12 year---cell phone?
Any advice helps..thanks
Answers:
I know that boys and girls are incredibly different, but I just bought my 12 year old a cell phone on my package. He has been very responsible with it.
Cellular companies are so high tech they can do virtually anything. You can get your daughter a phone that the cellular company can pre-set to only allow telephone calls to certain phones and receive in only from certain phones.. You can also block text messaging and many other features.
You know your child better than anyone in the world - if you feel like she is mature enough to handle a phone - get her one - just let her know, that in the end - you are still the boss and that the telephone is a privilege - hence: abuse it ...... lose it!
Other Answers:
PRE-PAID phones are good for young ones. Virgin Mobile has nice pre-paid phones. A regular plan may be a little costly for you. I would just stick to the pre-paid.
Why in the world would a 12 yr old need a cell phone?? If she is in school all day and hopefully not going out a lot on her own at night, she should be OK w/o a phone. Maybe you could teach her at a young age that there are more important things to life than spending every waking hour talking about non-important gossip from the time school gets out til bed time.
Just b/c your 12 yr old wants something, it doesn't mean you have to run out and get it for her.
yea i got my 11 year old sis one a week ago for her birthday.
its simlular your your situation.as long as she doesn't use it 24/7 or it effects her grades in skool because shes texting with others it might not be a good idea.depends on her perseonality and attitude towards the idea though.
Get her a Firefly. It only has 4 buttons and you program them. Like, one is to reach Every aspect of the phone can be programmed and locked, so she won't be calling everyone all the time. I know Cingular carries them, maybe some others. That is so funny that you asked this. I have a 12 year old and he wanted a cell phone so I got him a prepaid cell phone and he has to pay for the minutes. He either has to do jobs around the house or he has some birthday money saved up. I would never get him a contract. I also wanted to tell you that it has come in handy when I am going to be late or he is going to go somewhere he can always get ahold of me.
If anything I'd get her a prepaid phone rather than a typical phone. She probably doesn't need one, most of the time she is probably with an adult who has one, but she wants to be cool and fit in with her friends. This way you can control how much she uses it and how much money she spends using it and give her a more defining limit. (And you'll probably get bonus points for being awesome).
yes I agree prepaid only...they are so tempted to do music down loads etc.... and let me tell you that can run a bill up...I had a 1200.00 cingular bill....and when I ask how a minor can do these things with out a password etc...thay say oh sorry...funny you cant add a phone with out all the info or even call and get a balance with out the social # but they can put 1100.00 bucks on you, that was not okay'd by me!! so PREPAID!!well if she goes over to her friends and does alot of school activities then get her one. that is so then you don't have to worry about her all the time and you can just call every once and a while.just make sure shes responsible with it.but if she is going to talk on it all the time then don't get her one if does talk on it all the time then there's no purpose for it because she will waist all of her minutes.make sure you get the same company to.like if you have Verizon don't get her cingular.you can also get here a firely.so then she can call certain people.that is probably the best cell phone for kids. I'm in the same situation. You got to answer this question though..does she REALLY need one? I can understand getting one in certain circumstances but I would only get the kind you pre-program with the phone numbers. There is actually no keypad but a few buttons and each is pre-programmed by the parent. IT's called a firefly.
http://www.mobiledia.com/news/27261.html
I dont think it's a good idea. At 12 she doesnt need one- she's at school or at home. At 12 she's not driving anywhere and has to say where, when, who and why when she goes out. This is an image thing and you are being made to keep up with the joneses. Let her find other ways to fit in and look cool.
If she is ever in an emergency situation she will be with a responable adult already. And if not there is always someone around that will offer the use of theirs....
both of mine have them. pre-paid. son is 13, daughter is 15. they can mow, babysit whatever it takres to earn money to add time . i bought phone added 1st card. they do rest now In my opinion a 12 year old doesn't need a cell phone. Her main focus should be education, playing outside with her friends and various other child activities. When did the kids in this country become too grown to be normal kids. My child won't have anything like that.
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