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I caved: Giving my son a cell phone
Filed under: Teens, Day Care & Education, Gadgets
I finally did it. He hasn't been asking very much or for very long. His friends are now starting to get them. I have had to re-think some of my original ideas about things like cell phones. My son spends time away from both of his parents, as we are divorced. Therefore, in some ways, his having a cell phone makes a certain amount of sense. If one of us parents can't reach the other, we now have an alternative number. Sam, age 13 and a half, had started calling me from school during the afternoon to tell me about a change of plans or to ask permission to do something with friends. A cell phone eliminates the need to use the school office phone, and allows him more chances to call if he can't reach me on the first try.
But the reason I finally got him a cell phone is simple: My husband's phone started malfunctioning. When we went in to replace it, they told us that we needed to get a new plan to do that cheaply, and the new plan made introducing a third line the same price as what we had been paying monthly. In its most simple and clear terms, it no longer made financial sense NOT to have a third line. So, I picked out a moderately priced cell phone, not one that would break or become useless easily, but certainly by no means an expensive phone, and took it home.
I put it on the kitchen counter with a post-it note and then called it and asked my son what that noise in the kitchen was. He was, do I need to say it? Delighted.
We haven't run into the problems I had expected. I haven't had to tell him to use the cell phone less: I have had to insist that he carry it with him instead, because there have been a couple of times when I have tried to reach him and he didn't have it with him. He looked at me, still at that moment more child than Youth, and asked, "Oh, should I carry it with me all the time?" Yes. Unless you are going over to the playground to let your friends bury you in the sand. In that case, please leave it home.
But just in case you are wondering, I did buy insurance for the phone, in case of loss, or accident.
Do your kids have cell phones? Will you get cell phones for them when they are older? And how old is old enough?
But the reason I finally got him a cell phone is simple: My husband's phone started malfunctioning. When we went in to replace it, they told us that we needed to get a new plan to do that cheaply, and the new plan made introducing a third line the same price as what we had been paying monthly. In its most simple and clear terms, it no longer made financial sense NOT to have a third line. So, I picked out a moderately priced cell phone, not one that would break or become useless easily, but certainly by no means an expensive phone, and took it home.
I put it on the kitchen counter with a post-it note and then called it and asked my son what that noise in the kitchen was. He was, do I need to say it? Delighted.
We haven't run into the problems I had expected. I haven't had to tell him to use the cell phone less: I have had to insist that he carry it with him instead, because there have been a couple of times when I have tried to reach him and he didn't have it with him. He looked at me, still at that moment more child than Youth, and asked, "Oh, should I carry it with me all the time?" Yes. Unless you are going over to the playground to let your friends bury you in the sand. In that case, please leave it home.
But just in case you are wondering, I did buy insurance for the phone, in case of loss, or accident.
Do your kids have cell phones? Will you get cell phones for them when they are older? And how old is old enough?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
6-02-2007 @ 11:16AM
tlspencer said...My kids have had a cell for two years now. They are 16 and 14. I used to get laughed at for saying it was mostly for *my* peace of mind. Everyone would go on about how *we* used to run all over the countryside when we were kids and no one ever worried until it got dark. Well, you just don't let kids do that these days. And when things come up, like my daughters bus leaving school late for whatever reason, she can now tell me and I don't worry that something happened on the way home from the stop. And of course, by now, almost every one of her friends have them too, and with our particular service provider, we now get unlimited text messaging from ALL other services and instant message programs etc, and her freidns parents have added that feature as well if their plan offers it. So no worrying about bills being run up. They text instead of talk about 99% of the time now so they don't use up the whole family's available minutes. The plans seem to get cheaper with more features every year or so, so it made sense for us also, as it didn't raise our original bill by much, only $15 to add BOTH their phones two years ago. And recently when the unlimited texting came about, we changed to a different plan, and the bill still went up only $20. And $15 of THAT was for my own new phone, as I now get mobile web and video including news shows etc. So overall, it's still a financial no-brainer for most.
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6-07-2007 @ 4:36PM
gvforstall said...We gave our daughter a cell phone whan she was 10, probably among the first in her age group to have her own.
It may seem as if we spoiled her, but in reality, with two working parents and a child with a busy school and after-school schedule, it made sense. Any change in one of our plans could potentially send a wave of disruption downstream, so keeping in communication was essential.
Her phone use was discreet in those early years...probably because few others had one. Once the cell phones became mainstream among her peers, cell use increased dramatically. I shifted phone plans to accomodate the additional usage times being logged by the newest female (lol).
The latest issue to deal with now is "texting". Not sure why kids find it logical to waste time keying in nonsense, when a simple (and less expensive) voice call would suffice. It's most annoying to hear her "ring tone" announce that yet another useless banter awaits her response!
Right now as she enters her teens, phone usage is less of a problem than her constantly misplacing it!
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