Zoa Conner

Can we talk about our kids having cell phones? How old are your kids that
have cell phones? How did your family decide when to get phones for their
exclusive use?

My 9 year old really wants one. As all kids, he is good at some things and
other things are a challenge. He pretends with our old ones and tells people
that "yes it is his cell phone". He does a good job using my cell and my
dh's cell when he needs to make a call. He takes our phones when he is angry
or feels that something unfair has happened with one of us. He is pretty
good talking to people he knows on the phone, except he does hand me
telemarketer calls :-)

My only knowledge relating to kids or young adults getting phones is my
cousins (got theirs for 13th b-day) and a homeschooling family who is out
and about - and got their 10 year old twins MiGo phones. Hoping to hear
about how your family has dealt with the cell phone issue.

In Peace,
Zoa
----------------
Zoa Conner, PhD
Physicist and Organic Learning Mother
zoaconner@...

Lesley Cross

What exactly would the reason be to *not* allow your child a cell phone?
Could these issues be discussed and addressed with the child? I certainly
understand if there are budget issues though I think these can generally be
tossed around and the money likely found in all but the most dire of
financial circumstances- it's usually quite affordable to add another line
to an existing contract- but of course as a family you may decide there are
other priorities.



That said, none of my children has their own cell phone. My 8yo has
mentioned wanting her own phone in passing (kind of like mentioning wanting
her own pony), but I don't think she fully comprehends that we'd still have
the same number of minutes to share so it wouldn't change the fact that we
have to watch our calling during the "work week". We have a fairly tight
budget ourselves and we've never had the full discussion. We do want to
provide a phone for our 13yo as he begins to stay home alone more, and may
venture out on his own more, but it also may work out to fit everyone's
needs better if we'd just get a land line hooked up again (we're cell only).
So far the main need for Logan is to have a phone for safety reasons when
he's home alone and Ayden's main wish is to have unlimited calling to her
friends any time she wants it. We'll just have to see how it plays out.



Lesley

In SC w. Logan (ds13), Ayden (dd8) and Alethia (dd4)





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Melissa Gray

We bought one for our oldest when he turned 13, and he lost it after
two weeks. However, that's why we got the pay as you go phone, $20
with 250 minutes, and while it's a little more expensive per minute,
if it's lost, no biggie. We plan on getting another one, but
expectations will be a bit different (ie have a central plug in place
so it doesn't get set down anywhere else) The whole point was so that
*I* felt comfortable when he was out with friends, so we could split
up easily at the mall and find each other when we want to, and call
me when he's done at scouts/library etc.
Melissa
Mom to Joshua, Breanna, Emily, Rachel, Samuel, Daniel and Avari
Wife to Zane

blog me at
http://startlinglives.blogspot.com/




On Apr 9, 2008, at 2:30 PM, Zoa Conner wrote:

> Can we talk about our kids having cell phones? How old are your
> kids that
> have cell phones? How did your family decide when to get phones for
> their
> exclusive use?
>
> My 9 year old really wants one. As all kids, he is good at some
> things and
> other things are a challenge. He pretends with our old ones and
> tells people
> that "yes it is his cell phone". He does a good job using my cell
> and my
> dh's cell when he needs to make a call. He takes our phones when he
> is angry
> or feels that something unfair has happened with one of us. He is
> pretty
> good talking to people he knows on the phone, except he does hand me
> telemarketer calls :-)
>
> My only knowledge relating to kids or young adults getting phones
> is my
> cousins (got theirs for 13th b-day) and a homeschooling family who
> is out
> and about - and got their 10 year old twins MiGo phones. Hoping to
> hear
> about how your family has dealt with the cell phone issue.
>
> In Peace,
> Zoa
> ----------------
> Zoa Conner, PhD
> Physicist and Organic Learning Mother
> zoaconner@...
>
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Lisa

So far two of my four kids have cell phones(17 and 14 yr olds have
them 13 and 6 yr old don't).... for us it wasn't an arbitrary age but
either us realizing they had a need for one or them asking for one.
When I say "need" I mean when I realized that I was dropping them off
for this or that more and more and that they may have a need to call
me or for me to call them (I'm running late or hey mom can you pick me
up from so and so's house instead of where we had planned) Also I
wanted to make sure if they were ever somewhere they felt
unsafe/uncomfortable they could call me without asking someone for the
use of a phone. My 13 yr old (ok she'll be 13 in 15 more minutes!)
hasn't asked for one but because of some things in her life that are
difficult for her developmentally (she has a genetic syndrome and
autism) to master we will most likely purchase one for her soon so
she can carry it with her when she goes out into the community with
her developmental aide both for safety and just growing accustomed to
using a phone independently.
Some kids just want one and perhaps don't really need one.. in those
cases I would decide financially whether I could get one for them,
whether they would need to share in the expense by using birthday
money or whatever.

