Your Turn
Katie Holmes bought 7 year old Suri the brand new iPhone. What age should a child be allowed to have their own cell phone?
Monday, September 30, 2013
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51 comments:
Whatever age the parent paying for the phone thinks is reasonable.
My kids each got theirs when they were 12. And that's only because they were involved in after-school activities and I was working.
When they have their own online burn book.
My daughter was 12. My son might be a tad younger when we get him one. He's 9, so maybe 11. 11 or 12.
When they are old enough to be separated from their parent (and not at school) for longer lengths of time.
a 7yo doesn't need one IMO because a parent should know exactly how to reach them wherever they are regardless (at a friends house? Should know that parents phone #, etc.) - but a 14yo goes to the movies and malls with friends and in those sorts of situations IMO they should have one. Restricted and supervised (parents having access to to their texts and activity)
I see no reason a kid can't have a very basic cell phone at this age, if the kid is involved in extracurricular activities and would in theory have to reach their parents involving rides home, etc. A smartphone is a different story to me. A 7 year old doesn't need unrestricted access to the internet and texting.
A friend got her 10- and 11-year olds iPhones (because she needed to be able to reach them). She also has the internet disabled on both. I'd bet that Katie Holmes does the same thing.
I love those phones they have for young children where you can call like 3 numbers and 911. That's all a child should need. For a high-profile child like that, it's good for Suri to have a way to contact her mom if she gets lost, or is without Katie. But I think a kid should get a phone when they prove responsibility and then need it (if they walk home from school, do sports or activities after, or if the kid often stays with someone else like a divorced parent.
Katie works and wants Suri to know she can talk to her whenever she wants....which phone is up to Katie.
When i think of 9-11 or any horrible things that can happen, it cant be young enough. For teenagers maybe 13 or 16, idk. Just dont abuse it.
Just so long as she isn't buying her Google glasses...this is the world we live in now. Get used to it or get labeled a dinosaur.
Divorced parents sometimes go early with the cell phone for kids so the EX can directly contact the children without going thru the other EX
This was an easier question to answer when most people had landlines. Now that there's no "family" phone number, I'd say that kids should/could have their own phone as soon as they're old enough to be expected to call home.
When they are old enough to get a job and personally earn the money to pay the bill in theory but these days I'd go with when they or their friends start driving unsupervised.
@Melissa: I did an iPod w/ my then 5 y/o so I could video chat with him. His mom wouldn't let him use the iPod at her house, but she did download the app for the netbook he has up there.
Full functioning phone, I would say 12-13. If it is a girl, then I would put a nail through the camera lens.
Some advice to parents, from my job doing family therapy (plus other things): If you buy your child a phone and then try to take that phone away as a power move, you will suffer immensely. Lesson in all of this, don't get your kid a phone until you are certain they are ready for it, cuz you'll have the devil to pay to get control of that genii.
I didn't get a cell until I was 20, and could pay for it myself. I think cells at younger ages are helpful when parents have shared custody, but only to make calls- not Internet
@Count- Word. (re: nail through lens for girls.)
I did the same and think about it..the less contact KH has w TC the better.
The pic only shows suri carrying a phone. I'd be willing to bet its actually Katie's. Regardless, with how much attention they get from the paps and Co$, it might not be a bad idea for suri to have a phone.
Any age is fine if you're wealthy enough you won't mind footing the bill for a replacement when your dumb kid downloads the spiderweb app.
When we cancelled our home land line, I got my daughter a generic phone--texting/voice only. She was 8 or 9 at the time. I just gave her my old phone and upgraded mine to an Android. She is 12 now and she needs nothing more than that. She has an Ipod she can use at home for other stuff, but I'll be damned if I'm paying that much money for a child's phone to have internet. She can get it when she gets a job to pay the bill.
Suris situation is different from others,basically the child is the breadwinner in the home sincd support received is their bread and butter,and also what if shes kidnapped by church of cash or some stalkers talking to her, kate could be looking at it as extra security to be more connected to her,more in touch if suri needs help?
Maybe she was tired of having to answer Tommys calls, so now he can go direct
Phones that call home, work and 9-1-1 are appropriate for a child 10 and younger. A generic cell phone that can make calls only (no internet) for kids 10-14. 14 years old kids are stupid by design and the more internet you can monitor the better.
We don't have a home phone so everyone in our house needs one. My son got his first basic phone when he turned 8, he's 14 now and upgraded to the phone of his choice.
not 7
Middle school. No earlier.
My almost 12 yo decided on a guitar instead of a phone as her gift for graduating elementary school (her brother went with the phone - he got a basic Samsung Replenish first, then upgraded to an iPhone 5 this year).
She's not interested, so I'm not going to get one for her until high school.
My daughter was just talking about this this weekend.
She said it was time to buy her 5yo a cell phone.
I was like what? Really? Wow!
My kids got their phones when they were 15. At that point, they had friends who drove and I couldn't just walk down the street or holler out the front door to them. I steadfastly refused to get them one before them. AND...my boy didn't get an Xbox until he was 15 and that thing is the devil! I've taken it back away and he'll never get it back. These kids are soo hooked up to electronics and cel phones and iPods that they can't hold a damn conversation. Oh, and I took away his iPod too. Now the poor darling has to actually GO OUTSIDE and has to TALK to people! The horror!
