Getting my kids a cell phone to share---can't believe I'm doing this. Need advice.

[Anonymous]

I'm finally getting my kids a phone that they will need to share. Each one (2 kids) needs it for after school on different days. I was going to get a tracfone and buy minutes as needed. My DH and I are on Sprint (we pay for my phone and his is corporate). Spring is running a new deal where you get 2 lines for $100 (not including paying for a phone, taxes and insurance). I don't really want to get my kids a dataphone (as I feel they don't need it at this point--they are almost 10 and almost 12). Meanwhile the phones that don't have data (at sprint) were as expensive as the bottom of the line data phone. With Tracfone, I'm not really sure what I am getting, and when you just look at monthly costs it comes out to be almost as much as Sprint (for anything except a plan for $19.00). On the other hand, a dataphone now would mean I would not be harped on to upgrade their phone in a year. Anyone BTDT? What did you choose?

[Anonymous]

I got my kid a smartphone with data at age 8, but I specifically wanted her to be able to do certain things that used the data plan. Everything else, I controlled pretty tightly with a service called kajeet. When making a fairly large or expensive purchase, I typically choose to buy whatever can most easily be adapted to continue to meet growing/changing needs over time, so I would just get the smartphone and turn off data on the phonr itself if you don't want them to use it at all.

[Anonymous]

We use Republic Wireless. You can get no data plan for $15/mo unlimited text and talk. You do have to have a specific phone to use with their service. you can either buy it through them or get your own. Check out their website.

We checked out several options, including a tracphone where you buy your own prepaid card, but went with republic wireless in the end.

[Anonymous]

Why does an 8 or 9 year old NEED a phone?

In our house, they get 'em when they hit middle school. With email and texting, it is pretty hard to share a phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does an 8 or 9 year old NEED a phone?

In our house, they get 'em when they hit middle school. With email and texting, it is pretty hard to share a phone.

My oldest is going into middle school and is not getting a phone. Doesn't need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does an 8 or 9 year old NEED a phone?

In our house, they get 'em when they hit middle school. With email and texting, it is pretty hard to share a phone.

OP here. My 9 yr old needs a phone for MY sanity (right or wrong--I know there will be some on DCUM who will call my a helicopter mom). She has to cross a busy street after school to get to another building where I will meet her with my DS. It will only be 15-20 minutes, but I would like to know she made it into the building. My other child will use to to let me know where he is after his after school activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does an 8 or 9 year old NEED a phone?

In our house, they get 'em when they hit middle school. With email and texting, it is pretty hard to share a phone.

OP here. My 9 yr old needs a phone for MY sanity (right or wrong--I know there will be some on DCUM who will call my a helicopter mom). She has to cross a busy street after school to get to another building where I will meet her with my DS. It will only be 15-20 minutes, but I would like to know she made it into the building. My other child will use to to let me know where he is after his after school activity.

OP again, which is why I was originally leaning towards a talk and text phone only.

[Anonymous]

I started my children with a non-data phone on a pay-as-you-go service. If they broke the rules, they lost the phone. I didn't want to be locked into a plan or have paid for an expensive phone if that happened, because I didn't want that to be part of the issue.

After a year of the non-data phone with no major broken rules, they get a data phone on a pay-as-you-go plan. I keep the non-data phones because if they break the rules with their data phones, they still need phones for emergencies. Have only needed the backup for one of my kids. I intend to keep the pay-as-you-go plans. I think it helps the kids to know I am not trapped in a plan, that I could turn off their phone immediately with no penalty.

[Anonymous]

I think my 5th grader "needed" a phone because she started commuting to school and after school activities via public transportation by herself. I get that our generation didn't have such conveniences, but it exists now and it gives me a ton of peace of mind to have her be able to text me. I also want her to have the ability to call if something unexpected happens (like a bus breaks down or she misses a stop or whatever). Maybe this is a city v suburb thing but practically all her classmates had phones in 5th grade. Since me and DH have verizon, we just gave her one of our old smart phones when it was time for us to upgrade and added her to our plan. We have, however, only given her a tiny tiny tiny amount of data. The price to add her wasn't bad at all. And if she wants to use the online stuff for fun she has to do it somewhere where there is wifi. The tiny, tiny amount of data we have given is expressly for the purpose of her being able to use the "map/location" apps should she ever get lost. Things are working out for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started my children with a non-data phone on a pay-as-you-go service. If they broke the rules, they lost the phone. I didn't want to be locked into a plan or have paid for an expensive phone if that happened, because I didn't want that to be part of the issue.

