My daughter's friend did a survey for a school project and she chose to interview 5th graders about cellphones. My daughter saw the results of the survey. First off, there were many 5th graders, being 11 yrs old who had a cellphone and their monthly bill ranged from the lowest, being $50, to the highest being $175. I am in complete shock how much parents are willing to pay so their child can have a cellphone. I know many parents say that it's worth it "just in case" but I think we all know that it is a status thing with kids. Besides, if it truly were for only emergencies, there are tracfones where you buy the minutes as you need them, and it probably wouldn't cost over $100 for an entire year.

None of my kids have a cellphone just yet. I don't think that they really need one.

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

I agree. Also take into consideration, unless the child personally pays the bill they probably don't know how much it costs. Additional lines on our cellphone plan are only $10 a month. Not exactly a huge expense. We got one for DD last school year when she was going into 8th grade. I have a friend that got her 4th grade child a phone. As the OP stated, it's only a status symbol.

I won't get my kids one until it's needed. My oldest is 8 and 3rd grade..not needed by a long shot. I can't see it being a needed think unless he was having to call me for something...which he doesn't. Additional lines cost $10 on our plan but we only have one more line available and I have two kids (I believe we have a max of 3 additional lines at $10 a month each and we pay for my in-laws out of state to have a phone). That said, I take a girl home from school that turn s9 next week that has a cell phone...

Once I do get a phone for my kids, it will be the kind where I can *police* who they are talking too, what their text messages say, and limit the numbers that they can call both incoming and outgoing. I know they have the technology to do that now but it's pricey. Hopefully it will go down in the next few years. I saw a news program last week I think where they were telling preteens and teens about a service for like $10 a month the parents can log in and see what all the text msgs said, both incoming and outgoing as well as each call. Worth it to me but the kids were shouting out loud that "the don't want their parents to know what's going on in their life" and "my life is none of their business"....OMG...those kids would have NO phones if I was their parent!

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

My 9 year old DD has a cell phone. She got it when she was 8, from my parents. BUT for the past 8 years we lived at my parent's house - this past summer we moved 4 hours away. At our new house we did not get a landline phone - did not believe we needed one. I have a cell phone and DH has a cell phone. My daughter uses her cell phone to call my parents every night and tell them goodnight. I also let her take it if she goes on a playdate that way she can call me if she needs to. She also can bring it if we go somewhere as a group and there is a slight chance she could get separated from me or the adults. She does not know anyones numbers other than the ones I put in her contacts (all family) and has no clue how to text message. Her phone is one of those $10 add ons and has no special features (like pictures). At first I was a little peeved that my dad got her the phone - but it has given her confidence to go and do things by herself (she has been used to having 3 adults cater to her every need). She took it the other day to ride her bike around the block (I also supplied her with a map ) She was sooooo proud of herself. Anyway, I know some people think she is too young to have a cell phone but it is truely being used as an emergency phone - she keeps it in her room and I feel confident she could use it for a 911 call if she needed. IF I ever felt it was being misused then it would go away but right now it is a great addition to her life.
L

This is a great example of good parenting and showing that there is no blanket rule about age. She is benefiting and you are monitoring it.
My 19 and 23 have cells obviously. They are on my account for $10 each (plus taxes) and they pay me. Texting is turned off (you can do that with the wireless company). They don't want to text and they don't want to pay to have ppl text them. They monitor their minutes and have never gone over. My dd got her phone when she was a freshman in HS and I first thought she was too young until we had an incident when I dropped her off for rehearsal for a play with her friend...and the group had changed the location without notifying us. It was nightime and I would not have come back until 10 pm. I was REALLY glad she had her phone to call me to turn around and come back. That convinced me it was a good thing.
So I think if your child is involved in alot of afterschool activities, a phone is invaluable.

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I just got my 12 year old DD a phone a few months ago, she was so Happy! Most of her friends already had 'em! I ended up breaking down and getting it to make it easier for her to get a hold of me. If she does tutoring after school, she can now call me, if she gets down at a school function early she can call, and when she's at a friends house I know I can get a hold of her.......She doesn't text, even though we have an unlimited texting plan, and barely uses it at all....She still just uses the house phone.....I have been thinking of adding an extra phone for the boys to take to karate with them.....just in case.

