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Cell phones for teens for Christmas? What think ye?


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I am considering giving my 2 kids who are in PS cell phones for Christmas (the other 2 don't want them). DH will have to agree, and he always goes along with my choices for gifts, so I don't anticipate a problem.

 

Here are my considerations (not in order of importance):

 

1. Our home phone is broken. We go through 3-4 of these every year (the cheap $12 AT&T ones). I don't like talking on the phone or hearing it ring, so I haven't replaced it lately. When it does work, I turn off the ringer a lot of the time, so it is rendered useless anyway. Okay, I have issues with the land line, but this has to be considered.

 

2. DD has her own phone, but it is in the play area outside her room because we can't afford to hire an electrician to wire her room. She forgets to charge it and doesn't use it, because she prefers my cell.

 

3. Adding 2 cell phones will cost very little extra money per month on the family plan we are already using. We would spend that money on these kids for Christmas anyway and this is a gift they would (a) love, and (b) be shocked to receive (the surprise factor is important to me).

 

4. It would be great if DD and DS1 could receive calls from their friends on their own phones. Then it wouldn't matter if the other phone is broken and I wouldn't have to listen to the phone ring off the hook. Also, they would no longer receive calls on my cell phone.

 

5. I can see the convenience of them having a cell phone to communicate with me when we are not in the same place.

 

6. DD's teacher asked who in the class had a cell phone and DD was the only one who did not (out of 30 kids). She was appalled by this, and has wanted a cell phone for years. BUT none of my kids ever even remotely needed a cell phone when they were younger.

 

7. DH rarely uses his cell phone (he also has a car phone), but he won't let the kids borrow it because they mess around with his settings and if he doesn't like what they've done, he doesn't know how to change it back. He gets in a tizzy and does not want to learn how to do this. His phone, his rules, IMO.

 

8. If the kids lose their cell phones, they will have to earn the money to buy new ones. This is a concern mainly with DD, who is careless with possessions.

 

9. If the kids go over their allotment for text messages and minutes, they will have to pay for it out of their money, or lose their phones until they can do so. I plan to be really strict about keeping track of extra charges -- we can look up acummulated charges on our provider's website every day.

 

10. I will put the chargers in my bedroom so the kids don't stay up half the night talking to their friends instead of sleeping.

 

11. DD cannot hear me when she is in her bedroom and I call her from downstairs. Instead of hauling my arthritic self up the stairs, I could call her on her cell. (In our house, there are two bedrooms from which I cannot hear anything, and vice-versa, from downstairs.)

 

I've practically convinced myself that this is a great idea.

 

Can you all think of any negatives?

 

Thanks,

RC

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I am going to agree with you here, not give you arguments against.

 

We gave our older two cell phones and got rid of our land line about 1 1/2 years ago, and have never looked back. I love the ease of it, and that I can almost always get in touch with them, if need be.

 

The only problem I have is getting them to remember to charge their phones! Good luck with your decision! :001_smile:

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I was so against cell phones for kids, then I gave in to the peer pressure. yes, all the other kids had them but my teen girls.

 

Now the bad. I am SO glad they have phones of their own. We no longer use the land line at all. I call them on their phones anytime I want them. I call them on the phone for dinner, grammar, biology... I don't worry about dropping them off for swim practice where they are sometimes let out early without notice.

 

My dd who doesn't keep up with her possessions has never lost her phone. It is far too important to her. Suggestion here, make them keep the phone set on a ring. Do not allow vibrate. That way, you can find the phone if it does get lost.

 

Two other suggestions. one, get unlimited texting. This is what they will use the most. It is very worth the price. Two, block the second party billing. You have to ask specifically for it to be blocked. These companies are unscrupulous and sneaky. If it is blocked from their phones, it won't happen. Personally, I strongly feel that third party billing should be illegal.

 

negatives. Honestly, I can't think of any.

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Sounds like a winning idea for everyone, as long as the phones don't get misplaced.

We're discussing when to ditch the landline and allow almost everyone to have their own cell phone. As long as the minutes are respected, it's a good idea IMO. For teens I would suggest unlimited texting. I think it's an additional $5/mo on our family plan. I text more than talk, so it's useful.

If you choose to keep the landline, you can buy a phone set where an extension has to be plugged into any outlet. The primary phone (can be silenced!) must be plugged into phone jack to work, though. We have six phones and only two primary jacks. The rest are extensions.

 

Merry Christmas! (already!)

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My 17yo has had a cellphone since she was 14. That's when she started babysitting (not only for us, but for other families) and I wanted her to be able to reach us (or 911!) if she needed to do so.

 

She also started taking classes at the community college at 15 and I wanted her to be able to call us if her class ended early and we needed to pick her up early, etc.

 

Now that she's driving, a cellphone is a necessity, as we live in the boonies and if her car broke down, or if she was driving at night, I would want her to be able to call us.

 

My daughter doesn't 'text', so we don't have that feature, but most teens live by it. And she can't use it while driving -- our state just made that against the law for teens.

 

Now our oldest son is 14...and we haven't bought him a cellphone because he doesn't really "go" anywhere. If he's playing sports, his dad is with him and he doesn't really "hang out" (he's an introvert, what can I say?)

