Confiscated A Cell Phone Off Of A 5Th Grader Today.
Lounge By prterrell Updated 9 Jun 2007 , 4:30am by eagerlearner
Was subbing in a 5th grade class (10 and 11 year olds for those of you not in the US) today and caught a boy talking on a cell phone on the playground. Students are not allowed to have these (or MP-3 players or other hand-held electronic devices) at school. I had to take it away from him and turned it in at the office where his parents will have to come and get it.
Since I don't have kids of my own yet, I can't imagine buying my child a cell phone until she or he is driving (and then only for emergencies/safety). So I'm just curious, do any of you have cell phones for your kids?
Our 14-year old fought forever to get a cell phone and our attitude is the same as yours: what does a kid need a cell phone for?
We finally allowed her to get one with certain rules:
- Use for emergencies only ("Dad? I forgot my door key!")
- She has to buy the minutes (boy, did THAT part make her responsible and immediately curtailed the loaning it to her friends deal!)
- She's not allowed to use it at school unless it's an emergency ("Dad? There's a crazed killer in the area and we're in lock down.")
- If her friends call her on the cell phone, she has to tell them to call her back on the home phone (since she pays for the minutes, it didnt' take long for the rule to become the norm!)
- I better not find it laying around where it's not suppose to be! (like in a dirty laundry basket!)
She's actually been very responsible (uh, did I mention she has to pay for the minutes?) and it's come in handy .... we go shopping and she doesn't want to look at cake stuff (I know, I know, it's odd, but I guess it's part of that teenage rebellion thing!) so she wanders off and when I need to reconnect with her, I call her on her phone. ("Where are you? Shoes? I'm in Aisle 8 .... meet me in produce!")
I live right behind a Walmart (I'm talking climb the fence and you're there!) so I will send her over to pick me up some eggs or butter or something. She has to take her phone with her and she has to call me when she gets to the store and call me when she's on her way home.
IN GENERAL ..... I don't think kids under driving age "need" a phone. We are viewing this as a test of her responsibility, before I hand her the keys to a $15,000 deadly weapon when she turns 16.
BTW, when our son started to drive, he was also given the "you better not be driving and talking on the phone!" speech!
I think it's too young. In our area (rural) the kids can't go anywhere without a ride so why would they need one if they're with someone who probably has one?
Some parents say it's for safety but I guess I'm a little doubtful about how that helps. If I wanted to snatch a kid the first thing I'd do would be check for the phone and get rid of it.
I teach in High School and just this year some members on the school board decided that it was okay for kids to have cell phones at school. They are suppose to keep them off. YEAH RIGHT. I work with special ed children and go from class to class with different children, so I see many different students during the day. I would say in an average day I find at least 20 kids tex messaging or calling from their phones. I don't understand what is so important that they need to talk to someone during their class and risk suspension. My son did not get his phone until he started driving and after his first wreck. A man on a bicycle darted in front of him and he had to go into a ditch to avoid hurting the man. A witness saw the accident and drove my son to a phone to call me. I don't know which scared me more, the accident or a stranger picking up my son to get help. Two weeks after the accident, he was driving on a major highway when the wheel came off the axle. Luckily, he manuevered the car safely off the road and was able to call me immediately. I was glad I had made the decision to let him have a cell phone. Responsibility is the key for phone usage. I allowed him so many minutes and if he went over, then he paid the difference.
Funny this should come up because I had a dream last night that my 8 month son was a teen and asked for a cell phone. I said sure, you can have a phone. In fact let's apply Carl Sagan. Stephan Hawkins and Octavia Butler science fictions of it all. Let's do it old school, ya ready?
I then pulled a gift box from behind me and when he opened it it was 2 tin cans connected by a string.
Even in my dreams I have a wacky sense of humor!
My 14 year old doesn't have one, but there have been times where I have let him take mine with him. Next month, he will be going on a school field trip to Disneyland (9 a.m. - 11 p.m.), and I will have him take the cell so he can tell me when he is about half an hour from home, so we don't have to just sit there at the school starting at 10:30 (so he doesn't have to sit around waiting if they're early), and we don't have to sit around waiting if the bus is late.
In general, I don't think kids who aren't driving need cell phones, but I actually feel better when my son has one if he is traveling by public transportation. (The buses here can be VERY unreliable, and also the closest bus stop to our house is about half a mile away.)
