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

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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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