After a year of the non-data phone with no major broken rules, they get a data phone on a pay-as-you-go plan. I keep the non-data phones because if they break the rules with their data phones, they still need phones for emergencies. Have only needed the backup for one of my kids. I intend to keep the pay-as-you-go plans. I think it helps the kids to know I am not trapped in a plan, that I could turn off their phone immediately with no penalty.

OP here. I didn't really think of it that way. We would have rules for phone usage. Do your kids pay for any part of it (monthly for the phone or anything)? I was thinking of taking the cost of the phone (like the tracfone's I saw at Safeway) and having my kids pay a small monthly fee towards the phone. I was thinking $max of $5/month until the phone is paid off. The phones I was looking at ranged from $9 to $60. Not that I can't afford to just buy the phone. DH and I want to do this to have them take some responsibility for the privilege of having a phone.

[Anonymous]

I got my kid a Tracfone. It cost $5 on Amazon, then I buy the time which I think is $20 for 90 days of service. It winds up costing me about $7/month. I got the phone with triple minutes, and they carry over, so we never run out of minutes.

I love that it is so cheap that I don't worry about him losing it. And it has been adequate for our needs - he can call me or text me if he needs to. While I think the phone has the ability to connect to the internet, it is so cumbersome to use and my kid just understands that he is not to try to connect to the internet that way. He only uses for calling me when necessary - he does not use it to text with his friends.

[Anonymous]

I'd start with a cheap throw away phone like the other poster suggested with Republic. Just make sure you can put a tracker on it. I would absolutely get a phone for a younger kid for you sanity. If the school allowed it, my lilt one would have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got my kid a Tracfone. It cost $5 on Amazon, then I buy the time which I think is $20 for 90 days of service. It winds up costing me about $7/month. I got the phone with triple minutes, and they carry over, so we never run out of minutes.

I love that it is so cheap that I don't worry about him losing it. And it has been adequate for our needs - he can call me or text me if he needs to. While I think the phone has the ability to connect to the internet, it is so cumbersome to use and my kid just understands that he is not to try to connect to the internet that way. He only uses for calling me when necessary - he does not use it to text with his friends.

Not OP - but got a question on tracphones and prepaid cards. Don't you still have to sign up with some wireless cell service, like Sprint, to be able to make a call? There's a service fee for this, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does an 8 or 9 year old NEED a phone?

In our house, they get 'em when they hit middle school. With email and texting, it is pretty hard to share a phone.

I'm poster 15:26. My 8 year old did not need a phone by my definition of need. However, both she and I wanted her to have it because it made life much more convenient for both of us.
- It was getting difficult to have my work schedule line up exactly with her school schedule, however having her stay home alone for between 25-45 minutes after school until I got home worked out almost perfectly. We did not have a landline phone at home, and I was not comfortable with her staying home alone with no means of contacting me, another approved adult, or emergency services if needed.

- She started wanting to walk a few blocks to the park by herself, wander around the mall alone while I was shopping for something "boring", or go to the little shopette on the corner and use her allowance to buy some little trinket or candy or whatever. While I know that we all did this with no safety net or means of immediate contact with an adult, given the somewhat altered expectations for child supervision these days I felt better sending her with a phone *just in case*, and I couldn't just give her mine to take because then I wouldn't have one for her to call. My instructions to her were basically "I know you're capable of handling most things on your own. If, however, something happens that you consider an emergency and don't know how to deal with, or if any busybody adults question why you're on your own, you can call me."

-About halfway through third grade we started doing loosely supervised trial runs of her using the city bus system on her own, and by fourth she was able to travel solo or with certain friends to pre-approved destinations requiring a bus trip. The phone allowed her to get text-based tracking of bus arrivals, use our data plan or the mobile app to navigate her way through any detours or delays, and occasionally use google maps (or, rarely, a text to me or her older sisters) to get herself un-lost. I also wouldn't have been comfortable allowing her this much freedom if I didn't know we had a way of keeping in touch just in case.

- Giving her an independent means of communication with family members scattered across the country, and especially with her older sister in college, was a particularly nice side benefit.

- On-the-go access (and ability to add her own stuff) to our family Google calendar and Google-based organization system was by no means essential but really quite convenient

By age 12, the phone had many more uses and I had greatly relaxed the restrictions placed on her internet access and data usage.

[Anonymous]

Tracfone is the easiest and cheapest thing. You do not have to sign up for some other service like Sprint, ATT, etc. You simply buy the cheapy phone and add cheap minutes to it only as needed. I use one as an adult. If you don't talk on it much, it is much less expensive than other options.

Soon enough you will be arguing with your kid about whether they "need" something more, with data etc., but for now Tracfone.