Phone for 5th grader?
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Anonymous
| My 5th grade DS has been asking for a phone and claims that almost all of his friends have one. I have resisted because I'm trying to stay as low tech as we can for as long as we can. He has a wii and Xbox (which he doesn't play that often) so I'm not totally puritanical. Am I totally out of touch? |
Anonymous
| I hate to say it but I think a lot of kids that age do have them, if for no other reason than the parents want to be able to reach them. I think you can hold out for another year, though, and when you do give it make sure that you are checking it regularly to see who he's calling and what he's texting. |
Anonymous
| I am embarrassed to admit that my 8 year old has a cell phone. My older kids didn't get a phone until they were 12. We caved with our youngest. And honestly, most of his friends have a cell. They text back and forth constantly. |
Anonymous
| Someone on this board recently posted something that made me really re-consider my stance, and that was to point out that there really aren't pay phones around anymore. |
Anonymous
|
Make him come up with an argument better than "all of my friends have one".
This is the rule at home. If they can convince me with a good argument they get it. And they need a way more than "everybody does/has/goes" |
Anonymous
| My 5th grader also wants one. Many of her friends have them. We've said not now, but we will consider it as her 6th grade graduation gift. If she gets one, though, it is going to come with a lot of strings attached & very little expectation of privacy. |
Anonymous
|
By fifth grade lots of kids had them, especially if their parents were divorced, but we started with the start of middle school. We tie it to more grown up behavior. My son has to get himself up and then complete his entire morning routine in time to leave for the school bus. If he's successful, he gets the phone as he's leaving in the morning. If I have to get him up or prompt him to stay on task, no phone for the day. I figure if you're grown up enough for a phone, you have to act like it.
If/When you do get your child a phone, I found that the first few months required some monitoring to be sure he was appropriate. Like, if you text someone and they don't text back in two minutes, it's not ok to text again. And, initially, the language between the kids required some discussion. |
Anonymous
| My 12 yr old DD has a phone. It is not a cool phone. It doesn't have a keyboard so texting is a real pain, although if she was desperate she could do it. We got her this phone 2 years. She wanted one so badly and I needed to be able to contact her. The novelty wore off after about 2 month. I had to make her carry it around. (It's really for my benefit, right?) Then she would forget for months at a time. Now she is lobbying for a phone with a keyboard. We are going to get her an Iphone 3G w/ a 200MB data plan. We will need to implement parental controls. The rules of the house are that she leaves the phone in the kitchen at night. No taking it to bed with her! Stay tuned for my s/o concerning DS! |
Anonymous
| My 5th grader has a phone. I have found it to be very convenient to get in touch with her. And we have several rules one being that she must turn it on immediately afterschool and call or text me. And I frequently monitor her texts and calls. Today it was especially helpful since her school was one of the DC schools on lockdown and she was able to contact me shortly after and let me know what had happened. Even though there is a social aspect to it, don't overlook the safety aspect of staying in touch. |
Anonymous
| I often wonder about the safety aspect- are we giving ourselves a false sense of security? If the child is really hurt, they can't call, if they are abducted, they can't call/text, if they are at school and we are across town at work, what can we do to help them? I'm not trying to be negative, just wondering how the phone helps, especially at a young age when parents are working and more than 10 minutes away. |
Anonymous
|
Check out this common sense media tip sheet. There are lots of other great resources on this site about managing a cell phone/texting, and all media.
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/when-should-you-get-your-kid-cell-phone |
Anonymous
I don't think anyone is saying it's the only solution for keeping kids safe; a phone can't keep kids safe they have to learn common sense to keep themselves safe when they are not with you. The phone helps you keep in touch with them and if you enable the GPS you can know where they are as well. |
Anonymous
| We got my 5th grader a phone because he was attending soccer practices where I would drop him off. In case there was a problem, he could always contact me. Our rule was if you were going somewhere without me, there was a need (ie. a party, practice, after school activity) then it wa sfine with us. |
Anonymous
| Hmm...I would have to say if all her friends have phones then DC DOESN'T need a phone. Who cares if there are no pay phones around...she can just use one of her friends phones. Did our parents have to get into contact with us all the time? They just said meet me here at this time and that is where we met them. If they are at a friends house why can't we just call the mother of the friend? I will be holding out as long as possible. I think maybe highschool but before that...not necessary. |
Anonymous
How old is DC? |