Do Children Really Need a Cell Phone

Why is it that everywhere we go now a days, someone has a cell phone up to their ear? Even young kids can be seen with their cell phones. Have you been to a mall on the weekends, lately? If you have you know that practically every kid walking around in there has a cell phone either on their belt or near their ear.

Why do young kids need to have a cell phone? What could they possibly have to talk about that's so important they need to carry it to school and everywhere they go? I can understand the need to want to keep in touch with one's child, but these kids are texting for hours, making several phone calls a day to their friends, talking during school hours as well as texting and cheating at tests when they get the answers to tests from their friends.

Do children really need a cell phone while they are at school? If they need to call home why can't they just go to the office like we did when we were kids? If there's an emergency at school, there's always a teacher around with a phone, or they can go to the principal's office and use the phone there. Most times when a student is involved in an emergency, the school calls the parents and let's them know if they need to come and pick their child up.

I do understand why some parents want to give their children a cell phone, it's easier to keep track of them and get a hold of them. Especially if they have a lot of after school activities and are going to be getting home late after football, baseball, chess club, babysitting...etc.

Some cell phones are actually targeted towards smaller kids, as young as 5 years old. With the Verizon Migo, parents can program phone numbers into the phone and the child only has to press one button to call mom or dad, instead of memorizing their phone number. This brings up another problem, younger kids not knowing their phone number because they never had to learn it. They just press a button on their phone and they have magically dialed home. What if cell phone service is interrupted, their phone gets stolen, lost or broken? Parents have to make sure they don't rely to heavily on technology and prepare their kids in case they can't rely on their phones.

If you do decide to get your child a cell phone, the first thing you should consider is what kinds of things do you want on the phone? Do you want your child texting, going on the internet or being able to make calls whenever they want? If this is to be an emergency phone only, the answer to these questions would be no. The best thing to do when getting a phone is to go alone so you won't be pressured into getting what your child wants, instead stick to getting an emergency phone. If your teen is driving and it will make you feel safer if they have a cell phone to call you if something happens, then getting a prepaid cell phone would be the best to get. This way they can't make large amounts of phone calls and go over the minutes you buy for the phone. Don't have text, internet, or chat capabilities on the phone. This way they still have to do all their emailing, chatting and internet browsing on the family computer where you can limit their time on as well as see everyone they talk to and everywhere they go.