My DS is 10 and he has one. He had a prepaid one that he got from his dad, but the one time I needed to reach him, the phone had been turned off. Since then, I switched providers and got on a family plan. DS has a phone on our plan and I am much happier. I can reach him if he's at a friend's and he has the ability to call and let me know if he is going to be later after school, etc. It's a convenience factor for me and definitely one that I enjoy. He does have texting on the plan, but the only person he sends texts to is me. "I love you mom"... I don't mind that at all. He does have a pretty cool phone - slides two different ways and has the keyboard. However, it was free after rebate, so no big deal to me.

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Kim