Originally Posted by
Grafixx01 Ok, this is a very heated discussion with good and bad points.
I have an 8 year old daughter who we got a regular cell phone for. We pay the bill, not her, but took the phone away when she ran up a $60 bill on the VZW Get-it-Now applications and games. She got it back 4 months later after doing chores and things of that nature around the house to let us 'recoup' the money.
Now would I get her or even any child of mine in High School, a Blackberry? Well, I'm on the fence on that one. Do I feel that they'll use the phone to the point that it is supposed to be used? NO. I don't know of any child who will use any of the full features of a blackberry, aside from the phone, texting, and pictures. The one benefit of the child having a BB would really only be the BBM, if both parents had a BB also.
However, I think its really an issue with like "Keeping up with the Jones" and the marketing of the Cellular companies to draw in kids to get these phones, especially due to the colors.
The other day, I was in a VZW store trying to get my 8330 and a family was there. The parents were getting their kids each a phone (2 phones total), however, a regular flip-phone or LG Dare was not good enough for them. They demanded that their parents buy them a BB Pearl since that's what all the kids at school have, so the parents did it. Then when they were asking about SD cards, the parents were going to get them a 1 gig card, they threw a fit. The parents ended up buying them 4gig cards. The reason, "Mom, Dad, do you realize how many pictures we take in a day? We'll fill up 1 gig before lunch!"
That's just ludicrous. Its my personal opinion that things are getting way way too out of hand with the youth of today and rather than being rewarded for doing well in school and in other areas, thy EXPECT to have things.
Where I live, there was a kid who just turned 16 and got his license, he pulled up while I was walking my dog, in a brand new Nissan 350Z convertible, rims, system, kit, custom paint, everything. I said, "Nice car. Who's is it? Dad's? Older Brother?" His reply, "It's mine. My mom and dad bought it for me and had all the work done for me." My mouth dropped to the floor.
Needless to say, I went home where the wife and I started to discuss some things. Our daughter was there and she heard we were talking about her. We were planning on buying a computer for her room, and then an XBOX360, Wii, and PS3 to put one on the living room TV and then two on the office TV. She said, "I will ONLY have a laptop for a computer. AND I want an XBOX360, Wii, and PS3 in MY room!" I just looked at her mother, left the conversation at that, when she walked away, her mother and I looked at each other and were like, "Well, NOW, she ain't getting crizzap!"
It's like the wife told me one day, she picked up our daughter from school and she told my wife that she wants a Louis Vatton (SP) pocketbook! The wife said, "Call your dad and ask him. What he says goes." She did, and received a response of, "What are you flucking nutz? You're out of your mind. You go get a job and buy it yourself!"
Like I said, I think its been lost over the ages where children were taught a good work ethic and how to earn money to buy things they want, so that they have a greater respect for those things and don't break them, as much.
But that's just my two cents on it.