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@Cole: I like the idea of one phone for the family.
I want to say never! Ideally high school but I'm sure it will be more like middle school. I'm not going to get anything fancy, the fanciest would be if one of us upgraded he could have our smart phone once he is able to pay for data. Until then flip phone it is.
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A smartphone when they can pay for it. I didn't have a phone (flip!) until I was 15 and paid for it, and didn't have a smartphone until just last year!
But I would like to be able to get ahold of them when they start doing a lot of school/friend activities in high school. I would likely pay for a pay as you go or basic phone with just calling maybe limited texting ability.
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I'm thinking 14ish (it's when I got my first one!) and it's going to be a pre-paid one so the bills should never be surprising, and lo will need to put her own money towards the monthly cost.
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DH is very anti kids having cell phones at all, which I think is unrealistic. As some have pointed out, it's just not the same world we grew up in! That being said, they will NOT be getting smart phones at 7 or 8. I have some young cousins who got iphones and ipads and all that around that age, and the older one is just addicted. To the point that I don't remember the last time I saw him not staring at his phone (unless he'd been forced to put it away). That won't be acceptable. And there will be some definite rules associated with it, etc. We'll be doing something along the lines of this contract.
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@Torchwood: great contract!
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I'm sure phones (if they haven't been replaced by something else) of the future will be totally different, but in today's terms - I would get a very simple, no-nonsense one in late elementary school so they can call us if needed or if there's an emergency. Smart phone would be later, when they were older, like late middle or early high school.
Phone use will be very, very supervised though.
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@littlebug: My neice got an ipad at 4 too. Her parents figured she needed it because she had to learn how to use it for school!
I think that a phone may be necessary for when my LO is going out on her own. There are so few payphones around anymore and I want her to be able to get ahold of us.
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Our kids will not be getting them until they can drive. They won't be smart phones either.
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When they can drive. That's when I got mine!
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Not until high school. Honestly, I wish we could move somewhere where they don't have cell service and avoid it all together, but since that isn't likely, not until high school. It won't be a fancy bells phone either.
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When he can drive! That's when I got mine!
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Ideally, high school but I know it's going to be an uphill battle because my DH is a tech geek and wants DD to have the latest gadgets. He already entertains her with the iPad and I hate it!!! I have to remind him to use it as a last resort.
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@LuLu Mom: I was wondering the same thing! We don't have a house phone, and when I was 12+ I always used to chat with my friends after school or on weekends on the house phone. Maybe by then there will be an obvious solution
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@Pepper: We still have a landline for our house alarm since we got a good deal on it. When my niece lived with us, I let her friends call and text her via my cell phone. I like screening her calls like that. They also used their parents' phones I think.
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@Pepper: We don't have a land line either. That is part of why I think we will do a family phone that gets kept in the kitchen 90% of the time. Then we can send it with a kid who is walking to the park or something but otherwise it is available for general phone calls.
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Elementary school but limited use.
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I have no idea what the norm is here or anywhere else for that matter! I think it'll depend a lot on her afterschool activities.
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