 

When he starts driving, or if he starts taking classes or going to sporting events without us being there, then he'll need one.

 

We don't give out cellphones without there being a legitimate reason to have them.

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I think you've thought it out carefully and sounds good to me.

Each of our 4 kids received a phone for their 16th birthday. The girls are older, so they got phones in their room. Our sons got cell phones. I have heard some pretty awful stories from my friends who are parents of girls who abused their phone privileges. My sons rarely did and if they did, the bill was theirs. We chose to pay for the phone plans because if the boys didn't answer when we called them, they lost their phones. eventually they began asking for text messaging privileges, but I waited to get it until they were graduated form High school and had some extra income to support the extra charges. Worked really well for us and gave us lots of peace of mind when they started driving.

 

We still use a land phone tho. I am holding out for better reception on the cell phone since I do all the "business" kind of stuff in our house and I couldn't imagine talking with a bank or insurance person on a cell phone. We get lousy reception on our lower level and that is where my computer and stuff is.

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We got our son a cell phone when he got his license. A cell phone is a must in my opinion for anyone driving (it's just safer in my opinion).

 

We all share minutes, so I do ask that he use the landline when home except for long distance because cell phone long distance is free. It only cost $10 to add my phone and another $10 for Aaron's. The phones were actually free.

 

We pay his cell phone bill, but if he were to break or lose the cell phone, he would have to pay it. I've considered having him start paying his cell phone bill, but since he is going to pay for college, it's really not much for us to contribute.

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My 11 year old has a cell phone. Granted it was an extra my dh had, he tried to have separate phones for biz and personal use. That was too much of a hassle. We love it ds having it. When he is next door we can simply call him home instead of calling their house, they never answer their phone over there.

 

At this point he doesn't call people on the phone except us and the only other person he want to talk to his my mom.

 

We have a home phone simply because it came in the cable bundle otherwise we use our cell exclusively.

 

The charger stays in dh's home office and he is only allowed to have it when he leaves the house.

 

I think its a win/win for now. We haven't taught him to text yet.

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We gave our oldest two kids cell phones for Christmas last year. It has been really nice to be able to get in touch with them any time anywhere--even if it's across Walmart. They have not gone over on minutes at all and I feel safer with them having cell phones once they are driving or going places with friends very often. All 16yodd wanted for her birthday this year was for us to enable texting on her phone. We gave her six months with the possibility of more. Oldest ds gave his cell phone to youngest ds just before leaving for boot camp. Now 11yodd is dying to have one, but we've told her she can't until she's at least 13. She'd be the one to talk and text too much.

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All my kids have cell phones. Gosh I don't know how our parents survived without them!! I LOVE being able to call my kids while they are out and just hear their voices!

 

FWIW, I gave dd one for Christmas one year as a surprise. We didn't put the box right with the regular gifts. We charged the phone the night before, and, while it was in the box, we called it. It was the last gift and it was such a surprise when it started ringing and we let her open it. I loved it!

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FWIW, I gave dd one for Christmas one year as a surprise. We didn't put the box right with the regular gifts. We charged the phone the night before, and, while it was in the box, we called it. It was the last gift and it was such a surprise when it started ringing and we let her open it. I loved it!

 

I owe you big time for that idea. What do you want? My firstborn child? I'll throw in a few extra kids, too, as a bonus. :D

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FWIW, I gave dd one for Christmas one year as a surprise. We didn't put the box right with the regular gifts. We charged the phone the night before, and, while it was in the box, we called it. It was the last gift and it was such a surprise when it started ringing and we let her open it. I loved it!

 

i did this with DS 14 last christmas also. a cell phone was not something he had even asked for (because he just assumed i'd never do it) so it was a total way cool surprise. i knew he would be going to public school the following august and since he'd be commuting, i wanted him to have a phone. we share an account but i have so many rollover minutes that i don't worry at this point about overage charges.

 

phones for children do not have to have internet or text messaging access. i had these features disabled on my son's account. it's a simple phone call to customer service or at least with AT&T it is. i monitor internet access at home; for a multitude of family reasons, he will not be having unrestricted internet on his phone for a long, long time.

 

unless you buy an unlimited package for texting, i think you're setting yourself up for a headache when you enable texting. the service charges for messages sent AND received. your child may be responsible for the amount of messages they text but they have no control over their friends and you pay for the messages whether you read them or not. i have a few friends who went into sticker shock when they saw the texting charges on the bill - i'm talking hundreds of dollars here!

 

ds 15 is in his first year of public school. not having these features on his phone doesn't seem to impact his social life at all. if he wants those features, he'll have to pay for his own account. at some point that may become important for him but for right now, he'd rather spend his money on video games!

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We are a cell-only family. I am very happy with the arrangement, and I do not see it changing. When the time comes that my children are attending more outside activities alone, I will provide phones for them also so they can call home if they need. I have not set an age for this yet, but I believe I will know when it is time. I have enjoyed reading this thread and hearing your suggestions.

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This is the negative I have noticed. We were at a birthday party for my niece who is 13. She could not stay in the pool for 5 minutes at a time without getting out, drying off her hands and texting. Her mother finally had to take the phone away and put it in the car. So, I guess it can become addicting like computers and television. As long as you keep an eye out for this, they will be fine.

 

Paula

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