When to get cell phone?
Friday, October 9, 2009 at 11:40AM Dear Mothering Heights,
Although my children, ages 4 and 6, are years away from needing or getting a cell phone, they have started asking! I keep telling them they need to learn to read first. But soon they will be reading and I will need to come up with a better answer. I'm thinking it would be a nice high school graduation present?
Too Soon for Tech
Laguna Beach, CA
Dear Too Soon for Tech,
Thanks to the mom who gave her six-year old an Iphone, I have been dealing with this dilemma for years. When my eight year old started doing an after school activity and had to take a new bus, I caved and loaned her my phone in case she needed to call home. Of course, this led to the acquisition of a family phone for sleepovers and after school activities. I have stressed that this is not their phone and is to be used only for emergencies. Obviously, that talk worked well. Last week, my seven year old was on the school bus texting her friends.
When will my kids have their own phone? When they can help pay for it with either an allowance or job. I am afraid of the whole texting during homework, dinner and bedtime dilemma. If I had had a phone when I was a teenager, my grades would have been horrific.
Why not move the cell phone deadlines up to when they can drive? By then, cell phone technology will surely involve a chip in the head with a three-way speaker for efficient eavesdropping.
Reader Comments (1)
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