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#21
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Cell phone for a second grader
Prepaid, prepaid, prepaid. If they use up the minutes or set amount, the phone won't work until more $$ are added to it. I'd never consider giving a pre-teen a cellphone that can have the bill racked up like that. but as it costs to receive calls in the US, if you're out of cash on the phone you can't receive anything, which means if you're relying on the phone to contact the child you could easily get in a mess. We've found this hard to get used to, other places I've lived, receiving calls on a cell phone is free, you could be out of minutes, but still contactable. I'm not sure I'd be trusting a 7 year old to warn in advance of needing a refill. Cheers Anne |
#22
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Cell phone for a second grader
Anne Rogers wrote in
: Prepaid, prepaid, prepaid. If they use up the minutes or set amount, the phone won't work until more $$ are added to it. I'd never consider giving a pre-teen a cellphone that can have the bill racked up like that. but as it costs to receive calls in the US, if you're out of cash on the phone you can't receive anything, which means if you're relying on the phone to contact the child you could easily get in a mess. We've found this hard to get used to, other places I've lived, receiving calls on a cell phone is free, you could be out of minutes, but still contactable. I'm not sure I'd be trusting a 7 year old to warn in advance of needing a refill. must be your service. we aren't charged for incoming calls on Tom's cell phone. lee |
#23
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Cell phone for a second grader
Donna Metler wrote:
"Laura Faussone" wrote in message ... Donna Metler wrote: How many activities is a 2nd grade involved in where the parent isn't going to be taking them and picking them up (or arranging a carpool to do so?) Not that I think a 2nd grader *needs* a phone, but ... What if the picking-up parent is unavoidably and unexpectedly delayed due to traffic or a flat tire? Which is why the group sponsor or teacher or parent at who's house the playdate is taking place needs a phone-not why each child needs one. I don't see that a child NEEDS a cell phone until they're doing things completely independently, and I am hard pressed to imagine many situations where this would happen for a 7 yr old. 11 or 12 yr old, maybe, teenager who is starting to drive and who has friends who drive, sure, given that payphones are largely nonexistent now. I don't see this as a reason why a child should *not* have a cell phone. There are cell phones made just for kids like these: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16044093/ (I have no connection to MSN or any of the cell phone companies.) By using the Chaperone service, you can tell where you kid is. For example, if dad is supposed to pick up junior at school at 3:00 PM, you can check at 3:15 PM and see if Jr.'s phone is still at school. If at 3:30, Jr. has a play date at the neighbor's down the street, you can see if the phone made it. And, with some of the services, you can see if the phone leaves a designated area, like a 1/2 mile area around the school and your home. BTW, I wasn't joking when I said that the phone made the play date. If Jr. leaves the phone at home, at school or on the school bus, the phone won't do much good. Is it worth a couple hundred bucks a year for this? For some people, absolutely! For others, why bother. Jeff |
#24
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Cell phone for a second grader
On Sep 10, 10:42 am, Banty wrote:
In article , Beth Kevles says... Arrgh. Mr. Dean? Why does a seven year old need a cell phone? "Why [can't *I* imagine] a seven year old need[ing] a cell phone?" (Fixed that for you) Probably because you aren't in the same environment. Both my wife and I work. My mother-in-law watches the kids. There is no public bus system here. That means moms, dads, grandparents, and nannies pick up the children. Through it all, my son was left at school accidentally. Besides laminated safety numbers and a lot of discussions with my child on what to do if he gets separated from adults, I think a cell phone would help in that situation quite a bit. In fact, it seems the perfect use for a cell phone. |
#25
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Cell phone for a second grader
Anne Rogers wrote:
Prepaid, prepaid, prepaid. If they use up the minutes or set amount, the phone won't work until more $$ are added to it. I'd never consider giving a pre-teen a cellphone that can have the bill racked up like that. but as it costs to receive calls in the US, None of the cell phones I've had for the last 6 or 8 years have charged to receive calls, and on all of them a 911 call is free. My mom used to have a bag phone (probably Sprint) which was in her car and she was charged when people called her even when she wasn't in the car and didn't answer, but that hasn't been true for some time - at least not here. So don't get a service that charges to receive calls. My dd#2 gave her nanny a phone to use so that she could get in touch with her (either way - nanny to dd or dd to nanny). She paid for a year and she had some kind of service that calls between family members were free. (She and her sister also have some kind of service that allows them to call each other free) When dd's youngest child started first grade, she didn't need the nanny anymore and took the phone back and gave it to her older child who was then about 11 years old I think. I doubt if he used it much. if you're out of cash on the phone you can't receive anything, which means if you're relying on the phone to contact the child you could easily get in a mess. We've found this hard to get used to, other places I've lived, receiving calls on a cell phone is free, you could be out of minutes, but still contactable. I'm not sure I'd be trusting a 7 year old to warn in advance of needing a refill. Cheers Anne |
