whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

[woosterken]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

with both parents working (if they are lucky) latch key kids comes to mind

woosterken

 

[ezbtr]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

ahhh another good reason, I suggested - he had to walk home w/o his buddy today - to his moms, a 5 min walk, but ok, this a plus for him, although he had a few booboos in reading(not enough) and he'll understand that cell can be restricted due to grades.

 

[ezbtr]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

no phones for my kids (yet)... my 12 y.o. girl has asked a couple times. I asked her why she needs it, she says to call home if she needs to, and then adds that "all her friends have them". I said "Oh, great! So just borrow one of their phones when you want to call home." I see no need to encourage the endless texting that most teens and pre-teens get compulsive at. The so called "safety" issue is not really an issue in my book. When they're older and roaming farther from home with more independence, then sure... but for a 12 y.o.? Not needed. I know where they are.

Oh, and when I told her that I can get a phone that I can program to only be able to phone home or my or mom's cell number, she seemed to think that a phone wasn't needed after all.

10/4 on all the above, same here!!!

 

[ezbtr]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

with both parents working (if they are lucky) latch key kids comes to mind

woosterken

My brother and I were latchkey kids in the 70's!! LOL, we never got in too much trouble!

 

[ezbtr]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

That triggers alarms in my head, ezbtr. It suggests that you still view your son as a little boy, rather than an adolescent about to explode on your life.

Make sure that you know who your son really is and is becoming; treat that person with respect and trust and the answer to your question will become clear.

Best of luck. . .you will need it just as the rest of us did.

Ive been thru the kid thing since I was 22, (24 yrs), I realize my boy is growing up, trust me the conversations around girls never ends!!
We have a great relationship, but we do butt heads at times, as we are much alike, respect is always assumed in this house, all his friends included.
Lots of his buddies parents are in awe that their son took out trash, did dishes, helped with laundry, cooking and even the kitty litter. I tell them I dont ask, I tell them what they need to share responsibilities with, then I spoil the crap outta them, movies awesome dinners, pool/jacuzzi, video games(after I have played football and baseball w/ them for a few hours) and they drop like flies by approx 2130
Were always a "TEAM"

 

[DECK SWABBER 58]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

10? You must have lived in the big city. We had 3, just the major networks. And yes, b/w. Dad didn't spring for color until the b/w blew the picture tube. That took 20 years! I remember many times going to the tv store and buying those stupid little tubes.... He didn't get air conditoned cars until it came standard either. As long as I lived there the cars never had air....

LOL

B&W TV, No A/C as long as I lived in my parent's house.
I remember going to the local Walgreens with my Dad on
Saturday afternoon's and "testing" those TV tubes.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

I'm sure this has been posted before.....

Growing Up Without A Cell Phone

If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a dang Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents! That's 10% of our $1.00 weekly allowance.

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make any calls or receive them. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH!!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your backside and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!
See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd
(Send this to someone you'd like to make smile)

I'm stealing this, Swabber.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

We got my 13year old a cell last year thinking that it was a good thing. What we found out was it turned out to be a wast of money. He could not use it at school to tell us were he was going after school because they block them. Most of the time he would forget it at home anyway. The only time now he seems to use it is when his friends want to text late at night (not a good thing) when hes not on line playing ps3.

The only time it comes in handy is when we are in a big city and want to look in opposite directions in the mall or if he's fishing down at the docks and need a ride.

We also live in a small town so that probably also plays in the lack of use.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

My nieces and nephew came to visit us at the lake. I don't think I could recognize a face since they were buried in their texts all weekend. All I saw was the tops of their heads.

 

[Beefer]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

My son (14, almost 15) finally got his first phone for his 14th birthday, a gift from grandma. At his age, it seems he was the last of his peers to get one. He survived, and has been very responsible with it. At 12, I saw absolutely no need for him to have one.

Now my stepdaughter is another story. She's 10, and we don't have a land-line, and my wife insisted she have one if we weren't home so she could call us. I don't agree with it, but it's one of those things I just live with. Oh well.

 

[perchin]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

If he's responsible, and its something he wants, why wouldn't you think he could handle the responsibilities of having one?

Maybe... (brace yourself's) its what is cool to have now-a-days, and not having one gets you teased and embarrassed I would prefer that my kid's have the opportunity to be in the cool crowd..... your kidding yourself if you don't think there is one too.

I was born in 82.... I didn't have a cell untill 11th grade.....I paid for it myself, and so did most of my buddies. But that was, normal at that time.

 

[perchin]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

And you can be certain they were complaing about being bored to their friend of the week. sigh...

as certain as we would be about you sharing it with us on the iternet

 

[dingbat]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

Both my daughters had laps top and phones by the time they where 12 years old. Best investments we every made with these two kids.

Between respect and an unlimited data plan, I don?t worry about them a bit. The phones opened up lines of communications with family members that they otherwise normally would not communicate with. Both girls communicate freely via text and e-mail with their grandparents in Florida and Virginia and cousins in New York and Ohio.

The phones are a 24-7 link between us and the kids. Both girls feel secure knowing that I?m just a phone call or a TXT message away no matter where I am in the world.sdl know that I?m just a phone call away no matter where I am in the world.

A mobile phone with unlimited data and txt for my 13 year old daughter, $25 per month. Sitting in a meeting 5,000 miles away from home and getting a txt message from her staying she missies you, priceless.

 

[98Shabah]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

My 9 year old daughter wanted a cell phone last year, there was no real reason for her to have it, so we didn't get her one. Now I am glad we didn't.. Sunday night I caught her on a social networking site on the laptop (which is in the main room of the house).. This was a site for teens, she was chatting with teenage boys, her relationship status on this site was set to "looking", she's 9! I about fell over. Internet access has been revoked for now!

Didn't mean to hijack. Anyway, we'll probably cave and get her a cell phone around age 12 with unlimited texting, but the rule will be that it doesn't go to the bedroom at night, and the ability to send pictures will be disabled by the carrier.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

Many of my grand kids have them. Sorta makes it nice, but it sure gets aggravating when you are trying to get their undivided attention when its constantly going off.

New rule for at the lake in 2011 "All cell phones will be off and stored in the galley cabinet". The kids like to just hang at the dock and text their friends. That just aint right. Time for them to get off their duffs and do some walking if they want to visit others at the marina or campground.

I guess I'm considered a grouch as I will not buy them any video games or anything that involves looking at a screen. The only screen I want them to see is the screen door of the house when they come and go!

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: whats a good reason for a 12 yr old to have a cell phone??? Texting is requested

Cell phones have their place but NOT at school...period...every school has a phone in the office for "emergency" calls...Kids have NO reason to carry a cell phone to school.