I can't say we have ever been a situation with any of ours that them
having a phone was a negative thing. Neither of mine have run up
huge bills or lost their phones. I will say that you should make
sure to inform them of what features on their phones will cost "extra"
if used... my niece had a huge bill her first month because she didn't
know that surfing the web and texting wasn't included in her
plan...she thought if it worked then it was ok. My brother got a
really big bill and after they figured out what made it so high he
added unlimited texting and asked her to only use the web surfing
feature if she really needed to (for directions or some other
immediate need)

I try not to attach "are they mature enough" to things like this
because they may not be (in our judgment) but how do they learn to
navigate the world if no one ever gives them the chance to try out new
things or take those big steps to independence.

Lisa B



--- In [email protected], Zoa Conner <zoaconner@...>
wrote:
>
> Can we talk about our kids having cell phones? How old are your kids
that
> have cell phones? How did your family decide when to get phones for
their
> exclusive use?
>
> My 9 year old really wants one. As all kids, he is good at some
things and
> other things are a challenge. He pretends with our old ones and
tells people
> that "yes it is his cell phone". He does a good job using my cell and my
> dh's cell when he needs to make a call. He takes our phones when he
is angry
> or feels that something unfair has happened with one of us. He is pretty
> good talking to people he knows on the phone, except he does hand me
> telemarketer calls :-)
>
> My only knowledge relating to kids or young adults getting phones is my
> cousins (got theirs for 13th b-day) and a homeschooling family who
is out
> and about - and got their 10 year old twins MiGo phones. Hoping to hear
> about how your family has dealt with the cell phone issue.
>
> In Peace,
> Zoa
> ----------------
> Zoa Conner, PhD
> Physicist and Organic Learning Mother
> zoaconner@...
>

Debra Rossing

LOL I've actually ASKED my almost 10 yr old DS once or twice over the
last year or two if he wanted a cell phone (we'd get one of those pay as
you go inexpensive types most likely for a starter phone, I'd already
checked it out and was ready to go get it if he said yes). He thought a
minute and said Nah, I don't really need one right now. I think it
really depends on the kids and the situation - I think if DS was out and
about a whole lot more without me or DH, he might want one but as it is,
he's always got access to one anyhow (DH and I have our cellphones
programmed so that the same speed dial number calls the opposite phone -
if I hit 2, it calls DH, if he hits 2 it calls me - makes it simple for
DS to contact whoever he's not with at the time).

Deb


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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

-----Original Message-----
From: Zoa Conner <zoaconner@...>

Can we talk about our kids having cell phones? How old are your kids
that
have cell phones? How did your family decide when to get phones for
their
exclusive use?

-=-=-=-=-

When Cameron got his driver's license, my father gave him a cell phone.
Daddy pays the monthly fee too, and he's paid it for what? five years
now, I guess.

There was a little difficulty at first with LOTS of calls, so Daddy
gave him unlimited calling. Then the texting started, so Daddy got him
unlimited texting. <g> Now it's all ironed out. He may choose to stop
paying once Cameron is 21 or in his own house--hard to tell. But it's
been good for both of them.

For a long time, Cameron was the only one with a phone. Two years ago,
I gave Ben (and me) Valentine's phones. Ben rides his bicycle to and
from work every day, and I wanted him to be able to call me if he had a
flat tire or was in trouble. It's paid for itself already. Neither of
us uses our phones all that much, but they're handy. We have zillions
of unused minutes every month, and they rollover. I'd like to get a
"fewer calls" plan, but this company doesn't allow that unless they're
running a special of some kind.

Last year, I gave Duncan (12, then 11) one for his birthday. It has
free long distance, so he can call his friends in Atlanta, Minnesota,
Tennessee, and Boston any time; and when he's visiting any of them
withOUT me, he has easy phone access all the time. He's usually in
Atlanta for a week at a time, and I'd rather have a quick line to him
if either of us needs to get in touch. He'll be in the Boston area in
May for a week without me (and flying there too), so again, he'll have
a direct line to me. I like that.

Once though---very shortly after getting it, he was staying with
friends in Atlanta and lost it. We believe it was on the counter and
was knocked into the trash, maybe, by the cat. So we had insurance and
got a new one with a $50 fee. Overall, he's been very careful since.

