How Young Is To Young For....

[BassinLou]

Cellphones. I am a parent of 2 young kids 5 and 7. I was blown away one day when I picked up my son from 2nd grade, and I saw a few of his classmates pulled out smart phones from their book bags after class and  started typing away on them. THEY ARE 7!!. Maybe it's me but I think that's a little too young to have a cell phone for yourself. Yes, some can bring up the case in case for emergencies they will feel safer, but they are in school. Anyways, I just wanted to hear the thoughts of some of you who are parents. Non-parents are welcome too.

[FD.]

High school before my two got phones.  They are pretty much under lock and key at school until then.

[Jigfishn10]

My daughter was 11 - 5th grade. Actually, she was the last kid in her class to get one.

[EvanT123]

Funny you asked this, at my work meeting last night the same topic came up and people were saying 7. Im not a parent first off but was in shock. I think 13-14 would be more appropriate and just a regilar flip phone. I dont want my kid rotting there brain on candy crush or whatever. Two things i remember my parents saying when we complained about being bored growing up. Read a book or go outside. I dont think thats bad advice.

[slonezp]

My son was in high school. My niece got one at 10. My nephew is 10 now and doesn't care to have one. 

[Jigfishn10]

Funny you asked this, at my work meeting last night the same topic came up and people were saying 7. Im not a parent first off but was in shock. I think 13-14 would be more appropriate and just a regilar flip phone. I dont want my kid rotting there brain on candy crush or whatever. Two things i remember my parents saying when we complained about being bored growing up. Read a book or go outside. I dont think thats bad advice.

Can you even buy flip phones anymore?

 

I'm not being a wise@$$ et525i, just curious.

[slonezp]

Can you even buy flip phones anymore?

 

I'm not being a wise@$$ et525i, just curious.

Yes

[EvanT123]

Like above yes but the major retailers will try there hardest to steer you away from that option.

[jbsoonerfan]

My Son is 8 and he will not be getting one anytime soon. Some of his classmates have one, and that makes him feel like he needs one. However, he doesn't NEED one because I am a good parent and I know where my son is at all times. The kids in his class who have one are the same ones who run around all over town and their parents need to be able to get a hold of them. I am amazed at the lack of parenting I see these days. Every situation is different, but I don't think any kid under the age of 12 really NEEDS a cell phone. I feel at that age kids start extra curricular activities and may need to stay in touch with their parents. 

[Jigfishn10]

Oops, guess I'm a bad parent...LMAO

[jbsoonerfan]

Oops, guess I'm a bad parent...LMAO

 

 

Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I am saying that most of the kids in his class that have them are the ones running the streets after school. He is responsible enough to have one. However, he doesn't need one for any reason that I can come up with.

[Jigfishn10]

Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I am saying that most of the kids in his class that have them are the ones running the streets after school. He is responsible enough to have one. However, he doesn't need one for any reason that I can come up with.

LOL...no need to apologize, I was dead set against it at the time, but the more I thought about it and saw my daughter as a responsible person, I gave in. Just do what you think is right.

I knew where you were going with you post. No problem here Bud!

[flyfisher]

Until my son is home by himself for extended periods of time he doesn't need one.  I guess that age varies by person but i don't see him needing one until he is a teenager.

[jhoffman]

This might surprise you but in the very very near future you are going to see schools handing out ipad/android tablets and google laptops as part of the schooling. Your child will be issued their very own device. So much colabrative learning is happening online that you simply cant try to stop it, if you do you will be giving your child a severe disadvantage.

 

I just heard a client today say their middle school is assigning students google accounts and emails. Your child will be getting EMAIL at places like.... bobby@mymiddleschool.edu and thats just the tip of the iceberg. They will learn to do things like handing in assignments electronically through shared drives like google. Bobby will be assigned to work with Joe on an assignment and it wont matter that Joe and Bobby live an hour away from eachother, they will work on the document live at the same time.

[EvanT123]

Alittle off topic but still relevant. There was a documentary on PBS a few weeks ago which is available on their website. "Generation Like" which focused on cell phones, social media and the younger generation. Pretty eye opening stuff and might be of interest to some of the parents on here.

[flyfisher]

A cell phone and an iPad are completely different so not sure where that comes in to play.  Many schools around here have laptops for students but not until they are in 8th grade i believe and the younger students use iPads in class but none take them home.

