1. Bobert_123's Avatar
    Lots of you guys keep saying "no 10 year old needs a smartphone", but that doesn't mean one shouldn't have one. If the kid seems like she can handle it, then I say get it. Having a smartphone is a great experience for a young kid, speaking from my own past experience. Its not detrimental in anyway, just as long as you keep an eye on her. You also don't want her to be the only one without a phone either. Smartphones are becoming more and more popular with kids, and she shouldn't be left out imo
    04-10-13 09:45 PM
  2. ErinnM's Avatar
    My mom got my oldest son a phone when he was 13 - over my objections. She said she was paying for it and it was just so she could contact him and make pick up arrangements. And boy did she pay. His first bill was about $450. She hadn't gotten him a texting plan because he wasn't supposed to be texting.

    Depends totally on your child and your family - but I feel the later the better - and that it's much better if they have to pay for at least half of it themselves.

    Posted via CB10
    Lol that happened to someone I know. She wasn't allowed to text, she did, bill was high, got phone taken away. This was middle school. She finally got one again in 11th grade.

    Posted via Crackberry Z10
    04-10-13 10:15 PM
  3. BerryWife's Avatar
    My eldest is 10 (grade five) and half the class has a smart phone. Gave son a dumb phone (pay as you go slider when my parents got 9900) and he didn't even look at it. Finally came out it was embarrassing! I have my 9790 in a drawer an d he is responsible but I can't justify the cost (we want to be able to bbm and text on it as well as minimal phone use). It was on Rogers but is unlocked. I told son when he can fork over a payment equal to half of a one year fee that we will talk again. Honestly, there are days I wish he had one (he wants to go to friends homes or to the park now). There are so many times I say "I wish u could just bbm him ( all his grandparents, dad and I have BlackBerrys). Kids today have so much (my 7 and 10 year olds bought their own iPod touch devices, they had desktop pcs but now have laptops (I fixed up one someone thought was broken, my parents bought the other son his own used one). Honestly, they don't realize how good they have it! that said, they are pretty responsible (one cracked iPod screen in 5 years and it was because he fell off the bed and landed knee first on it) and older son would probably be terrified of losing it ( heck he brings his indoor shoes home for school every day so they don't get lost or stolen!)

    I think it really depends on the kid...but I do know at our school pretty much every grade 7 and 8 student had a cell phone when we did a survey 6 years ago... now I see a lot of the new fancy phones.

    Posted with my Zed via CeeBeeTen
    04-10-13 10:37 PM
  4. FrankPCS's Avatar
    Meh I got a pager in sophomore year in high school. A PAGER! LoL. I think a feature phone will do my child fine in grade school. Who knows though, by the time my child hits grade school the cool thing will be Google Contact Lenses or something.

    Realistically though, Ive seen kids who benefitted with having a cell phone and kids who went the total opposite way. So it just depends how you instill expectations with increased responsibility. In the end, it's your kid so it should be whatever you feel comfortable with giving your child.
    04-10-13 10:44 PM
  5. ashykat's Avatar
    If you go the smartphone way I'd probably recommend prepaid on an MVNO like Straight Talk or something too so you're unlikely to incur overages.
    04-10-13 10:51 PM
  6. sentimentGX4's Avatar
    Get your daughter a cell phone around the time her peers are getting them. First, it passes the decision making to others. Second, not getting your son or daughter such an essential social communication device will cause them to be ostracized by their peers and wreck havoc on their social lives so you're going to have to get them a cell phone around that time no matter what happens, anyway.
    04-10-13 10:52 PM
  7. ashykat's Avatar
    I guess it's hard for me to look at it that way but you may be right. I'm 28 now and I bought my own pager and paid for the service myself until I got my cell phone and I paid for that along with the service too. I also bought my first car. I think it's valuable to teach kids that if they want something they need to be willing to work for it. This obviously all depends on the kid too. Some can handle the responsibility, some can't. Part of the reason I was always so good with my phones is because I knew if I broke it I had to pay to fix/replace it.

    Get your daughter a cell phone around the time her peers are getting them. First, it passes the decision making to others. Second, not getting your son or daughter such an essential social communication device will cause them to be ostracized by their peers and wreck havoc on their social lives so you're going to have to get them a cell phone around that time no matter what happens, anyway.
    04-10-13 10:57 PM
  8. ErinnM's Avatar
    I guess it's hard for me to look at it that way but you may be right. I'm 28 now and I bought my own pager and paid for the service myself until I got my cell phone and I paid for that along with the service too. I also bought my first car. I think it's valuable to teach kids that if they want something they need to be willing to work for it. This obviously all depends on the kid too. Some can handle the responsibility, some can't. Part of the reason I was always so good with my phones is because I knew if I broke it I had to pay to fix/replace it.
    I agree.

    Also do kids even hang outside anymore without being glued to a phone? Lol

    Posted via Crackberry Z10
    04-10-13 11:09 PM
  9. MartyMcfly's Avatar
    Get your daughter a cell phone around the time her peers are getting them. First, it passes the decision making to others. Second, not getting your son or daughter such an essential social communication device will cause them to be ostracized by their peers and wreck havoc on their social lives so you're going to have to get them a cell phone around that time no matter what happens, anyway.
    I'm not a parent, however I can't imagine getting my child a cell phone under these circumstances. There is no way I would ever let society/other people influence an important decision like this for my child. To the op 15 will be the cell phone age in my house.
    ErinnM and Prince_Poppycock like this.
    04-10-13 11:13 PM
  10. wolfstar's Avatar
    When she has a job and can afford it.
    04-10-13 11:28 PM
  11. cd1105's Avatar
    When they get a job!!!!!
    04-10-13 11:35 PM
  12. Jane Li's Avatar
    My kid had his first phone when he was 2. It was a kid phone, had built in gps and only had 4 buttons.

    This was because he used to with a very untrustworthy ex. He used to come home and tell me that he would often be left alone, so I told him that he could call kid he didn't feel safe.

    Now at 10, he has graduated to his first blackberry with the parental controls on

    Posted via CB10
    04-10-13 11:42 PM
37 12

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