Cell phones for kids...
How young is too young for a child to get a cell phone? Michael got his when he was in 5th or 6th grade which was 10 or ll years old. Matt is now asking for a phone and he is 7. The difference is he hangs around with a couple of kids in the neighborhood who are 9 and they both have phones, so he wants one too.
I recently got myself a Blackberry and my older LG Flip phone had some games that Matt plays on it so I "gave" him the phone to play the games and listen to a couple of songs & pictures that were saved to the phone's memory. He thinks it is his "phone" and takes it everywhere. We have explained to him that it is only for games and a few songs/pictures, but he thinks of it as his phone. We explained over and over again that it doesn't have calling on it and he has finally figured that out and is now asking for it to work as a phone.
We have a neighbor who's son is 7 (close to 8) and just got a phone. I have been trying to catch his Mom on the line to find out what was the deciding factor on getting him the phone, but I haven't caught her yet.
Matt has been very careful with the phone and when it is out of his sight he goes looking for it. He only lost it once for about half an hour and turned over his room to find it (he even fixed the room it once found too.)
What do you think?
Posted in: on Monday, September 29, 2008 at at 6:34 PM
Tough call, Sheryl. I am still a bit old fashioned and can't seem to get used to seeing elementary school aged kids with cell phones. But I know that lots of them have them. I think if they need one, they should have one. But if it's just a status symbol, it's a waste. Usually at that age they are with an adult at all times anyway. That said, I know it's not unusual for kids to have them now and I'm just an old fuddy duddy. :)