[jhoffman]

My Son is 8 and he will not be getting one anytime soon. Some of his classmates have one, and that makes him feel like he needs one. However, he doesn't NEED one because I am a good parent and I know where my son is at all times. The kids in his class who have one are the same ones who run around all over town and their parents need to be able to get a hold of them. I am amazed at the lack of parenting I see these days. Every situation is different, but I don't think any kid under the age of 12 really NEEDS a cell phone. I feel at that age kids start extra curricular activities and may need to stay in touch with their parents. 

 

 

When you were a child you never left the yard?

[nick76]

We didn't get our older two children phones until 12. At twelve they got pay as you go phones and I bought the first "X" number of minutes. The deal was they always better have enough minutes for me to get ahold of them or I would take the phone. If they wanted more minutes, they needed to use their money to buy them.

At age 14 we added them to our plan with a basic phone. We paid the monthly fee for the basic service. If they wanted unlimited text or more minutes they had to pay for it out of their bank. They also had to leave their phones on the counter when they went to bed. Nobody needs to be texting or calling after a certain hour at that age. If they violated the "phone curfew" rule or they went over their minutes/ texts they lost the phone for a month or until they could pay for the overage.

At age 18 my daughter got a phone with the works, but again ahe paid for the up charge. She has since quit paying and I shut the phone off. I am now the worst parent ever because all of her friends get their entire phone bills paid for by their parents. Oh well, she will learn the adult lesson that if you don't pay, you don't play.

Now I have two younger children, ages 7 & 9, who don't have phones. I have am old basic phone that I have around the house because we don't have a land line. They get to use that around the house and in emergencies. They do not get to carry it everyday or need to carry it. They need to be kids who are my responsibility, not unsupervised kids who's parents think that giving them a phone makes them supervised. As you can see, our house is big on earning a privilege and not being entitled to it.

Just my 2 cents.

[jhoffman]

A cell phone and an iPad are completely different so not sure where that comes in to play.  Many schools around here have laptops for students but not until they are in 8th grade i believe and the younger students use iPads in class but none take them home.

 

I can do the exact same thing on an ipad that I can on a cell phone, its a bigger more powerful phone. I bet within five years ever single student down to at least 3rd grade will have their own device that they do take home. The schools will do this so that poor suzy doesnt get a bad grade while rich girl jen is able to be all she can be.

 

The point was, its not going to get "better". This is better, its all in how you look at it. Do I want my 3rd grade son(hes not that age) to have the ability to send text messages through an ipad at school, not really but thats why they have parental tools.

 

You can take a phone, limit it to certain numbers, certain programs and even certain times of day.

[jbsoonerfan]

When you were a child you never left the yard?

 

 

Sure I did. But only when my parents got home from work or they knew where I was going to be. I was 8 years old 26 years ago. I think a lot has changed since then. A cell phone can enable a kid to go wherever he/she wants and lie about their location. Times have changed, for the worse I am afraid.

[flyfisher]

I can do the exact same thing on an ipad that I can on a cell phone, its a bigger more powerful phone. I bet within five years ever single student down to at least 3rd grade will have their own device that they do take home. The schools will do this so that poor suzy doesnt get a bad grade while rich girl jen is able to be all she can be.

 

The point was, its not going to get "better". This is better, its all in how you look at it. Do I want my 3rd grade son(hes not that age) to have the ability to send text messages through an ipad at school, not really but thats why they have parental tools.

 

You can take a phone, limit it to certain numbers, certain programs and even certain times of day.

I understand you can do the same types of things on an iPad but it isn't as easily transported and isn't exactly the same in other ways too.  Your assessment on why they will hand them out is also flawed.  Standards are set in a way that does not penalize students for not having materials at home to use.  Sure some kids will have more, i mean my 3 1/2 year old has his own iPad, but the teachers ensure that all students have access to what is needed to complete an assignment.  

Also the laptops and items that are sent home with kids around here are very limited in what they can and cannot do both from a controls standpoint and a processor standpoint.  They are about as bare bones as you can get away with.

 

Unless Apple has some super deal for schools i would doubt they make it into classrooms.   The kids will have to suffer with droid based tablets instead....

[BassinLou]

Thank you for the responses. I am relieved I am not the only parent that thinks children should not have cell phones til they are older. Someone mentioned, how they know where their kids are at, at all times, and I second that statement. 

[Redlinerobert]

Glad I never have to worry about this.  being a kid today; not easy.

[Grizzn N Bassin]

when i have kids there not getting one till the summer before high school, then  they can have one

[ww2farmer]

My oldest daughter is nine, we gave her one when she was 8. But it was just an old flip phone of mine that we re-activated. The novalty of it wore off in about a week, and back in the drawer it went.