Middle Schooler with a cell phone

[Nanny Pam]

I'd say yes with the caveat that it is to remain OFF unless he needs to get in touch with you or someone in the event of an emergency. I don't even know what the rule is during school these days.

Of course, there's the theft/loss issue to deal with as well.

 

[Pete]

Ok?
That wasn't my point, at all.
Times change, for one, and my point was that if you are going to give a child a cell phone to make yourself feel better that they'll have it in emergency cases, then you really lose the stipulation that you'll take it away if they abuse it since then they'll be cellphone-less when that hypothetical emergency happens.
:shrug:
I was just saying that if you give it to them for emergencies, explain the rules but it will be a near-necessity to be lenient on the rules if you plan that your child have that phone for emergencies any time they aren't home.

If he loses his cell phone because he lacks the discipline to follow the rules he agreed to, I guess he will have to rely on the generocity of the 10,000 other middle schoolers standing around with cell phones to call me on their phone.

 

[theArtistFormerlyKnownAs]

If he loses his cell phone because he lacks the discipline to follow the rules he agreed to, I guess he will have to rely on the generocity of the 10,000 other middle schoolers standing around with cell phones to call me on their phone.

Or, God forbid, he collect call using the pay phone

 

[MysticalMom]

I never let my middle schoolers have cell phones. What on earth do you need a cell phone at 12 for? Much less in school? If there's an emergency I'm sure the school will let me know.

 

[CableChick]

Or, God forbid, he collect call using the pay phone

Do schools even HAVE pay phones anymore??

 

[HouseCat]

Give them a "jitterbug". lol Be too embarrassed to use it in school.

 

[itsbob]

depends on the school rule. if the rule is no phones, then no phone.

After 9/11 I believe all of the local middle and high schools changed their rules about possessing cell phones on school grounds.

PHS students were not allowed to possess cell phones on school property on 9/11.. on 9/12 they could possess them but they had to be off during school hours.

 

[itsbob]

I never let my middle schoolers have cell phones. What on earth do you need a cell phone at 12 for? Much less in school? If there's an emergency I'm sure the school will let me know.

If you have Chaperone enabled.. the use of that ONE time can more than make up the cost of a cell phone..

It can pinpoint their location on YOUR phone, so you can find them, and it may not necessarily be them getting in trouble, but just in trouble.

 

[sunflower]

Read the question wrong

 

[Larry Gude]

...

Somebody got busted taking their cell to school against my rule. He did not get busted by the school it was by me. I was looking for it this morning and it was not there so I knew he did it. Of course he lied until I gave him the "I am going to ask you one more time" thing.

I am anticipating the "It was off in my backpack" explanation but I am going to check it when I get home. If any txt messages were sent during school hours someone is going to be hating life.

...I don't mind the crimes anywhere near as much as I despise the lying.

 

[BlissfulJumper]

If you have Chaperone enabled.. the use of that ONE time can more than make up the cost of a cell phone..

It can pinpoint their location on YOUR phone, so you can find them, and it may not necessarily be them getting in trouble, but just in trouble.

If you do have chaperone cabablity I don't think it would work if the phone was off. Like most tracking devices they have to be on I think. I could be wrong..

 

[Beaver-Cleaver]

I walked 4 miles to school each day (in middle school back in Florida), 5 miles to the library after school and 9 miles home after that everyday without a cell phone... don't understand why parents feel their kids can't live without them. :shrug:

 

[Tigerlily]

I remember my third grader last year telling me that when her class was taking the MSA's, the teacher told everyone in the class to turn off their cellphones. I was suprised that any third grader would have a cellphone.

I just asked my daughter who is now in fourth grade and in a differnet school and she tells me six kids out of her class of 19 have cell phones. My son who is in third grade has 5 kids in his class of 19 with phones. I find that shocking.

 

[Sonsie]

Wow, for the truly paranoid parent there is this. It even locks onto the kids wrist!

This is kinda neat for smaller kids, a combo phone/watch/GPS. I guess if your pre-teen was a real social butterfly and always "at a friend's house" it might be worth it.

 

[Tigerlily]

Wow, for the truly paranoid parent there is this. It even locks onto the kids wrist!

This is kinda neat for smaller kids, a combo phone/watch/GPS. I guess if your pre-teen was a real social butterfly and always "at a friend's house" it might be worth it.

Forget the watch, I'm waiting for the underskin GPS microchip your kid program.

 

[onebdzee]

I even walked uphill both ways.

You forgot about the 3 feet of smow

Zman will be getting a cell for x-mas because he is on occasion left home alone for a half hour or so and I am tired of getting text from my own yahoo IM'er

 

[vraiblonde]

If he loses his cell phone because he lacks the discipline to follow the rules he agreed to, I guess he will have to rely on the generocity of the 10,000 other middle schoolers standing around with cell phones to call me on their phone.

And that's how that works. When one of the girls would lose their phone privs, they'd have to borrow from someone else and they HATED that.

Two thoughts:

I liked the kids having a phone because that meant I could get in touch with them if I needed to and vice versa. A convenience similar to the internet: we didn't have it when we were kids, but try and take it from us now

AND:

If the kid gets busted using the phone in school, they take their lumps. The rule usually is that they have to be turned off during class. If they forget to turn it off and someone texts or calls them in the middle of a class, they get their in-school suspension and too bad for them.

 

[vraiblonde]

Or, God forbid, he collect call using the pay phone

What is this "pay phone" that you speak of?

Anyway, I vote yes, let him take the phone to school.

 

[clevalley]

Daughter takes hers to school. She keeps it off during the day and turns it on once she's off the bus. I like the idea of her having her phone with her in case something happens.

He TM's Mom and I sometimes on the bus ride home...

Yes if it is programmed to only call home, dad work, dad cell and 911. Otherwise no need for shorty to have a cell phone.

Depends on the kid... it really does. Some of his buds have them taken away from Mom and Dad, and as soon as they get them back, they are taken away again. He has had one since he was 8 (long story), so he does not abuse it like others his age. He knows when to use it and when not to, most of the time; he did mess up while out camping with scouts, but that is another story.

 

[BlissfulJumper]

I received my first cell phone when i was in 7th grade I'm now a senior. I don't agree with a third grader having it unless they walk to places alot or something where they could get abducted. I only got one in 7th grade because I rode horses and went to the barn everyday and my parents didn't want to wait for me to finish so I would call when I was done.

Now, my parents love having texting because when they need to tell me something quick they can just text it and my dad has cancer so if he is ill or hurt he can just send a quick text that I can answer in school instead of a call. He also likes it for when he gets bored hunting

I think parents are so paranoid for their children because of how bad people are today. Who knows how many kidnappings happen a day. Back when you guys were kids there weren't that many. Heck I'm almost 18 and hate staying home alone and am scared to stop in the park by myself