Age for a kid to have cell phone

Torveaux
Sun, 15 May 2016 17:36:21 +0000

Sounds like we are still the ‘mean’ parents.

We got a generic flip phone for share use (4 kids) for our convenience that was used when our pre-HS kids had activities for which we felt communication may be needed. In most cases, a responsible adult was there and they could call us (or vice-versa) as needed.

In HS (on good behavior) the kids got their ‘own’ flip phone and number. This was partially for the frequency of after-school activities to communicate with us, but also because some classes started having group activities that required coordination among students on projects.

Smart phones are for college in our house. We have only had them ourselves since S1 started college 2 years ago.

For every good story we hear about a cell phone saving the day, we know of 20-30 stories of bad decisions and poor outcomes because children are too enraptured by their phones.