Funny this should come up because I had a dream last night that my 8 month son was a teen and asked for a cell phone. I said sure, you can have a phone. In fact let's apply Carl Sagan. Stephan Hawkins and Octavia Butler science fictions of it all. Let's do it old school, ya ready?
I then pulled a gift box from behind me and when he opened it it was 2 tin cans connected by a string.
Even in my dreams I have a wacky sense of humor!
Hee hee!! I love that!
I agree though, kids these days are just getting too many material things. I think we're heading for a generation of people who will have no value for anything or anyone. It's really dangerous. I do believe that in some cases a mobile phone is necessary, but with mose kids it's just considered "cool" to have one.
Too young for a cell! Who's he talking to???
My 16 year old and my 14 year old both have cell phones. THEY pay for them! THEY buy their air time! DH and I will not support a cell phone bill for them. Both the boys have Tracfones and they work just fine for them.
I've heard horror stories from some partents with cell phone bills. I refuse to jump into that pond!
Just this weekend my aunt gave her 7yr old grand-daughter a cell phone, no rules! While we were eating dinner she was downloading ringers, I don't even know how to do that! Then she went around taking pictures of everyone and everything. My 7 yr. old cousin has a better cell then any adult in our family! I don't see any need for it!
I had to wait until I was driving and then I had no minutes so there was no social talking. Sure I "un-cool" 
but I managed!! Also, why do kids these ages need their own computers?? My BF's 15 and 6 year old both have their own personal computers! First of all, safety?? Who knows what they are doing? How much does a child that young, 6, need to be on a compuer. How about going outside or at least into the living room with people!!
Sorry, getting off my soapbox now...
culinarycreationions, I have to share this story! My son-in-law does computers for a living .... he's pretty high up in charge of one our local hospitals computer systems. As you can imagine, their house looks super high-tech! My 5-year old granddaughter has a computer with 2 screens. It's funny because son-in-law said he needs to upgrade Kelli's computer, so he would give us her old harddrive since it's bigger than ours.
you know you're old when you start getting the rejects from the grandkids! 
I'm so glad I'm not the only "meany" out there! My daughter is 9 y/o in the third grade and has been begging me for a cell phone for over a year now. When she was in second grade TWO of her classmates got cell phones for Christmas, so of course it's "But Mom, {insert friends name here} has one!"
I have 3 nieces and 1 nephew, that ALL got cell phones around their 12th birthdays (as 6th graders). My oldest niece (now 16), ran up a $300 bill the first month she had her phone...downloading ringtones and such! There have to be limits set!
I have told my daughter and son (he's 7-hasn't asked for one yet...doesn't even really like to talk on the phone!), that they WILL NOT be getting cell phones until I determine that they need it. Jr high seems like a reasonable time to think about getting a cell for MY kids, if they are involved in sports, band or other school related activities that require them to travel out of town, and then it should only be for emergency use!
Lots of kids around here have them. My son is in the 5th grade and he thinks we are super meanies - he doesn't have a computer in his room, doesn't have a cell phone, doesn't have an ipod. MANY of his friends have all of these... He's been begging for a phone for 3 years and my DH and I rarely use ours - only for emergencies, so it's not like he feels like he's missing somethign we have!!!
Some kids have them here so parents can call their kids to tell them to come home when they are out playing in the community playgrounds, but I don't get it... We gave him a timex kids watch and make him set the alarm for the agreed upon time to come in for dinner or activities - that's high tech enough! LOL
Melissa
I get the whole "But _______ has one" about so many things from my oldest because the highest tech thing he has in his room that he can use is a digital alarm clock. His second cousin has a TV, DVD player, game cube and game boy all to himself and I'm terrible because I've told my child that when I have a TV in my room he can have one. 
He says that's no fair because I don't like TV and never watch it. His dad told him one day that he does have a TV in his room, he didn't like that because it's for the car and is stored in his closet. 
I can see a computer for a teenager but I don't want my 8 year old online unsupervised.
My nephew got caught getting a text message in school..turns out a GIRL in school was texting herself the answers to a test and now having a cell phone ON will mean in school suspension AND loss of the cell phone to the office till the end of the year...no if's ands or buts....Parents aren't even allowed to pick it up. My sister is getting the phone back tomorrow as it is the last day of school and she said she is gonna throw it away!!! I think the kids these days need them...but only use them in a have to situation.
