Does a 12 year old deserve a cellphone?

Question

Shes responsible, i know. She claims she'll use it and not waste it And she says everyone in school has one. should i get her one?

Answer 1

I personally think that 12 is a little young. If youi feel that it would be useful to you to be able to contact her etc. Then it would be more of a possibility. I would suggest either getting her a prepaid phone where she buys the minutes upfront or you can go with a phone thru Tmobile called Flex Pay. It is a new system that they came up with to replace people having a deposit. The other good thing especially for you is that the plan is designed where when she uses up all her minutes she won't be able to use the phone anymore and it won't cause overage charges on your bill. Its a really nice program especially in this case and it will be cheaper in the long run than getting prepaid. You will be able to set it so that it deducts the amount directly out of your checking account each month so you don't have to worry about it. She can also use this plan with a myfaves program where she can pick any five people including landlines to call for free. This doesn't use up minutes and she can change them every month. The basic plan that includes all of the above would cost $39.99 per month. This plan would include:
Free calling to any 5 numbers
300 Whenever Minutes she would use when she isn't calling her myfaves
Unlimited calling after 9 pm and all weekend long

Also if she uses up all of her whenever minutes in a month she will still be able to use her unlimited night and weekend minutes and call her myfaves. If she wants to download ringtones etc. she would have to buy a prepaid card to do that so it won't charge it on your bill and you can control it way better.

Answer 2

In my opinion, no. Children, no matter what they say will abuse what they are given and when it is taken away, turn into monsters, because they feel slighted. Even the ones that know they did wrong feel slighted. There is no excuse to give a child a cell phone. They see the people they want to talk to every day anyway. There is nothing so important that they cannot wait until the next day or call on a normal phone and talk for a few minutes to get out of the way, like a point of homework or such. Just calling some one to jaw about whatever boy or girl did this or that is not a learning experience. Having their own cell phone should be a responsibility just like driving a car or working at a job, not something they want just to play with.

Answer 3

With the way things are going in the world I'd say 12 is just about the right age to get your 1st phone. My brother got his at 18, I got mine at 15 so by now 12 would be the right age.

If you get her a pay as you go phone (or whatever your alternative to bill pay is called) that way you can make sure she is responsible by only buying her (for example) €10 every month or two and letting her know that if she wastes it before the month or two is up she won't get it ealier and will have to do without

Answer 4

I gave my son a phone when he was 12. It was on the Family Plan, because I did not want him to run out of minutes and then be unable to reach me for any reason.

The rules were: on school nights at 9:00 p.m., the phone got turned off and plugged into a charger in MY bedroom. If he went exceeded any of the usage allowances for the month, he had to pay the additional overage, if he didn't pay, his allowance was withheld until the amount was paid in full.

Answer 5

My daughter is 13, she has bought her own phones, and min. I think that if your daughter really wants a cell phone she should buy her own. I told my daughter i wont buy her a phone, or her min. She needs to learn Responability. My daughter does not have a contract, monthly bills. She has a Tracfone. Its really good they just came out with a tracfone cell phone a flip phone with camra, frount screen everything she wanted with the other companies. its Prepaid. they look pretty nice, they work good to, I think cell phones are a waste in money, But i think tracfone would be the right way to go, but don't buy her phone for her or min. If you make her work, do chores around the house and pay her she will learn Responability, and some self disapline. Cause if she runs out of min from texting or calling. Then she knows she can't run to you that she needs to work for her money. It repairs our kids for the world we can't always buy there things for them. So anyways i say look at this phone company you can get the phones and phone cards at walmart.

here are the websites:
www.tracfone.com
www.walmart.com

look up the phones and check out the company.

Answer 6

yes, i think you should, if she's responsible you should trust her. Even though she says everyone at school has one, but don't let that bother her. I mean, I had a cell when I was 12 too, but I was limited to the minutes that I was able to use so even if I wanted to talk for long periods of time, it wasn't of choice to me. I only used it to call for emergency's and for my parent's to pick me up.

Answer 7

Yes, I got my first one when I was 11 years old. Just don't go buy an expensive one since it is her first cellphone. And yes usually ALMOST everyone has one at school. Almost anywhere so she's not lying about that. hope this helps

Answer 8

Sure, but I'd still suggest keeping track of her minutes, and considering whether or not to get her features like text messaging, pix, flix msging, etc.

I babysit, and its not that uncommon for a 12 year girl to have a cell phone. Consider giving it as a birthday gift :) it means quite a lot to them!

Answer 9

yes, she's probably right that everyone has one because when i was 12 everybody had one and i'm 14 and still don't have one but everybody else does. It feels stupid not having a cell phone so i suggest u get her one so she could live her middle school life happy. =)

Answer 10

No, not unless you have control of it. If she is going to a football game or school dance, then give her yours in case she gets in a bind. Children do not need cell phones of their own.