Ok I'm probably about to get in trouble but "Santa" gave our at the time 5 and 10 year old daughters IPhones. We upgraded and gave them our jail broke phones. Put an app on there so they could make calls only when they were on WIFI, and we had it set up so they couldn't dial #'s that weren't programmed in. Mainly they played games and called each other. And for the first week of Christmas break my 5 year old called me at 6:00 am telling me she was awake and wanted breakfast. To us it wasn't a biggie because we weren't paying a monthly payment or had contracts on them. Our oldest is now 13 and is on our plan and I regret it.
When they can afford to buy one. No child of mine would be getting an iPhone. A old Nokia brick maybe when they got to around 15.
We are the odd ones here I guess as we had a home phone when our children were growing up so they didn't need cell phones. We had a pay as you go cell that they used for when they went anywhere to contact us for anything. I refused to have three teens with cells and contracts and all that mess. I told them when they had jobs and could pay their own cell bills then they could get their own cell phone lol. They all three now have cells and all of them now understand why I did it and my daughters have said that they will be doing the same things with their own children haha.
When OSI is following you or spying on you (I recall fake paps and 'mysterious' fake NYPD uniforms too) as soon as the kid understands 911.
I am in favor of giving the children of divorced parents a basic cell phone as soon as they can be trusted not to lose it. Divorce is very disruptive for children and am in favor of giving them access to both parents assuming the child has a healthy relationship with both. No wifi or internet, but able to make a call works for me.
gawd, this is going to date me, but when i was 7, my dad had a mobile, but the rest of us had to use the land line to call friends after school. i think kids need them now though....but with porn blocks and parental monitoring. i have a work colleague who's 8 year old son was using his phone for FB and being stalked and harrassed. and he was looking up porn.
When they can pay for it.
My daughter got a basic one at 6 so she could call her dad whenever she wanted and vice versa. We got her a smart phone at 9 or 10 and she now has the most current Galaxy with full internet access.
Where she goes to school, literally every child had a phone by 5th grade...most of them smart phones (now all but maybe one or two smart phones). I don't know if it much matters anyway since the school went to all ipads a few years ago (all of their books, homework, etc. is done, for the most part, via ipad) so if kids want to access the internet, they easily can.
Honestly, I don't know if I'd be so blase about it if she wasn't one of the most responsible people I know (moreso than most adults): there are quite a few kids her age that have no business having that easy of access to the internet.
As a general observation, I think that the kids who have had phones from a very young age, and therefore learned to use it while they were still easily influenced by parents, tend to be more responsible. But I don't know if it's a chicken or an egg thing (whether kids got them earlier because they're more responsible or whether they're more responsible because they got them earlier) so my anecdotal evidence may be flawed.
I would imagine a phone is the main way for Suri to be in touch with her father--and they can afford it so I don't see a problem with her having one.
I'll get my kids their own cell phones when they are old enough to be dropped off at activities and will need to call for a ride. There aren't pay phones anymore, like there were when I was a kid. Besides, my kids wouldn't even know what to do with one of those weird things attached to a box by a metal cord!
No pay phones is a bitch. One time my car got towed in the city w/ my phone inside it. I gave someone $5 to let me use their cell.
My son is 8. We activated my old 3Gs for him with only phone service.
We did so bc he went to a sleepover and wanted to come home, but the mom was trying to tough lve him and didnt want hm to call.
It was 2 am. I would prefer to make that decision.
Obvs, he doesnt sleep over there aymore, but as far as the phone goes, he just forgets it. Hardly ever touches it.
Its too early for him. So...We send it with him when he goes on outings w ther families or sleepovers, or whatever.
I am thinking he will ask for the full deal when he is ready and I will be all over monitoring that shit. INternet at home, as well.
I believe in his privacy, but if I have reason to suspect he s into something bad, I will not hesitate to snoop. My parent friends with teenagers under 18 have ALL got GPS on the cell phones.
They're old enough to have a phone when they're old enough to be by themselves at home. 12-13 works.
When they can buy the phone themselves and pay for the service themselves.
2.34 years
Seriously I'm sure Suri probably has it to play games. I highly doubt she's checking out internet porn.
@lyz, that reminded me of this:
http://on.fb.me/1eVkjb1
My son was 8, eldest daughter 7 with their phones. Toddler doesn't need one yet obv, but we will be getting her an iPad for her bday. We are form believers in tech savvy kids. My husband builds computers with the kids as a hobby and we want to tackle building a robot next.
Im with you oopsie daisy. It's important for them to become savvy users of technology. We have iPhones that are just used or wifi connectivity, no phone. No text. We balance this out with lots of unplugged activities too.
My opinion is that the right time is when the parent or parents decide is the right time. It's not for me to dictate what a person should give their child.
Besides, everyone is different, some are responsible at an early, early age and some never grow to be responsible no matter how old they are.
What Melissa said...my son is 7 & due to recent events with having to go through my ex to have contact with him has me & my boyfriend discussing getting him his own phone. We don't have Katie Holmes money but if I did i'd get him an iPhone - set up with parental restrictions. He loves playing certain games on my phone & to have the direct access would be nice.
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