whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

[ezbtr]

from almost 12 yr old son. um no he can im or call his little girl friend and buddies, unltd texting??? no.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

Common place now........ that's the age group for the phone with texting...... I have seen many people who darn near had cardiac arrest when the bills got out of hand so....... unlimited is your only safeguard.

If the grades drop ....... take it away....... chores not done etc..... I look at it from another approach........ I consider it a privilege AND another tool for a parent to have in his/her arsenal to be used as a carrot.

No one will belittle you if you say no and not permit your son to have it.

You are in a tough spot.

 

[mcgyver210]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

Our son has had a cell since about 8 yrs old & it was more for us than him in reality. His Cell made it very easy for us to feel OK with him going somewhere without us. He has always been responsible with it giving us no reason to question our decision to give him one at a very young age.

Only problem is now we can't just give him one of our old phones he likes new phones like his current IPhone

 

[sprintst]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

My 12 and 16 year olds have them. Handy when it's time to pick them up somewhere or check to see if they're back from school, etc.

We have the cheapest package for minutes with unlimited texting. There are student packages with a free phone, etc. I was going to use the pay as you go cards for the minutes but wanted the unlimited texting as they adds up fast too.

So far so good and it's been a couple of years with no real overages on anything.

You can get it for Christmas and hold it over his head for grades, chores. It's a privilege and not a right

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

I bought my grandson a cell when he was ten, the only number that he could dial on it was 911, it was called a kids emergency phone, and actually with that being the only available number, it taught him responsibility, so we got him a regular cell when he was 13, and he has never gone over his allotted minutes and has been very responsible with it, of course he will turn 18 in June and all bets are off, the bill will be his, so I don't care!

 

[FBPirate95]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

You could go the pre-paid route. Pay him some type of allowance and then let him buy the usage cards. He'll have to learn how to manage what's important on a limited income.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

I have four kids and they get a phone on the house when they go to high school. The primary reason is that it is 15 miles away and no bus. My first born totally screwed up and now she pays her own way. It is one of the biggest behavior compliance tools we have. For the others (boys), not so much.

The 10 y/o wants one. Sorry dude you got a few more years to go.

Keep in mind that the phone allows kids into your house at all times of the day with little or no regulation of content. Your only tool is to take it away.

In my view, 12 is too young, but that is just my way. Not necessarily the only way.

 

[ezbtr]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

keep em coming guys!!! So far, I believe Ive thought of all youve said
Just need to get more info on subscribers etc, or add him to my plan - im makin him do most of the homework!

 

[mcgyver210]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

keep em coming guys!!! So far, I believe Ive thought of all youve said
Just need to get more info on subscribers etc, or add him to my plan - im makin him do most of the homework!

We have ours on our AT&T Family Plan which is pretty much unlimited everything.

 

[Link]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

Common place now........ that's the age group for the phone with texting...... I have seen many people who darn near had cardiac arrest when the bills got out of hand so....... unlimited is your only safeguard.

If the grades drop ....... take it away....... chores not done etc..... I look at it from another approach........ I consider it a privilege AND another tool for a parent to have in his/her arsenal to be used as a carrot.

No one will belittle you if you say no and not permit your son to have it.

You are in a tough spot.

I agree Bob
But I would take it to another level.
If nothing else works.
Grades / Chores work.
Tell them you will have your vet insert a rfid chip.


Link

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

I have four kids and they get a phone on the house when they go to high school. The primary reason is that it is 15 miles away and no bus. My first born totally screwed up and now she pays her own way. It is one of the biggest behavior compliance tools we have. For the others (boys), not so much.

The 10 y/o wants one. Sorry dude you got a few more years to go.

Keep in mind that the phone allows kids into your house at all times of the day with little or no regulation of content. Your only tool is to take it away.

In my view, 12 is too young, but that is just my way. Not necessarily the only way.

x 2 ^^^^

-As far as I know there is no way to restrict online sites on a phone without blocking online altogether.

-My 12-year old nephew just got a phone with limited phone minutes, unlimited text and data. Does good with the phone minutes. The text are non stop, and to be honest its mostly crap. I have him as a friend on Facebook to keep an eye on him for his parents, and get notified when he posts something. It goes off every hour when he's not in school, with meaningless posts. I gotta get that notification shut off, it's driving me crazy.

-Forget the prepaid phones, the card will be constantly wiped out, and needing to be refilled.$$ Will be cheaper to get a regular plan with lim. min.

I don't know.. never had a phone till I was otta H.S. and it wasn't a problem.

I say if they want to talk to their friend they can call on the house phone till they are driving, then have one, but I'm not in the situation myself so...

Good Luck

 

[tommays]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

One of the kids i bought on as sailing crew came from a well off family and he did not get a phone until he could pay for it out his own funds

 

[gonefishie]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

Gee, how did all of us ever manage to make it through life without a cell phone?

and helmet, protective pads, internet, etc...?

 

[JB]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

from almost 12 yr old son. um no he can im or call his little girl friend and buddies, unltd texting??? no.

That triggers alarms in my head, ezbtr. It suggests that you still view your son as a little boy, rather than an adolescent about to explode on your life.

Make sure that you know who your son really is and is becoming; treat that person with respect and trust and the answer to your question will become clear.

Best of luck. . .you will need it just as the rest of us did.

 

[DECK SWABBER 58]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

Gee, how did all of us ever manage to make it through life without a cell phone?

and helmet, protective pads, internet, etc...?

I'm sure this has been posted before.....

Growing Up Without A Cell Phone

If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a dang Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents! That's 10% of our $1.00 weekly allowance.

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make any calls or receive them. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH!!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your backside and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!
See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd
(Send this to someone you'd like to make smile)

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

I'm right there with ya, Swabby!!! Although, it sounds more like the 40 and over crowd...

 

[BF]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

no phones for my kids (yet)... my 12 y.o. girl has asked a couple times. I asked her why she needs it, she says to call home if she needs to, and then adds that "all her friends have them". I said "Oh, great! So just borrow one of their phones when you want to call home." I see no need to encourage the endless texting that most teens and pre-teens get compulsive at. The so called "safety" issue is not really an issue in my book. When they're older and roaming farther from home with more independence, then sure... but for a 12 y.o.? Not needed. I know where they are.

Oh, and when I told her that I can get a phone that I can program to only be able to phone home or my or mom's cell number, she seemed to think that a phone wasn't needed after all.

 

[Edko]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

Our daughter is 13 and has had a phone since 11. Pre paid and for emergencies or for calls when she is out of our sight if needed.

All of her friends have them, some even have expensive phones with texting. She isn't there yet and thankfully has not even asked about it.

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

I'm sure this has been posted before.....

Growing Up Without A Cell Phone

If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a dang Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents! That's 10% of our $1.00 weekly allowance.

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make any calls or receive them. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH!!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your backside and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!
See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd
(Send this to someone you'd like to make smile)

All of that^^^ and you also forgot to mention the fact that we had like what 10 channels of tv. half with a fuzzy picture. And my first tv was black and white.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

10? You must have lived in the big city. We had 3, just the major networks. And yes, b/w. Dad didn't spring for color until the b/w blew the picture tube. That took 20 years! I remember many times going to the tv store and buying those stupid little tubes.... He didn't get air conditoned cars until it came standard either. As long as I lived there the cars never had air....