#26
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Cell phone for a second grader
Rosalie B. wrote:
... None of the cell phones I've had for the last 6 or 8 years have charged to receive calls, and on all of them a 911 call is free. Some cell phone plans do charge to receive calls. Some have free incoming calls from a select group of numbers (selected by the user/parent), some have free incoming calls from within their network, and some have free incoming calls from anywhere. And some have no free calls from anywhere. So check the plan before signing on the dotted line. If you have a cell phone that has no service contract at all, it can still be used for 9-1-1 calls. So that is a good reason to keep old cell phones that you would no longer be used. (There are also organizations that reuse old cell phones, so there may be better uses, assuming, of course, that you have a new cell phone for emergency use as well.) My mom used to have a bag phone (probably Sprint) which was in her car and she was charged when people called her even when she wasn't in the car and didn't answer, but that hasn't been true for some time - at least not here. So don't get a service that charges to receive calls. In my case, I still pay to get calls. I have gone over on the minutes exactly once in the 2 years that I have owned the phone. Charging to receive calls may be a good lesson for a kid; on the other hand, it doesn't seem to be as important a lesson as, say, making a budget. I guess the bottom line is that you need to know what you are getting into before you sign. In my case, I did not anticipate using the phone enough during the periods where I didn't get free calls, so I didn't care that I had to pay for incoming calls. BTW, another option for incoming calls and outgoing calls is Skype and other IP telephone services. ... Jeff |
#27
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Cell phone for a second grader
"Nan" wrote in message ... On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:44:45 -0700, Zipadee wrote: On Sep 10, 4:01 pm, Nan wrote: I don't think I'd assume the parents would want my child to use their cell phone. I wouldn't allow a friend of my dd to use mine, but *I* would be willing to call, myself. Since I wouldn't assume that there would be a cell phone available, I'd prefer sending her with one of her own so there are no issues or problems with calling me. If a friend of your dd was over playing and asked to call home, you wouldn't let her use your phone? Why ever not? Are you concerned she would misuse the phone or use up minutes? Would you allow her to use your land line if you have one or is the objection specific to cell phones? I wouldn't want to have to deal with a potential accident with my cell phone. It's easier for me to make the call for the child. I've let kids use my land line telephone, but I've dialed the number and given them the handset. Then I've made sure it's hung back up properly. If I had a 7-year-old daughter playing at a friend's house and she wished to call me, I would certainly hope that the friend's parent would allow her to. And if I were the hosting parent and a child wanted to call a parent, I'd do whatever was necessary to let her. I most certainly wouldn't expect her to have her own phone to call her mother. I wouldn't *expect* it either, but I would prefer my dd have her own phone in such a case. Would a child, age 7, be going to a friend's house by herself without a parent knowing in advance and making arrangements? Probably not, but I'm not sure where making sure the child has a cell phone of their own isn't making "arrangements"? For young children, who are not likely to be all that responsible with things such as cell phones, I would think the sort of arrangements that people made before there were cell phones would still do fine. When I was young, everyone had a telephone. Like I said in an earlier post, many people around here have given up their landline, or simply cannot afford to have a phone. Those with cellphones sometimes have periods their phone is out of order if they have trouble paying the bill or putting airtime on it. If she's going to a friend's house to play and the friend's family has no phones at all, I would think the arrangements would be "I will pick you up at 5pm and I expect you to be at their house at that time". And if your plans had to change for some reason, how would you communicate that? If I were in a situation where many families didn't have a phone, I could see the point. However, I taught in inner city schools for 9 years, and usually a family would have a cell phone. If you're in a situation where you're depending on temp jobs, looking for work, and living hand to mouth with relatives, having some way people can get in touch with you and offer you work is essential, and is often the last thing to be dropped because it IS a stable contact. Now, it is the case that many children in these neighborhoods have little supervision, because the parent (usually only one) is trying to get by and isn't available during the day, but honestly, if someone didn't necessarily have a parent