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Filed under: Preschoolers, Gadgets
I'm always worried about letting my kid play with my cell phone -- because I know that, sooner or later, she's bound to call a number I'd rather she didn't.
Like 911 for instance. That's the number a 4-year-old girl from suburban Chicago called 287 times in June -- sometimes up to 20 times in a single shift -- before authorities could track her down. Because the girl was using a deactivated cell phone, dispatchers could only track the phone's signal to her apartment complex, but couldn't tell exactly which unit it was coming from.
Finally, they convinced the girl to give up her address by pretending to be a delivery service, and offering to bring her McDonald's. She agreed, and the dispatchers sent police by the apartment, who alerted the girl's mother to situation.
She promptly took the phone away -- hopefully for good.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
7-06-2007 @ 12:26PM
nicolebarber said...I'm at a loss of words.... this mind blowing
Reply
7-06-2007 @ 1:54PM
Stephanie said...This is why you lock a cell phone before giving it to a child. They can dial all they want, but unless they manage to unlock it, they can't make a call.
Or, if it's just as a toy, remove the battery! No sound effects, but still fun.
Reply
7-06-2007 @ 3:27PM
Tricia said...I guess I'm the only one who thought of REMOVING the battery before giving my kids our old cell phones??
Reply
7-06-2007 @ 2:50PM
Uly said...Hah. It took my 3-year-old (almost 4 at the time, but still!) niece a grand total of three days of "borrowing" my phone to work out how to unlock it.
Reply
7-06-2007 @ 3:58PM
Jessica said...Yeah, my one year old can turn on (and off) our phones (different models!), and take them out of airplane mode. I just stopped giving mine to her. She has a pretend one that works pretty well.
Reply
7-07-2007 @ 6:49PM
Uncle Roger said...I want to know what model phone this was. I can't imagine the parent was charging it for her, so that's a pretty darn impressive battery life.
We let the kids play with our old ones a bit but, honestly, they like the colorful play ones better.
Reply
7-10-2007 @ 6:08PM
Mandy said...Sad on SO many levels....
So the kid called 911 repeatedly -- bad enough -- then gave a total stranger, over the phone, directions to her house because he offered to bring her a Happy Meal?!?!?!
Hope that mom is proud of herself.
I REALLY hope someone taught the kid when to take advantage of emergency numbers, AND to never ever EVER give a person directions to her house because she might get some chicken nuggets and a toy.
Reply