No, this isn't a cell phone...it's my cordless land line phone and the only phone I have. A while back I read that parents were buying their kids as young as ten years old a cell phone along with all the other back to school supplies. When did a cell phone become a back to school supply?
I've actually been asking myself this question for some years, I wrote an article about Kids and Cell Phones a few years ago and my view really hasn't changed on the subject. I don't see the need for a 10 or 12 year old to have a cell phone. If a kid wants a cell phone, they should have to wait until they are 16; old enough to work and pay for their cell phone themselves.
When my daughter was 16 and asked for a cell phone we both said no, that when you get old enough to have a job you can get one for yourself, until that time we have the house phone. Of course she didn't like it but we didn't back down from this, I just don't see a cell phone as being one the things that a kid needs. A kid needs food, clothes, shelter, love, structure and an education...not a cell phone.
I also didn't let my daughter have a computer in her room. The only computer has always been in the family room and still is. When she was a teenager and wanted to go onto MySpace and then FB, I told her before she was able to go to those place I had to have all her passwords to all her accounts. of course she didn't like it but that's what parents are supposed to do. Too many parents these days have no idea what their kids are sending/receiving or talking about online and that's scary.
My daughter is 21 years old and even though I may not have her passwords I still stroll through her fb account and look at her friends, I visit their pages, look at their pictures, read their status updates and she calls me a creeper. Hey, I'd rather be a creeper than not know anything about my kids friends and have no idea what is going on with her and her friends.
I was watching the back to school commercials on tv and saw they were showing the newest cell phone accessories right in the same isles with the backpacks, paper, pens and other school supplies. Most people do know that cell phones aren't even allowed at most school's, right?
Mary,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more that children do not need a cell phone! I understand the need for a child to want to grow-up (God only knows why they might not want too if they realized some of the horrors...sigh) but I do not understand parents pushing them so fast out the door to adulthood. Children only have one childhood. On my blog I have said this a few times about myself....my responsibility as a father is to make sure my son has the best childhood he possibly can. I want him to want to come home someday. I want him to experience being a child and playing with toys and childhood things for as long as possible.
Aaron
All the kids have phones down here in NZ too. I agree that kids don't need phones.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a kid but I still don't have a cell phone. I don't need one...no one to call me. lol Don't know if that's a good or bad thing.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a cell phone. I really don't like the quality of sound and I don't see the need to tell someone what I am doing and seeing every minute of the day nor do I want to pay the ridiculous charges that people seem to have no qualms paying monthly.
ReplyDeleteNo cellphone for my kid early on either. I am in complete agreement with you.
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