We still have a landline, but are considering losing that since we all
have cells now. We're still considering. <g>



~Kelly

Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://www.LiveandLearnConference.org

Debra Rossing

1 - DH and I got cellphones several years ago when DH and DS went to a
local park for a hs group park day. I got an email from the group
coordinator that it was cancelled due to forecast for rain (it didn't
rain until late afternoon as it turned out). DH was already at the park,
no phone available, waiting for folks to arrive. DS played a bit then
they left and he called when they got home. We got cell phones shortly
thereafter so we could communicate - it's worked really well too - who
needs OnStar, DH just calls me here at work and I pop open the Internet
and give him turn by turn instructions to wherever it is they're going.

2 - We have one of those rollover plans too and we had tons of minutes,
never a problem...until Dec 2007 when FIL was hospitalized. Over the 3
1/2 months until his death, we used a BUCKETLOAD of minutes - talking to
MIL, talking to the hospital admin, coordinating plans with each other
and with other family members. I nearly hit the floor when I opened the
bill and saw nearly DOUBLE the usual bill because we had run through our
regular minutes AND our rollover minutes. Now I'm thinking of going and
looking at the unlimited plans instead of our minimal plan (which worked
fine up until now).

3 - one thing with cutting out a landline is that in an emergency (fire,
medical, etc), cell phones don't automatically give the dispatcher an
address but landlines can. Also, some of the Internet phone services can
be problematic that way too - one guy I work with lives in CT but since
he's still got the same Internet phone service, it's a NJ phone number.
Not good when you need the fire rescue guys to actually FIND your house.


Oh, and here's your bonus handy safety tip du jour: If you are home
alone and need to call 911/emergency services and you cannot speak
(either because of a physical condition or because you're hiding from an
intruder or whatever), you can tap out SOS with the phone on a hard
surface or tap on the mouthpiece with your finger. Dot dot dot (3 quick
taps) dash dash dash (3 slow taps) dot dot dot (3 quick taps again) -
Our CPR/AED instructor told us about this...she called several dispatch
centers, not the emergency lines just their regular number for
non-emergency calls, and asked the dispatcher if they knew what she was
doing then tapped it out - they all (like a dozen different places) got
it right away.

Deb

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

keetry

--- In [email protected], kbcdlovejo@... wrote:
>
> Once though---very shortly after getting it, he was staying with
> friends in Atlanta and lost it. We believe it was on the counter and
> was knocked into the trash, maybe, by the cat. So we had insurance
and
> got a new one with a $50 fee. Overall, he's been very careful since.


The insurance is a good investment for the kids' phones. My son has
lost 2 so far. The first was an expensive Razr that we did not have
insurance on. Since we were under contract I could not buy him another
phone for less than $200 from anywhere. I sort of tricked the phone
company by buying a $20 GoPhone and pretending like we already had it
and not mentioning that it was a GoPhone. The person at the store
turned it on for free but I was warned that the company might treat it
as a new line if they found out and charge us the cancelation fee.
Luckily, they didn't.

Alysia

diana jenner

When I got a phone for my birthday last year, I gifted my old phone to
Hayden on his 9th birthday :) It's $10/month (for an extra line), the phone
was free (replacements are pretty cheap & easy to get your hands on, with
some research on e-bay or craigslist.org).
It's especially nice when we're at Conferences, we can easily stay in
contact with one another. (At Live and Learn, I put the names of the
buildings in his "Quick Text" file, so he could easily send me a text
message with his current location)

On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 11:31 AM, Debra Rossing <debra.rossing@...>
wrote:

> 3 - one thing with cutting out a landline is that in an emergency (fire,
> medical, etc), cell phones don't automatically give the dispatcher an
> address but landlines can. Also, some of the Internet phone services can
> be problematic that way too - one guy I work with lives in CT but since
> he's still got the same Internet phone service, it's a NJ phone number.
> Not good when you need the fire rescue guys to actually FIND your house.
>








In the United States, all houses have 911 availability, without phone
service. If you cancel your landline for calls, leave a phone plugged in to
the wall for emergency use (old fashioned is best, the kind that doesn't
need electricity to work) -- it's one of those unexplained charges on the
phone bills (just says "911 Service" on ours). And new phones have an option
for gps identification; I can choose "open" or "911 services" for whom the
information of my location is available.
--
~diana :)
xoxoxoxo
hannahbearski.blogspot.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Vickisue Gray

We got rid of our house phone awhile ago and switched to everyone having their
own cell phone. My son got his around age 8 when we started homeschooling.
It only added $5.00 on to the family plan so no big deal. There's been a few searches
for it but it usually turns up between two couch cushions.

If you have old cell phones, most providers will turn them into a pay as you go plan.
It will save you the cost of the phone and you will only have to buy the minutes.

Vicki

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