When’s the right time to make the call?

Every child and every family is different. But there’s one issue that every family has to address at some point. How young is too young for a cell phone? Each family has a different set of values, but sometimes parents have to tailor this issue to each specific kid in a family.

In my family, my older sister did not get a cell phone until she was a junior in high school because there was no need for one before then. But, I got one when I was a freshman because I was going to Washington D.C. for the second year in a row for a competition. My parents wanted to be able to get a hold of me in case I got separated from them in the city.

The main problem with families and cell phones are the parents that give their kid a phone just because all of their friends have one, and that is wrong. The parents shouldn’t be made to feel like they have to give their kid a phone.

Children can have fun outside with friends and if they want to get together, they can use the house phone or their parent’s cell phone.

In my opinion, the children that are in the second grade, or younger, and have a phone are way too young. I don’t know why we have started to give kids phones at such young ages. Has it really come down to parents or care providers just handing a child a phone because they are getting fussy or too much to handle? Why are we doing something that is convenient to us at the time, but does nothing to serve our child or to fix the initial problem?

When I drove past a park during a nice, warm day, I saw a parent with her children, and they were sitting on a bench playing on a phone. Kids won’t learn anything if they have their faces in their phones. Kids learn by example and some parents just aren’t setting the best examples.

“A child can learn so much more through the power of play than they would with an app on a phone,” my sister Alora, an early childhood education major, said.

We also have to think about whether or not the child is at an age that they are responsible enough to have a phone.

Having a phone is a lot of responsibility, and when are they old enough to understand those responsibilities? Maybe more importantly, are they able to decide what is safe and not when it comes to their phone?

If a child has a smart phone, they are going to get on the Internet, which entails many safety concerns, such as sexual predators and cyber bullies. In today’s world if a child is being bullied, it’s hard for teachers and parents to know because a lot of it is done through a text message or social media sites.

Because of the threat, when you do decide to give your child a phone, monitoring and limiting usage is important. Children and teenagers have a tendency to not want to talk to adults about embarrassing things, like being bullied or harassed, especially when they think it will get them in trouble. It is the parents’ responsibility to pay attention to what their child is doing on their phone and to make a smart decision about when it is time to give them a phone.

The best thing to do if you feel like your child needs a phone in order to contact you is to start out with a simple “dumb” phone that doesn’t have access to the Internet and only allows them to call or text you. You should make sure that when your kid does have a phone that they can only have it for a limited time during the day. Children and teenagers do not need their phone unless they are away for school or sporting events. Giving them unlimited access to a phone gives them the feeling they are entitled to it even though the parents most likely pay for it. It should be given as a privilege and as a sign of trust. Most importantly, a phone should be given at an appropriate age and only when it becomes necessary.