Does your riding 6th grader in public school have a phone?
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Anonymous
| If not, when will they get one? My 6th grader says everyone has one, and he wants to be able to communicate with all of these new friends who supposedly have phones. |
Anonymous
| Yes, my daughter does. I’d say half of her friends do. I wish we had waited longer to get her one. |
Anonymous
| Yes, started taking mass transit to school 40 minutes away by herself at the end of 4th grade. Got one then. |
Anonymous
| Yes. We got one when they needed it which was when we were not with them. 6th with restrictions on the phone. |
Anonymous
| Yes. Got a phone in 5th. Need a way to contact us if the bus is late, or if he wants to stop in to see a friend. |
Anonymous
| No. My kid goes to an fcps public school and he does not have a phone, nor does most of his friends. He rides his bike to school. |
Anonymous
He doesn't "need" a phone for either of those scenarios. Land the helicopter. |
Anonymous
| I line dies not and will not probably until 8th. She is getting an Iwatch for Christmas. |
Anonymous
|
Got one the summer before 6th for similar reasons as a PP. When I went to someone's house as a kid I could call from their house phone to tell my mom where I was. No one has house phones anymore. This way DC can call to say that they are going to a friend's house or a group of them are going to Starbucks or whatever the change in plans might be.
We are very locked down, it's an old iPhone 7 but zero apps, zero social media, zero internet access. DC can use the phone, text and Facetime so is still missing out on some platforms but those platforms are not meant for 11yr olds. We've talked about the fact that responsible use will lead to increased options on the phone moving into upper middle school but for now this serves its purpose. |
Anonymous
NP. You should land your helicopter first with telling others how to parent children who are theirs and not yours. |
Anonymous
Same. |
Anonymous
| We will get one as soon as DS starts riding transit or walking himself to school, which I hope will be 6th grade. There are no payphones anymore; so its necessary. |
Anonymous
| FCPS rising 6th - no phone. I would consider getting one next year (middle school, wildly different schedule from rest of family). I will probably start off without in 7th but will get if it feels like there is a need. |
Anonymous
| APS rising 6th. Apple Watch with cellular. No phone. |
Anonymous
|
My rising 6th grader just got a phone. We decided to get her one because she was taking the bus for the first time. The middle school bus was not super reliable and we like to be able to know where she is if she isn’t home by 5:00.
She is also an anxious kid and I think the phone will make her feel better. |