should an eleven year old have a cell phone?

Question

answer truthfully please... i am debating wether to get my daughter one.

Answer 1

It is a good safety device. So I would have to say yes. However, it may take time away from school so do keep that in mind.

Answer 2

I could be wrong but I think there are certain phones that will only dial like 3 or 4 numbers. You could set it to dial your home phone, your cell phone(s), and 911. Other than that, you could get a phone that you pre-pay the minutes, and only give her 15 minutes a month or something. What does an 11-year old need a phone for, except for emergencies?

However, I think the more pertinant issue is, where is she spending her time. IMO, an 11 year old shouldn't be anywhere that isn't heavily supervised by an adult. Like, at school, or at home, or at someone's house, or with friends but there's an adult along. If she's doing what she ought to be doing, there's no need for a phone, I think.

Answer 3

No-
Where does she go that she needs a phone? Is there no parental supervision.
I have this fight with my daughter every week but until she is old enough to go off with friends unsupervised then she has no reason to have a phone.
And I agree with the other posters who say she should be able to earn the money to pay for the minutes. Either through a legite job or her allowance.

Answer 4

Yes. My daughter's school bus was in an accident, and the school couldn't (or wouldn't) give us any information about what was happening. She was supposed to be home at 3:30pm and didn't get there until 6pm. I was nearly pulling out my hair with worry. It turned out that everything was OK, but I still ran out the next day and got her one. It makes me feel better knowing that if anything happens, I can reach her.

Edit: I forgot to mention that my daughter was 11 when this happened.

Answer 5

If you trust her with one and believe she is mature enough to look after it(that means NOT showing it off to her friends and only using it when necessary and in a safe place) then by all means get her one. I gave my 6 year old my old one(because I got a new one, I wouldn't have bought one for him) but he only uses it in the house and hasn't got any credit on it so all he does is recieve texts from the 3 people who have the number and he plays games on it. As he has a habit of losing things, I won't let him take it out! Once I let him go off on his own I will start letting him take the phone out. It can be safer to have a phone but you should weigh up the pros and cons, eg. likelihood of it getting stolen against likelihood of her needing to stay in touch with you.

Answer 6

I would say yes, but make SURE to get her a prepaid plan. There are many good ones out there, my personal favorites are T-Mobile, STi Mobile, and Alltel U. The source section has the websites.

Answer 7

don;t see a reason why an eleven year old would need a cell. to keep track of her then maybe but she'll just rack up minutes yakking about nothing with her friends.

Answer 8

It's a good thing to have as a saftey precaution... but make sure she knows to only use it in an emergancy. Or on weekends or nights after 9 when it's free :)

Answer 9

yes, get her one, its like every child dream to have a cell! Everyone always has their cells next to them, in their pocket or in their hand, so she wont loose it. Instead of worrying where she is, she can always call you, or if theres an emergency or something its always good to have one, its always good to be safe! You can call her whenever you want to make sure shes safe too. It can cure her boredom too!

Answer 10

No. Too young.

And in the future when you do get her one, make her earn her phone and make her pay for the minutes, even if it's with an allowance.