[Mariesa]

My daughters birthday is On Friday and she's been asking for a cell phone. She does talk on the phone a lot. Im seriously considering giving her the cell phone line that my brother use to use. I don't know, any thoughts?

[Alty]

Personally I would not. Why do children need cell phones, who do they need to call that they have to have a cell phone? At ten years of age she should be making her calls at home, there should not be a need for a cell. I'm 37 and I don't use one, I've had one but realized that they are totally unnecessary.

We are living in a time where everything is at our fingertips, and we are raising our kids to think that everything should be available when they want it, without having to pay for it.

We were raised without cell phones, and we did okay.

My thought is that they shouldn't have a cell phone until they can afford to buy one and pay the monthly fees on their own. Ten is way to young for a cell. In my opinion.

Good Luck.

[NeedKarma]

I wouldn't either. You set the stage for little princess syndrome. :)

[the1unv]

I agree 10 is to young. My son (14) just got a cell phone. He works with me in the summer and got a job washing dishes at a steak house. I put him on my plan but he pays me for the $10.00 extra line fee. I believe Altenweg is correct in saying kids need to learn these things are not free. I also have boys 9 and 12 who think they need a phone now... the answer was simple... when you turn 14 and have a job you can have a phone. I don't know why as adults we keep giving grown up things to children. The last thing your daughter needs to worry about is trying to answer her phone while playing on the merry-go-round.
Mike

[bEaUtIfUlbRuNeTtE]

Cell phones are growing bigger and bigger in this world today. I don't blame your 10 year old. Everywhere you look, someone or something is holding a celly.

BUT

When I was 10 I can't even remember if cell phones exsisted and that was 10 years ago. I think the bulky ones were available but even those I can't recall seeing. I can't even recall talking on the phone that much at 10. Using the phone was a privilege in my household. I never felt the need to use it though. Instead I was outside.

It is definiently society today. I wouldn't suggest giving her one just quit yet. Wait until she turns of age to work, that way she can help with the bill or maybe all of it depending on if she racks it up or not. Who knows what capabilities a 10 year old has with text messaging :eek:!!

[ScottGem]

I'm going to buck the trend here. It's a scary world out there and too many things can happen. I think its important that kids have a way to communicate with parents in case of emergency. I really like the idea of the restricted use phones from Disney and others where kids could only call certain numbers and parents could track where the phones were.

That being said, a 10 yr old does NOT need a cell phone to gab with friends. If you get her one, it should be explained that its for EMERGENCIES ONLY!! Tell here that you will be monitoring her use of the phone and if she abuses it, she will lose it. This serves two purposes, 1) it gives you, as the parent, peace of mind that you can reach her when you need to and vice versa, 2) it helps her learn and show respnsibility.

[Fr_Chuck]

This is a split issue, first at 10 they don't need to be running arouind with it anytime they want, and if they are on the phone a lot ( are you ready to pay that 1000 min a month she will be talking? )

After that now I have a 7 year old, and if we go out into the mall, or at some place like an amusment park we let him keep one in his pocket if for sme reason he would ever get separated, the phone only has preprogramed numbers, he can not call just anyone

[froggy7]

I'm split on this issue. I really don't like cell phones, and didn't have one for quite some time. I finally got one when I was going on a vacation and my family was concerned about needing to get a hold of me in an emergency. One thing to realize is that with the growth of cell phones, there are fewer and fewer payphones out there.

I do agree that you may want to look into the pay-as-you-go, preprogrammed phones. You can load in your home phone number, grandma's, etc. so that the kid can use it in an emergency. And if it's pay-as-you-go, then the kid will get a good lesson in responsibility. Once they use up the minutes, they have to work to get more, whether that's getting good grades, part of their allowance, however you want to structure it.