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Nicole

Our kids have Tracfones, as do DH and I. Our oldest is a freshman in high school, and we got him a Motorola KRazr (the W370) for Christmas and loaded it up with about 1100 units. Talking is one unit/minute, and texting is .3 units/text.

The phone itself was $40.

We got a deal on the Tracfone website and bought a Double Minutes for Life card and added the code to the phone, and that cost $15. I also had a code that got you 100 bonus minutes when adding a Double Minutes for Life card to a phone.

They had another special at the time - two 60-minute cards for $20. I bought several of them.

I had bonus codes for an extra 60 minutes for every 60 minute card you use.

Activating the phone got us 20 free minutes.

We subscribed to one month of their monthly service for $5 (had a code for half off the usual $10 fee) and that got us 100 minutes.

So... each 60 minute card was really worth 180 because of the Double Minutes plus the bonus code. Adding five of them = 900 minutes. ($50)

100 minutes with the DMFL card. ($15)

100 minutes with the one month service ($5)

20 minutes w/the phone activation ($40 for the phone itself)

So... for $110, he had phone service good for 18 months and 1120 minutes banked.

Each of those "deals" on the Tracfone site came with a free phone, so I had four brand new C139's. I sold them as a lot on eBay for $60.

In the end, my net cost was $50.

My daughters are 9 and 7 and have a phone. They were only given a phone after their father and I divorced. Though I have a landline phone and cell phone, we felt they needed one to know when it was their dad calling at night and there would be no interruptions with their phone call. Recently I got each of them a tracfone(they had verizon through their dad but he decided to be an a$$ and take it away because they didn't answer it every single time he called). Also when they're with their dad, he has no landline phone where he's living and though he has a cell phone, he doesn't always let them use it to call me. They feel insecure if they don't have access to me. So the phones cost $15 each and the minutes are $5.99 or $6.99 a month for 30 minutes each. They only use their phones to call me or their grandparents or dad. NOTHING else. It's closely monitored. It is NOT a status thing with them. Now, they did not both need a phone but my 9 year old assumes everything is HERS. And my 7 YO gets irritated by this. Since the phones/minutes were so cheap, I got them both one.

I know some disagree but sometimes we don't know all the circumstances as to why younger children have phones. And sometimes it probably is just a status thing. In our case it isn't.

Tag, don't know if it's anything you'd be interested in right now, but on the Tracfone site there are some Double Minutes for Life deals where you can get a DMFL card for $14.99 (sometimes w/free s/h - not sure about right now). That'd make those 30 minutes you're buying monthly double to 60 minutes. They may not need that many... but if they do, it's a nice feature to have on the phone. There is also a code for a bonus 100 minutes when you add the DMFL card.

Oldest got a cell phone when he started to drive. Expect to do the same for the youngest. Youngest is very forgetful and loses a lot of stuff, so he will have to earn the privilege of a cellphone by showing improvement in his ability to keep track of his stuff. His friends were over the other day and somehow they had the impression that we couldn't afford to give him a cellphone. Kids are so silly. LOL I gave my little lecture on how you can't judge a book by its cover....."sometimes the ones with the most gadgets and what nots are the ones who can least afford them". It was a little bit over their heads....ah well, planted the seed in any event.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

This is exactly our stance on it.

My oldest is 13 and goes out to ride bikes and last night went to his first *dance*. For that type of thing, he borrows my cell phone.

It really is a status thing because mine is nothing fancy and he won't pull it out to use just for fun cuz it's nothing to show off!

I too have Tracfone with Double Minutes for Life.

I am amazed at how many young kids have cell phones. Our 12 year old keeps bugging us about getting one. There is no way that will be happening anytime soon. I finally gave in and got my own cell phone last year, after years of debating the issue. That only happened because my older daughter moved to Florida and we can talk as much as we want without using my minutes. I rarely use it, except to talk to her.

We use Cheap Prepaid International Calling Cards and Discount Long Distance Phone Service - OneSuite for our long distance on our land line phone -- have been for 6 years now!

Still costs less than a cell phone with free long distance at 2.5 cents per minute. I add $10 worth of minutes online every few months.

