Age for a kid to have cell phone

novicemom23kids
Sun, 15 May 2016 13:38:56 +0000

I have an upper elementary child (5th) and I teach upper elementary in a different district (I also have older children). There are very few kids with cell phones in the elementary school – they are not permitted to use them at/in school and they are always with adults. Our districts have parent meetings and send home notices about the dangers of an overconnected world for our young children.

As they went into the middle school (6th grade here) it is almost universal that kids in our area get phones. This is when the the teachers don’t stay with them at the completion after school sports and/or activities and they are often calling/texting that they are finishing early or late, pick up location has change to back of school instead of front, etc…

As a teacher, we are rushing our kids – they have so little social skills as is and to give them a texting device so they don’t have to talk/play is just accelerating this. We give them so little time to be kids to explore and grow and then we rush them in one more area. We all survived as kids without out constant communication and contact with our parents, our friends, and the world beyond – much evidence would point to access to online activities put our kids at more risk of harm than the “safety” features of a cell phone. Of course if your child has a specific threat or circumstance where you fear for their safety and a cell phone is the answer then you need to do whatever you can to protect your kids. If you are getting it as the latest toy or to keep up with the other kids – you could actually be opening up a whole new world of problems.