Kids and Cell Phones

[RainbowSprinkles]

My dd wants nothing more than to have her own phone. She has been asking me FOREVER. She loves talking on the phone. I told her today I would talk to dh and see what he says. If yes, it would be her birthday present. I would give her my current phone and of course we would have to have rules.

 

Questions:

1. Good idea for 11 year olds to have their own cell phones?

 

2. If your dc has their own phone, what are your rules?

 

3. Are there parental controls on phones?

[mommymilkies]

My 11 yo has a cheap pay as you go one. She knows to only call or text people I approve of. She has limited minutes. She has it for emergencies but rarely can text me or grandma otherwise. She is so shy, I have even tried her to get friend phone numbers and she won't, so I'm not real worried.

[txmommyofboys]

My 9 year old has a phone and has had it for about 2 years. He got it when he first started spending the night with grandparents and/or friends. He also takes it when him a his friends ride bikes or play in the field behind our house. He is NOT a phone person, so he hardly uses it. He does have an alarm set on it to remind him to brush his teeth lol.

[snowbeltmom]

Questions:

1. Good idea for 11 year olds to have their own cell phones? My 11 year old has had her phone for about a year now. It has made my life a little easier because she is now in charge of setting up her own tennis matches and swim time with her friends.

 

2. If your dc has their own phone, what are your rules? We don't really have any rules.

 

3. Are there parental controls on phones? I don't have parental controls on the phones either, but our kids' phones are the very basic models. They have text messaging, but no internet access.

 

I answered above in pink.:)

[Scarlett]

My dd wants nothing more than to have her own phone. She has been asking me FOREVER. She loves talking on the phone. I told her today I would talk to dh and see what he says. If yes, it would be her birthday present. I would give her my current phone and of course we would have to have rules.

 

Questions:

1. Good idea for 11 year olds to have their own cell phones?

 

2. If your dc has their own phone, what are your rules?

 

3. Are there parental controls on phones?

 

Ds 12 begged for a phone too....I finally relented when he turned 12. It helps me a lot....LOVE having it when we are in Wal-Mart or some other big place like the mall. He doesn't use it that much honestly. His dad, my brother, my mom all text him and he rarely responds.

[PrairieSong]

Our kids don't usually get cell phones of their own until they can drive themselves places, at age 16. I suppose we are behind the times but oh well. They have all survived. There have been times, not often, when I loaned a kid my phone for a few hours.

 

I'm sure I would have felt more pressure to get them phones at earlier ages if they were in school.

[NanceXToo]

My 11 y/o has one. She is at an age where she goes with friends to the park or to their houses or to ride bikes around the block or gets dropped off for certain activities, and I feel more comfortable knowing she can get in touch with me at any time, and I can get in touch with her at any time.

 

I don't let her keep the phone in her room at night, and until a few days ago she hadn't given her number out to anyone questionable so we've had to review that! :P

[melbotoast]

My parents have my teenage sister's phone on their family plan. I think they have Verizon. The parental controls are really good. You can set the phone to turn off at certain times, block numbers, or have certain numbers that are always allowed to call, even if the phone is "off".