at home, I wouldn't be comfortable allowing my child to play there, cell phone or no cell phone. There's too much of a safety risk with young children and unreliable supervision. I'd prefer to go and get the friend myself and bring them to my house to play. If you wouldn't feel comfortable letting a child use YOUR cell phone because you think they might drop or damage it (and I've dropped mine multiple times and the thing is still working fine), how can you trust a 7 yr old with one on a day to day basis? Finally, I'd seriously consider that most schools have policies against cell phones, especially at the elementary level, and confiscate same to be picked up by a parent later (at most Middle and High schools, the phone is supposed to be turned off and in the locker during the day, and if it rings or is seen during the day will be confiscated). It is likely you could get an excemption from said policy if there's a good reason for your child to have such a phone, but cell phones in a school setting DO cause quite a lot of problems. Avoiding the extra features helps (and is likely to improve your chances of getting said excemption), but just the "ooh, cool new toy no one else has" is an issue in and of itself. Maybe your child is the exception to the rule, but most 7 yr olds simply aren't mature enough to not show off. Nan |
#28
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Cell phone for a second grader
On Sep 10, 4:01 pm, Nan wrote:
I don't think I'd assume the parents would want my child to use their cell phone. I wouldn't allow a friend of my dd to use mine, but *I* would be willing to call, myself. Since I wouldn't assume that there would be a cell phone available, I'd prefer sending her with one of her own so there are no issues or problems with calling me. If a friend of your dd was over playing and asked to call home, you wouldn't let her use your phone? Why ever not? Are you concerned she would misuse the phone or use up minutes? Would you allow her to use your land line if you have one or is the objection specific to cell phones? If I had a 7-year-old daughter playing at a friend's house and she wished to call me, I would certainly hope that the friend's parent would allow her to. And if I were the hosting parent and a child wanted to call a parent, I'd do whatever was necessary to let her. I most certainly wouldn't expect her to have her own phone to call her mother. Would a child, age 7, be going to a friend's house by herself without a parent knowing in advance and making arrangements? Probably not, but I'm not sure where making sure the child has a cell phone of their own isn't making "arrangements"? For young children, who are not likely to be all that responsible with things such as cell phones, I would think the sort of arrangements that people made before there were cell phones would still do fine. If she's going to a friend's house to play and the friend's family has no phones at all, I would think the arrangements would be "I will pick you up at 5pm and I expect you to be at their house at that time". While we all discuss this, has the OP been back to reply? -- Zip |
#29
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Cell phone for a second grader
"Zipadee" wrote in message ups.com... While we all discuss this, has the OP been back to reply? yup. around three hours ago posted once, correcting Banty's English/grammar and commenting in response to her post. I've not seen anything else from them. Aula |
#30
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Cell phone for a second grader
On Sep 10, 6:22 pm, genkuro wrote:
On Sep 10, 10:42 am, Banty wrote: In article , Beth Kevles says... Arrgh. Mr. Dean? Why does a seven year old need a cell phone? "Why [can't *I* imagine] a seven year old need[ing] a cell phone?" (Fixed that for you) Probably because you aren't in the same environment. Both my wife and I work. My mother-in-law watches the kids. There is no public bus system here. That means moms, dads, grandparents, and nannies pick up the children. Through it all, my son was left at school accidentally. Oh there you are, OP. My ex and I both work. Due to a miscommunication, our son was once left at the after-school program when he was about 7. But the head of the program just took him home to her house and tried to reach each of us. It certainly would have helped if WE had had cell phones then but it wouldn't have helped our son if he had one. We did stress to the after-school program and to our kids that if something similar ever happened again, they should call ALL numbers they had for us and leave messages at ALL of them. My ex had been at work then but must have stepped out when they called and if they had left a message there (instead of at just our homes), our son would have been picked up much sooner. My ex and I also made some changes to ensure the miscommunication wouldn't happen again (and it didn't). But my son was not left alone because the adults would not have left him. Does your school have no one around keeping an eye on things and making sure no kids appear to be hanging around waiting for someone who doesn't show up? No one who could look at his records and find phone numbers for you and your wife and call? Besides laminated safety numbers and a lot of discussions with my child on what to do if he gets separated from adults, I think a cell phone would help in that situation quite a bit. In fact, it seems the perfect use for a cell phone. You're right. I still can't imagine a 7-year-old needing a cell phone. -- Zip |
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