Parents: at what age is appropriate to give your child a cell phone?

Answer 1

My daughter is 8 now, but got one when she was 6. It is for safety reasons only. Someone was making threats to her and our family. It is a Firefly and she can't make outgoing calls unless it is a number that I program in. It also has a 911 button. Really cool phone and she can't run up a bill.

Answer 2

Whether or not your child should get a cell phone or not does not depend on how old the child is but how is there life.
Are they bussy a lot? do they go out with friends or not? are they involved in school activities? do they work?
Pretty much at young age it's okay for them to have a cell phone and it's better for them and you, but make sure to put limits on them because they might not understand the whole limited minutes thing if they are too young. But if they are a little older 16+ it's okay to give them a cell phone no matter if they appear to be doing a lot in there life or not because at that age they don't always tell the parent what all they are doing and they could be involved in things that you don't realize, and if nothing else they are involved with there own life which may make things a lot easier if they had a cell phone.

Answer 3

My son just turned 15 two weeks ago and I gave him his first cell phone. He's complained that others have had them since the beginning of junior high.

It depends on the child. If your child is out and about without your supervision or another adult around, it might be safe to go ahead and get them a cell phone.

Just get them a prepaid phone. I researched them all and AT&T Go Phone seems to be the best. This is what most teens get and AT&T to AT&T is free.

Edit: LOL go ahead and give me thumbs down, but I've learned with two previous children and had to pay $500 cell phone bills because of text mssg hell. That's not going to happen again.

Answer 4

9

Answer 5

13 and up. Before that, why is your child/children not being supervised by another adult if not home with you? When you have children it is a given that you have a land line telephone in the house. They could call whomever they wanted at home or at a friends house. If they cannot use the phone of their friend then they don't need to go over their house. Once they get to be teenagers parents are the plague of the world-so you need to know where they are at and be able to remind them of curfews and such.

Answer 6

I was introducted to cell phones when i was 13 years old. I believe that is a good age. Just talk to them about text messaging if you do not buy a plan that includes that, it can cost a fortune if misused.

Answer 7

give your child a cell phone??? God I remember I had to BUY my first bicycle. I couldnt even have a phone in my room. Here's a thought: get your kid a trac phone(it wont come with all the bells and whistles and of course the kid will think its child abuse) But you will save money if you make that kid buy his her own minutes. I am going to lump this in with teen-agers driving 40 thousand dollar cars (i have seen it)
merry Christmas kid-bet you get everything you ask for.

Answer 8

13 for a trac phone with 10 or 20 minutes on it to be able to call for a ride. They can get their own phone when they are 18 and pay for it themselves.

Answer 9

13 and up

Answer 10

Whenever they start going over to friends house/ parties/ after school activities where you might not be able to get in touch with them through a land line, or they might need to be picked up early/ late, or, god forbid, they might get in trouble and need to call for help. when they start doing things like that its time for a cell phone, but yeah, put limits on it.