My 7 year old has one, but just for emergencies. We go to DC a lot, and I want her to have it in case we get separated. She also takes it to her classes. We homeschool, and she has a lot of lessons that she takes. She has it if she needs me. She's not allowed to use it for social calls, and I've told her it doesn't have texting capabilities. I know she would figure out that it does if she cared, but she doesn't.
2 weeks ago I dropped my 7 your old DS off at a birthday party at the park. this alone always makes me very nervous. The mom of the birthday child asked me before I left now does he have his cell phone with him incase he needs to call you. I was shocked I was even more shocked to find out most of the kids there had there own cell phones. and this has got me thinking it wouldnt be such a bad idea for him to have a cell phone yes 90 percent of the time whever he is iam as well but in these cases where I drop him off for a party or if one day i cant stay for the entire baseball practice ( this will get worse when football comes around as they practice 2 hours each day) he also rides his bike down the road to his friends house and walks himslef home from the buss maybe it would not be such a bad idea for him to be able to get ahold of me if its clear he is only to call me and only when he absolutly has to.
I don't know what calling plans everyone has, but Verizon Wireless offers a cell phone for kids, for lack of a better description. It is called a Migo and in my area, I think it's $10 a month or so. The Migo has 5 programmable buttons. One of them is an emergency button (but I believe it can be programmed with any phone #) and the other four are numbered 1-4. The parent, via the web I think, programs the phone numbers in the phone, then the child can only call those 5 phone numbers. The child can also receive phone calls with the Migo. I do not have any children, but if I did and felt they should have some sort of cell phone, this is the one that I think I would pick. You can check it out by going to www.verizonwireless.com and searching Migo. You can access the user guide for the phone this way.
~Chelle
My daughter has a cell phone, she's 13 and has had one for well over a year now. She had to prove her responsiblity in order to have it. It gives both of us peace of mind. Her school went into lock down and she was able to text me that she was ok. any more - I don't feel comfortable going to Wally World if she doesn't have t with her. I know that people can still "snatch" her and ditch the phone, but for us I have no problem with her having a phone before she can drive.
I got my daughter her MIGO when she was in the 5th grade. I am very happy with it!! She can't make calls to anyone unless they are programmed into one of the 4 memory numbers. OF course her dad, my cell, grandad's cell and our house numbers are programmed. 911 is also a seperate key. I am just a paranoid momm having grown up in NYC. This makes me feel better knowing I can get in touch with her whenever. Except at school. Many times she's called me from school on the office phone becuase cell phones must be turned off.
Next birthday we will give her a little more responsibility with a mor adult phone only if she pays for the extra cost. She is looking forward to it!
Not too young for a cell at all! Now mind you, there's a time and place and that needs to be taught strictly. My 6th grader has a cell (sort of, it's a firefly, I'll explain in a second). I'm about to hand the firefly to my upcoming 3rd grader (school's out here) and get a "real one" for my upcoming 7th grader.
Here's the reason... beginning in middle school (6th grade) mine started attending student only school functions. Chaperones, but not parents. For my kid's safety, there is no way in he!! I'm sending him into a school dance for kids in 6th-8th grades without a way to contact me or an emergency number. No matter what we want to hope, there is no way of assuring that a few chaperones can keep control in every situation involving that many kids. Whether it be an outside influence (evil adults) or bullying (evil kids), I want my kid to be able to get in touch with me. It also helps TREMENDOUSLY when trying to figure out pick-up times and locations. Also, when attending a field trip (5th grade) it was helpful in letting me know the bus was two hours late in leaving their destination and was stuck in traffic due to a wrecked semi on the interstate. I would have been frantic if I had to wait in a school parking lot for four hours not knowing what was going on. I love the firefly and would advise parents to get one once their kids start doing things on their own (three hour baseball practices, sleepovers, etc).
Now, to explain a firefly. It's prepaid. There's no texting or camera. Only numbers pre-programmed into the phone with a code can ring through. We have control over who he's calling and who can call him. There's an automatic dial button showing a female (my cell) and one showing a male (dad's cell). There's also a button that will automatically dial 911.
My son is often the target of bullies and this has allowed me to let him get out and be social without my sitting at home by the telephone about to have a nervous breakdown.
