my oldest is 8 and i am not considering a cell phone for her until she is a teenager, as for my others as well. to me, the cell phone situation is a no go. if i did give her a cell phone now, it would be programmed with certain numbers, and 911, and that's it. no friend's numbers.

my daughter has 1 friend that she calls on our land line, and even that is limited. i am not in a rush to have my girls become so "socialized" in that manner.

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My kids don't have them but I think that's it is not a bad idea to have them. For safety reasons I suppose. The thing is, I don't use my phone much but nowadays it is very hard in my area to find a pay phone. If you really had to call someone, you can't be guaranteed you'd find a phone. At some point I expect I will have to get them one. What about those phones that are meant for kids and you can only dial out 4-5 emergency #'s on them? Are they any good?

in this case, i believe the cell phones are very good. for emergency purposes. so yes, i have heard that the phones that only dial certain numbers are very good. and these days you cannot be too careful.

because we live in the city, where transportation is always available, and the schools are all within walking distance if neccessary, cell phones would be more of a social aspect. my girls will be going to a school and aftercare where they know people, so the phones really aren't a neccessity for us. but if we lived in an area where the school was far, and they had to walk alone, etc...a cell phone would be a must have.

it does all depend on the situation, that much i agree!

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my small business is up--and running! and now, it has a chance!

When we moved to the country 2 years ago and with our daughter having rehearsal 2-3 nights a week in town or about 25 miles from where we live(we car pool) Our daughter got her cell phone when she turned 13 last year. For up-grading our plan, we got her phone for free. The $10 a month is worth its weight in gold. Right now she is in NY perfoming with her theater group. To be able to hear her voice 2-3 times a day and to get pictures from her while on time square in New York is priceless. We have rolled over so many minutes that we actually loose minutes every month. We don't have "texting" with our plan and with her thats not even been an issue.

My kids got them at 16 - the age that they started driving and spending more time away from me. It made getting a hold of them a lot easier as well as staying in touch when theyw ere away on school trips - like when they got back at the school at midnight. I used to get a call when they got back - I hated seeing them sitting on the curb that late waiting for me to arrive (we lived 15 minutes away) Once they had their phones they could call when they were 30 min away from school and I could be there waiting for them.

Both of my kids have cells phones. They are 10 & 11. My kids are very active. My daughter practices 5 days a week with her competitive cheerleading team during the summer and 2 days during school. She also plays basketball and soccer and sings in her school and church choir and competes in beauty pageants. My son plays football, basketball, soccer, is in the school band and church choir. We need cell phones in order to keep up with each other.

They bought their cell phone and pay 1/2 of the bill from allowances. It works better for us if we all have a cell phone.

We have a 'floater' phone for the kids. Neither of my kids are interested in having their very own cell phone, I'm not sure I'd be all that opposed to it if they wanted it. But as it stands now, if they're at practice or go off on their bikes, they take the phone, so they can call me if they need to reach me. It's worked out very well for us.

Neither of my guys are interested in calling others, texting or anything like that...so all they use it for is to call me or Dh to update us on what they're doing, ask questions, have us come pick them up etc

I have one for my 10 year old ds. It is a pay as you go phone from virgin mobile. It only costs $10 every three months, so I don't feel too badly about it. I got it for the purpose of when he goes to his dads house, either him or his sister can get ahold of me whenever they want to. They have never had to, but just knowing they have the capability to gives me a little peace. He does have a friend and his cousin that have cell phones and they text message back and forth. I just topped up last week, and reiterated the fact that he needs to be responsible with his money on there. So far, he is doing good with it. If he rides his bike or skateboards around the neighborhood, he takes the phone. It helps me out a lot.

If I was still married and they weren't away from me so much, I seriously doubt that I would've gotten him a phone. It's just nice for him to have, in case he needs to get ahold of me.

"Floater Phone" I like that idea and was thinking (when the time comes) that we might actually have something like that. Let's face it when your kids travel with sports or whatever that they come back at all hours and a cell phone really helps.

In kindergarten last year, one of DD's classmates had a cellphone. It was really important for that girl to have a cellphone because her dad was dying of cancer and they needed to get ahold of her at any moment.

My 10-yr old granddaughter also has a cellphone. Last time she came to visit she was always borrowing my cellphone to talk to her mom or dad (divorced) - multiple times a day! Well, at the time, my cellphone had limited minutes and our home phone didn't have any long distance so even a short visit with the granddaughter wiped me out. I finally told her mother that the next time she comes she should bring her own cellphone. She did. She has a Firefly. She also brought her own laptop computer - tee hee - so she could instant message her friends back home.

My answer with cellphones is - it depends on the circumstances.

I try to remember as society and technology advances, that things like cellphones are more commonplace now a days where when I was growing up it was a luxury. Heck, when I was growing up, getting your first wristwatch was a big deal and a rite of passage. My DD, however, owned three wristwatches before she turned 5 yrs old. She also has her own computer (a desktop but we're working on getting her a laptop, too). Times are a changing.

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