Quote:
Originally Posted by genichols 
I also agree that too many parents think their children are "safe" just because they have a cellphone with them. If the child were put into a questionable situation, I seriously doubt the child would have time to dial for help before the phone was snatched from them.
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I think fear over kidnapping would be a pretty extreme reason for anyone to get a phone, that's just kinda silly.
I think when people talk about "safety" they really mean the convenience of being able to keep track of their kids and be able to get in touch with them instantly in any number of situations.
We had an incident about a month ago. My kids went to skate park, my youngest (8 yrs) is only allowed to go if he goes with his older brother (12yrs) or if I take him. It's not that far away, but too far for him to go by himself.
Tyler (youngest) fell and sprained his ankle pretty bad. His brother was able to call me right away and I came and got him. Without the phone he either would have had to find someone with a phone or leave his brother there while he ran home to get me.
Now even if he had left him there, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but I definitely prefer that he not have to sit there in pain, alone waiting for us.
I managed fine as a kid without a phone and my kids did before we got it a few months ago. But I'm glad we got it, there's been plenty of times it's come in handy.