Just a heads up if people aren't aware that such low cost long distance is available.

We just got DD a cell phone (she is 12) we added her to our plan for 10.00 and she can only use it to call us, or a couple friends that she has on cingular. That way it does not take our minutes up. On the weekends she can use it more but honestly she does not. She has it since she comes home on the bus and no one is home and also in case she needs to reach us after school. I prefer she had it in her purse, incase she cannot get in the house for some reason, and its freezing out side. So far she has never forgotten her key, its the paranoid part of me!

Thanks I'll have to get my dad to check into that. My computer has a stinkin' virus and I can't check on it myself. We do the monthly plan, not sure what it's called. But the main phone gets 50 mins. each month and the others get 30 mins. The main phone is $9.99 a month and the others are either $5.99 or $6.99. Would the double mins. work on that plan as well? That would be wonderful if it would. Thanks again for the info!

My son is 11 and will get a cell phone when he turns 13.

He mentioned about 3-4 years ago that he will need one when he "is a teen". LOL

It will be just an inexpensive flip, probably with Virgin Mobile (I already have an ancient VM k-9 phone).

I think he is definitely mature enough to handle it, plus I am the neurotic mother type.

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"Yesterday my life was duller, now everything's technicolor!"

I work at an elem school. Although I personally didn't give my kids cell phones until they started high school, we've had a couple instances at school where it came in very handy that a child did have a phone. We've had kids that didn't go straight home at dismissal and we've been able to track them down because they did have phones. It's come in handy more than a few times.

Tag, yes, if you put a DMFL card on a phone, any minutes you add (except bonus codes) get doubled.

Your 50 minutes on your first phone will double to 100 minutes.

The 30 minutes on the secondary phones will double to 60.



For me, in the long run, rather than the monthly installment per phone it was a much better deal to buy the 60 minute cards (2/$20). By using codes and the double minutes, that $20 bought 360 minutes and six months of activation, whereas with the monthly installment plan $20 would've bought two months and 200 minutes.

Ds is 17, he got his when he was 16 but he never really asked before that. he is on our account for $10 a month. Texting is turned off, that can cost more than the phone.

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"Never loan your car to someone you have given birth too"

where did you find the dmfl for 14.99, the only one i can find is quite a bit more that that

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mom_2_5 , and baby makes 6
Dallas James, born 5-21-03

I had always told oldest DD she would get one when she was driving or dating and in my opinion needed it. Well, she ended up getting it halfway through 7th grade when she turned 13 - she was neither driving nor dating - but I hadn't anticipated how in 7th grade they start going out every weekend with their friends - to the movies, dinner, ice skating, hanging out at a friends - and I got tired of loaning her mine.

Youngest is 11 and a lot of her 5th grade friends have them. She wants one so bad but I've told her we'll talk about it when she's 13 and in 7th grade. In the meantime, she has one of DH's old ones that she charges so the lights and sounds work (but it has no service). She carries it around all the time!

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

also to the op, both of my dds(8 and 9) have a phone. after one of their bus got in a wreck and i didnt know about it, till i got a call from someone else, their dad and i decided to get them one. it is just one of those firefly phones, where they can only call dad, me, grandma and grandpa. i like to be able to get ahold of them no matter what. like when they go out of town with girl scouts or whatever. i tend to worry way to much....


eta-- they are both better than my oldest was-- we gave her one for her 16th and she racked up 300.00 in text alone, which was supposed to be blocked on her phone, she lost that real quick. tried again a few months later and she started calling people she wasnt aloud to be around. needless to say we have had a few problems with her.. now she is 18 she pays for her own, but really wants to be added back on our plan since it is cheaper--NOT lol

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mom_2_5 , and baby makes 6
Dallas James, born 5-21-03

my son got one last year in 6th grade. Prepaid. we decided we like knowing where his is/who he is with/ being able to get to him whenever we need him, which is a lot more often than I realized. He did well w/ the prepaid so this year we added him to our plan and added unlimited texting. he's never gone over our minute pool and is very responsible w/ it. Has nothing to do w/ status.

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"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

DD 15 has the Sprint SERO Plan and DS 13 has a Tracfone ,he can get a real phone I high school if needed.

