socal78
Well-known member
Parents - when would (or did) you allow your child to have their first cell phone?
It has been a topic of discussion lately at Chez SoCal. We make daily use of walkie-talkies when picking up the 7 year old from school after a school year last year where we had several confusing scenarios involving not knowing where the other was resulting in a breakdown into tears. It has been much better now with our improved communication - much more efficient. So much so that we take them out all the time to large stores or outings where we think there's a chance we could become separated and need to find our way back. However, the range only goes so far and there has been a couple times we wanted to reach other and couldn't due to inadequate reception. That obviously lead to our next line of thinking - the cell phone. I seem to recall a commercial several years back about a kids' phone that was very simplified, with a few "memory dial"-looking buttons so the child is restricted to just the important, necessary numbers. I think something like that would be ideal but I guess it's not an option with our carrier, plan, or whatever... I don't think they even make them anymore. I've been thinking of just doing a regular cell phone. I see quite a few other kids with them. (They do NOT take them into the classroom. Everything is left outside in their backpacks, so there wouldn't be an issue with distractions.) So, I know some of you Irvine parents DO give them to your kids. On one hand I feel like it's too early and it would be too easily misplaced or viewed as a toy but on the other hand, I can easily see there are times it would come in handy in which I would never regret having got one for "SoCal03". If you've already had this talk - How old were they and what were the rules?
It has been a topic of discussion lately at Chez SoCal. We make daily use of walkie-talkies when picking up the 7 year old from school after a school year last year where we had several confusing scenarios involving not knowing where the other was resulting in a breakdown into tears. It has been much better now with our improved communication - much more efficient. So much so that we take them out all the time to large stores or outings where we think there's a chance we could become separated and need to find our way back. However, the range only goes so far and there has been a couple times we wanted to reach other and couldn't due to inadequate reception. That obviously lead to our next line of thinking - the cell phone. I seem to recall a commercial several years back about a kids' phone that was very simplified, with a few "memory dial"-looking buttons so the child is restricted to just the important, necessary numbers. I think something like that would be ideal but I guess it's not an option with our carrier, plan, or whatever... I don't think they even make them anymore. I've been thinking of just doing a regular cell phone. I see quite a few other kids with them. (They do NOT take them into the classroom. Everything is left outside in their backpacks, so there wouldn't be an issue with distractions.) So, I know some of you Irvine parents DO give them to your kids. On one hand I feel like it's too early and it would be too easily misplaced or viewed as a toy but on the other hand, I can easily see there are times it would come in handy in which I would never regret having got one for "SoCal03". If you've already had this talk - How old were they and what were the rules?
