At what age are you or did you let your your child have a cell phone? My son is only 5 so I have a long time to think about it but I am just curious what peoples opinions and/or experiences are.

My daughter got hers for her 15th birthday - my husband and I had moved in together by then, and her with us. He and I had a family phone plan, and we added her to it. We told her how many of the shared minutes were allotted to her, and gave her a pocket-sized notebook to keep track of them in. If she went over, she would lose the phone until the next billing cycle. I also tracked her usage online - she never went over.

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I'm not so sure it has to do with age as much as it has to do with need. Mine got them when they started doing things after high school and the pick up times weren't always consistent. So they needed them to call me to pick them up. Plus that was around the same time I started dropping them off places with friends without an adult so I always wanted them to have a phone.

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Well my niece is 13 and is on her 3rd cell phone.

Due to dropping one in the toliet. Loosing one at school. I would think when they get responsible enough to take care of them and responsible enough with the minutes.

I think now and days with kids, it is because every one else has one, or at least that is what excuse my granddaughters are using on there mom.

And she hasn't gave in to them yet! I am waiting for them to start on me next, for one.

where we live I think when they have a car or are doing a lot of after school activites that they need to be picked up after. But if we lived in a larger city I would prob get dd a phone that has the 3 butons on it and that is it . Mom, Dad and emergancy. I don't really know what age that would be but feel I would knowit when that time came.

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My twins are 14 and are in the small group of their classmates that don't have a cell phone. I cannot rationally see why they need one at this point. They aren't allowed to use them at school. If they get sick, they would call me from the office. Dh is their coach for the sports they play, when practice is over they just call me on his phone. They are on the forensics team, practice is over at 5:00, I'm already there waiting for them. I can't see them both needing a phone when they are together 95% of the time. They probably wouldn't go for sharing one. It's a non-issue in our house. Even my kids admit that it's a status thing and not a necessity for them.

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I got one in 7th grade and have had one since(im 20) My dad just gave me one randomly but my parents are divorced so I think it was cause he feels bad...lol i dont know. But I did do sports so it was helpful.

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It really depends on the child, their situation etc

My kids both have them now and they're 11 and 14. Do they carry them around and talk on them constantly? No. LOL But that's their personalities. Do they have friends that do? Sure. It's just not an issue with our kids. We did use what we called "the floater phone" for a while at first. It was an extra phone that we had, that if a kid was out, he carried the phone with him so he could call if he needed to.

Initially, it was a safety issue more than a social issue at the time. There are no pay phones at any of the schools in our district. I wanted the kids to be able to call me should practice run late (or early), or if they forgot something or was going to go home with a friend. We've just started doing that with our younger son.

The other part of it, is that it IS a social thing. Older kids don't call on house phones anymore. They text or call on their cells. Every kid is different and every family is different. For us, it's really not been a big deal. The kids know how I feel about the ubiquitious cell phone use in our society (I'm not a fan in case you don't know...LOL). It has not been a big expense, they are using the phones appropriately, so I have no issues with them.

I think when they are old enough to be in a situation where they would be alone such as walking home from school or staying home alone for awhile after school. Our situation might be different because we don't have a land line so when they are old enough to stay home alone I will want them to have access to a cell phone in case of emergencies.