SERO F&F 500- $30.0
Plan Features:
Sprint Fair & Flex
Caller ID
Adjustable Anytime Minutes
Call Waiting
Three-way Calling
$30.00 Minimum Monthly Charge
Voicemail
Nationwide Long Distance Included
Unlimited Night & Weekend Mins. Included
Nights: M-Th 7PM-7AM Wknd: F 7PM-M 7AM
Unlimited Mobile to Mobile (pcs to Pcs)
Unlimited text
Unlimited Internet
Sprint TV

Something is funny w/Tracfones site right now, it appears. Not sure what's up. So... to get the DMFL card offer to show, apparently you have to follow this link (taken from a post on a Tracfone users group):

http://www.tracfone-orders.com/bpdir...sionId=1419433

This should bring up the description page for the C139/DMFL offer.

Also, you can go to WalMart.com and order this phone for $12.88 (free site to store shipping) and the phone itself has double minutes for life pre-programmed into the phone. The one ordered from the Tracfone site is a phone that comes with an actual DMFL CARD, and you can add that card to an existing phone you already have. With the WalMart phone, you'd need to transfer your current number to the WalMart-offered C139 phone, which can, I believe, be done online.

The C139's are not fancy or cool.... but my understanding is that they are very solid phones with excellent reception.

My son has the W370 that's currently offered on their site for $49.99 w/DMFL included.

I cant believe how young some kids are that has cell phones. I wonder how we got through when we were kids! heck our school didnt even have pay phones!

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I generally agree with the thing that's implied in your question, littlejo - "How'd we get along...?"

The thing I think may be different is that there seem to be more things for kids to do today than ever before, and so many more kids are involved in after-school activities and have both parents off at jobs. Families are spread all over town, instead of down the street at the neighborhood school that's within walking distance of their own kitchen, where their mom is waiting baking cookies, etc.

What I had come to realize with our oldest is that while there may be some status associated with the type of phone one has, at the most basic level, it's the way most of them communicate these days, and so to be "in the loop" about much of anything you need to be able to be reached by text. If he's on his way home from something in the car with me, and the friends decide to all run to a fast food place together, if they have no way to reach him, he won't get included. It's not the status that left him wanting one - it's the ability to connect like other kids in 2008 do.

I assume something similar happened when people started to get land line phones. Probably those you couldn't easily call were more likely to get left out of things. If you had to drive all the way out to (or over to) someone's house to see if they wanted to come to your card party, when there were already ten other couples you could get hold of by phone... would you bother?

The C139 phone is what I have, my kids have(in pink) and they're very basic and not cool but they work! You can text, my kids can play games, they're small, inexpensive and all anyone in this household needs. At some point, I may upgrade my own phone but for now I'll stick to my dependable $15 phone, LOL.

My 12 year old has had a cell phone for a year and 3 months. She purchased her own Net10 phone, with our permission (trac phones don't work well around here, no signal alot of places) and we told her that if she was responsible with it that we would get her one on our plan in one year. She was very responsible, and after 1 year we added her to our plan and added a 200 text message plan for $4.99. So for the extra $9.99 + text plan it is the same price as the Net10 phone was. She doesn't take it to school, although kids are allowed and keep them in the teachers desk during school hours or in their locker, she does use if for extra activities. She plays basketball and softball and there are no phones in either the school gym or at the softball field. She is also in 4H and on the Academic Team, so when they go on trips she calls us when they are out 15 minutes away so I know when to be at the school to pick her up. Plus I like knowing she can reach me if she needs to when I am not with her. I would guess that most of her 6th grade class have cell phones. Could be because we live in a small town 25 miles away from anything else, but most kids have cell phones around here starting around 4th grade or so. There is not even a pay pnone in our entire town, so if you want to make a phone call you either have to have a home phone or cell phone.

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visit my homepage http://penny.mycoupons.com/

well, you know Penny, I think most citites now don't have pay phones anymore. I read they're slowly being taken down b/c it's a money loser.

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"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

My niece is 7, and received one for her birthday last year. Everyone in our family has the same service, so she can use it to talk to everyone. MANY of my students have one, and it has turned into a mess sometimes (kids getting numbers and prank calling etc), but I understand why their parents want them to have one.

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AKA: Airbornearmywife