You also hear of too many stories involving crisis where a child (pre teen) was able to get in touch with emergency officials or their parents because they had a cell. For me it isn't about being social (the prepaid part). It's about safety.
My children are older then many of yours, I would say that my son took over my prepaid phone around 7th grade, this is when he started doing sports and needed to be able to call home to let me know when and where to pick him up after practices. Saves a lot of head aches when the school system consists of 5 schools in three different locations.
He is now 16 and learning to drive he and i share a contract through sprint that is reasonably priced, i pay the base plan, he has to pay for any extras that he buys (like ring tones and songs, games etc...) So far he has been very good about paying for it and keeping under the minutes allowed.
My 14 year old who doesn't go to far has a prepaid phone, and i'll pay the first $20 for a month, but after that he has to dig into his pocket. He has a virgin mobile phone and it costs just $20 every three months to keep active. Right now he isn't even going over the 20 for 3 months so there is no reason to have a contrac phone.
As far as a 5 grader start with a prepaid if you get him any at all. It really is a minimum investment and can teach some responsibility. The prepaid have some really "cool" phones now that don't cost a fortune
We homeschool so we do many activities away from home that most children my son's age do not have the opportunity to do.
We are considering getting him a phone (like a firefly - going to check it out next week) for his birthday in June. He will be seven years old.
This will just make me feel better when he is involved in an all day activity or if we get separated when we are out together. I will know he can reach me if he needs me.
I personally wouldn't get a regular phone for a child so young, but a firefly type is different. He will only be able to call the numbers I put in his phone and the phone blocks calls that are from people not programed in the phone as well.
I have a fifteen year old, the first day of school last year the bus had a wreck. He was 2 hours late getting home. The school called me to inform me, but that was after he was already late by an hour and a half. If he would've had a phone, he could've called home. Also there are a lot of lock downs at our schools due to bomb threats and reports of weapons. It would be nice for him to be able to touch base at home during these. Even though parents aren't allowed to retrieve the kids, we could at least reassure them.
But on the other hand, my niece has one and was rude enough to still be on it at 2 am when we were all down visiting my dying father in law. He could not sleep and when he forced himself out of bed and managed to cross the hall and ask her to shut it down and go to bed, she told him to mind his own business!! I would have grounded her from that phone for life, but her mom just made excuses for her and acted like Grandpa was in the wrong instead of her spoiled little witch of a daughter!!
So I guess it just depends on how responsible the child is, what situations they are allowed to use it in, and what type of area you live in...and whethr the parent follows through on the rules!!
So I guess it just depends on how responsible the child is, what situations they are allowed to use it in, and what type of area you live in...and whethr the parent follows through on the rules!!
You've hit the nail on the head with that one. If little precious runs the household, the phone is going to be a problem outside of the household. If little precious has strong ground rules that are actually enforced, it's not a problem.
So I guess it just depends on how responsible the child is, what situations they are allowed to use it in, and what type of area you live in...and whethr the parent follows through on the rules!!
You've hit the nail on the head with that one. If little precious runs the household, the phone is going to be a problem outside of the household. If little precious has strong ground rules that are actually enforced, it's not a problem.
Double Ditto! I had a friend with a teenage daughter. Daughter took mommy's convertable to "the big city mall" (about an hour's drive) and while driving home, talked to her friends the entire way. Mom was livid because the phone bill was outrageous (can we say the word "roaming"?) and she was going to chew out the phone company. I told her, "The phone company isn't your problem! Your problem is a 16-year old driving on an interstate with a phone to her ear for over an hour instead of paying attention to her driving! There is NOTHING she said in that phone call that couldn't have waited until she got home. She was too involved in "looking the part" ..... driving mommy's convertible and impressing everyone with a cell phone to her ear! your phone company ISN'T the problem!"
Needless to say, mommy was ticked at ME for some time for calling it likeI saw it.
Good job indebyi calling it like it is to your friend.
I know my MIL mentioned to my hubby that it would be nice if our son had a cell phone to call us with just in case....I've been hemming and hawing on it, but now that I see the Firefly option I may just do that...and if he goes over what his allotted time is then he can pay for it with his allowance money. 
I googled firefly, so here's the website address for it: http://www.fireflymobile.com/
Mum and dad give me RM 30 a month, and I find ways to stretch it. So, I guess that if they're responsible enough and have a valid reason to use it, then ok. But at 7???? Way to young.
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