abusing it up until this point, I told him the next time it happens, I'm going to take it outside and run over it with my car. I am SO sick of hearing about it!!
I think it's appropriate when
I think it's appropriate when the parents are willing to pay for it. Everyone will have reasons.
I had a cell phone at 12. It
I had a cell phone at 12. It was a basic trac phone but most people still had pagers then so it was awesome lol
She needs a phone to call but is not old enough for any of the social media things. A basic phone is the way to go. You can get a prepaid smart phone and have everything disabled.
I recently looked at prepaids and you can get a smartphone prepaid for $60 at bestbuy.
The phone works great! It's
The phone works great! It's her that can't follow the rules and abuses the privilege. Which is why it's been taken away from her. Now she's asking when she can get it back and what she can do. Which led my hubby and I into the conversation about a flip phone instead with JUST the basics. No internet, no social media, no nothing.
responsible children get
responsible children get cellphones IMO....
regardless their age, Aergia is 17 and still not responsible, naked pictures, racist comments on FB, nude pictures
you name it....
MY brothers son is only 8, and only use his phone to text my Bro if Bro has to pick something up after work to eat or for school project
If you go through these
If you go through these boards, there many posting on cell phones. The good, the bad, the ugly
I think my SD's got phones
I think my SD's got phones around that time.. maybe a touch older. Then again, I think it's more common for younger kids to have them as there are fewer landlines in homes these days.
SD13 got a cell phone at age
SD13 got a cell phone at age 11, with limited access. The phone lasted two years and finally died a couple months ago and she's been phone-less until last week when she got a smart phone (BM bought because SD13 was stranded one day and I just happened to run into her; a lucky break).
SD11 has a little flip phone she doesn't use, but she'll get a limited access phone like SD13 did when she started middle school. I think DH will get it for her.
I have no problem with the cell phone itself, both SDs need one because they are on their own with relatively complex commutes to/from school. It's the lack of use limitations at home I have the problem. with...and SD11's TF is going to be an ISSUE b/c TF is already filling up her flip phone with texts - and DH refuses to address the issue with TFs parents who also don't check anything...but not my issue.
I would not give a child that
I would not give a child that young a smart phone, a flip phone is all they need in my opinion.
Be careful with the
Be careful with the unfiltered access to the internet and all kinds of inappropriate apps if they do get a smartphone. DH and I are in agreement that a cellphone for SD10 is not needed at our house. BM got SD an iPhone for the 9th birthday w/o even telling DH. She is not allowed to bring it over to our house. She has tried to sneak it a few times. SD is NOT responsible and gets on TikTok and SnapChat when she is at her mom's. She posts inappropriate content. DH was floored when I showed him her videos on TikTok. There went all of her innocence he thought she had. If DH wants to parent differently though... not much you can do. I would disengage from it.
There is a device out there
There is a device out there called a Gizmo or something. It's made for kids to be able to make calls and such. I had a student (middle school age) that had one. She's able to make calls and contacts can only be added by a parent. It even looks like a smart watch.
I'd suggest looking into something specifically for children.
My SD got her first phone when she was 7/8 years old. Yup, all BM. It was a flip phone, but that quickly became an iPhone. She hardly ever kept enough charge or would answer it, so DH ended up having to call BM just to talk to SD. Wow, so much of that rings true today (she is now 14).
Also I need to mention that when SD was younger, she would flip a gasket when she couldn't find her phone (tears and everything). She would be so anxiety ridden if she had to go back to BM's and could t find her phone (or vice versa). It usually ended up falling out of her pocket and between the seats in the car.
I've heard about a campaign called 'no phone until 8' or something like that. It's agreed that the child won't get a phone (or maybe smartphone) until they're in 8th grade. There's more to it than that because I believe the campaign even has suggestions to be social without a cell phone.
We gave SS a phone in 8th
We gave SS a phone in 8th grade. And then only because it was convenient for us for coordinating pick up and drop off for sports events, social events, etc...... I got sick of waiting for what seemed an eternity for him to come out of band practice, swim practice, etc... We even tried just leaving after waiting forever and waiting for him to call from school after he found someone to let him into the office to call. That was some fun, but... eventually we got him a basic Nokia stick phone. Even then when he would call him once we arrived and had to tell him he had 5mins or we were leaving and he could walk home in the dark. We had to do that once. Though we did not go home, we went down the road and leap frogged him when he would drive past us on his 4mile hike home. He never tested the 5mins again. We never bought him a smart phone. Any phone we bought for him was pretty basic with the last one being semi-smart with no graphics and only basic calls, texts and email.
I would say balance convenience for yourself with something cheap so if the kid loses or destroys it you can replace it cheaply. If they want a smart phone... then tell them to get a job and pay for it themselves.
Good luck.