Hey Mongoose:
My daughter just turned 10 and was pretty disappointed when she didn't get a new iPhone for Christmas. I don't think she needs one because she has one of our old phones she can use on wifi, but her mom thinks Santa shouldve bought her one of her own. What age do you think it's ok for a kid to have a cellphone? Dear Mr. Grinch, I’ve been asking for a dirt bike since I was 7. I'm still waiting for it and there have been several years where I was real good. Some parents never cease to amaze me, first of all, they’ve completely forgotten what things were like when they were their kids’ age. There was no such thing as a cell phone when I was 10 and guess what, I survived. Not only did I survive I learned 3 things by not having "Satan’s CB”: 1) to listen 2) to remember 3) to improvise. Let me explain; if I were to do something outside of the normal routine that required my mom or dad to pick me up etc.. I had to 1) listen to the plan they had mapped out for me to make it work. Not only did I have to listen, I had to 2) remember the plan. For instance, “mom, can I go to Jim Bob’s house after school, his mom said it was ok.” “Sure son, I’ll pick you up from there at 6:00, make sure your shoes are on, don’t forget your book satchel and be out front, I don’t want to have to come in and get you or I’ll be there till 10:00”, said mom. Now, I had to listen carefully to the plan AND I had to remember it all day long. But, But what if an emergency came up? That’s where the improvisation comes into play. I didn’t have the luxury of sending my parents a text to tell them that Jim Bob’s brother swallowed an entire bottle of Flintstones vitamins and we were at the Emergency Room, I had to figure out a way to get word to them—improvise. First I’d call home, no answer, no machine. Next, call grandma; “your mom is at the grocery store”. Then, call the grocery store, “Betty said she just left but mentioned she was headed to bank”. You get where I’m going with this. The problem is this; we do our kids a disservice by not putting these responsibilities on them because we haven’t trained them to handle such. On the other hand, we give a 10 year old a $600 phone with the capabilities to look at naked pitchers of strangers and classmates and expect them to handle that responsibility. If your kid can afford both the phone and phone bill, let them have one. If not, they’ll survive just like you did without one.
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