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Why do your kids "need" phones?

mrsmom said:
But why does he need a phone? Not saying he does I guess.............just that he wanted and you gave. I'm not trying to judge btw............my DS is 12 and brings up phones once in a while. I keep telling him there's no need. I drive him to school and pick him up. He doesn't talk to anyone on the phone at home.........well calls one friend maybe twice a month. I bring him to and from his sports and stuff. I just don't get why every friggin' kid has a phone?
Kids are sneaky..........I can only imagine what I would have been doing if I had free range communication wise as a kid. :snicker:
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I dont think there is much reason for my DS to have TO HAVE one either. It makes life easier, but since most parents refuse to take their kids cell phones away, my DS is always with someone who has a phone when he doesn't have his. He is also ussually with an adult of some sort and if not, he doesnt go if he is grounded from his phone.

Even when my DS was in conventional school, he always went far enough away that we had to drive him so it has never really been a day to day necessity for us.
 
kaeg1 said:
Because I said so. DD hates to have to carry it and it is usually off but if she needs to let me know she has to stay after school or whatever, she can turn it on, text me, wait for a text back and return to regular scheduled activities.

We also have code words if she is uncomfortable somewhere and wants to leave asap. It has happened a few times and I was happy she had a way to get out.
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:lol: We have a code word, too. It's "peaches." I have no idea why, but that's what it is.

One time SD17 (probably 15 at the time) was at a boy friend's house (not a boyfriend, a boy she was friends with) and things got awkward. She texted DH "peaches." He didn't see it. About 15 minutes later she texted back "PEACHES!!!!" and he was there lickety split. :lol: She was fine, but it's taught him to pay more attention to his phone. It's taught the kids to text me instead. :p
 
But what would you do if you worked outside the home? Not everyone is home to drop off, pick up, shuttle to every activity every time, and there are not pay phones on every corner anymore....

mrsmom said:
But why does he need a phone? Not saying he does I guess.............just that he wanted and you gave. I'm not trying to judge btw............my DS is 12 and brings up phones once in a while. I keep telling him there's no need. I drive him to school and pick him up. He doesn't talk to anyone on the phone at home.........well calls one friend maybe twice a month. I bring him to and from his sports and stuff. I just don't get why every friggin' kid has a phone?
Kids are sneaky..........I can only imagine what I would have been doing if I had free range communication wise as a kid. :snicker:
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mrsmom said:
Why not? (unless you can't afford it). When the electric is out and your cells are dead a landline is a must. We've had our current # for 11 1/2 years.........I wouldn't give that up.
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I haven't had a landline phone for over 10 yrs. I can't afford to spend $50+ a month just to ''have it in case....". All my family and friends are in another state and it would be long distance for them to call me. With cell phones, it's not.

I don't text at all though. My phone doesn't do that.

If the electric is off, wouldn't the landline be off? The battery on my cell phone lasts about 3 days without charging. My electric has never been off more than an hour at a time.

If all else fails, I'll just get on my laptop and send a message to my sisters phone. lol.
 
Unless you have a cordless phone, in which case yes, it would also be out if the electricity was out. If you have a land line but don't have at least one good old fashioned phone that isn't a cordless you might as well not have it.
 
Pirate Wench said:
I haven't had a landline phone for over 10 yrs. I can't afford to spend $50+ a month just to ''have it in case....". All my family and friends are in another state and it would be long distance for them to call me. With cell phones, it's not.

I don't text at all though. My phone doesn't do that.

If the electric is off, wouldn't the landline be off? The battery on my cell phone lasts about 3 days without charging. My electric has never been off more than an hour at a time.

If all else fails, I'll just get on my laptop and send a message to my sisters phone. lol.
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magic jack works pretty decent for unlimited calls. If you need to watch your cell phone minutes that is
 
DS16 has been grounded from the phone for more than a week before. The only trouble came a few times when it would have been nice for him to tell me things, but I didn't know it until he got home.

While it made some situations frustrating and a bit more trouble, not life threatening.

It is also convenient that he can talk to his dad without me having to be in the middle.

Got it when he was walking a mile to middle school. He didnt always make the bus, so sometimes he had to walk. It was nice to know he arrived/etc. He didnt use it much in junior high but now the texting is excessive.

I really wish he didnt have it sometimes (ok a lot of the time) but its nearly impossible to unring that bell without exceedingly grumpy teens.
 
We have a landline.

Kids (almost 14 and 11) do not have cells.

We do have a prepaid that we could activate if I had to . . . haven't seen the need yet. I do have the cell numbers of kiddos friends in my cell.
 
Oh and as for the pics and texting and stuff. we do drive by phone checks...at any point in time I simlpy put my hand out and with no clicks, the phone is placed in my hand. I have found questionable stuff, have found forbidden stuff, I consequence appropriately and if it is not major maybe the phone is simply take for the day.

But at ANY POINT IN TIME we will take the phone and go through the whole thing. I do know that he deletes some stuff of course, but the key is to not do it daily when it starts to look to good to be true, give him a few days, maybe a week. First he is a man, second he is a teen...combine the two and if you give him the rope, he will hang him self in seconds.
 
I dont know what kind of answer you are looking for MrsMom because no family is the same--I might ask a person WHY does their child need so many Christmas presents?? Or why do they need to have their own Laptop or Ugg boots or a Northface etc..

My Kids all have phones--Oldest got his when he was a sophomore ( oh the horrors of waiting so long!--and it was only pay as you go) but honestly I was calling his friends phones all the time to get in touch with him--YES it is a crutch sometimes--BUT it is also peace of mind--How nice it is to pull up at their event, or activity and say "I am here"
I LOVE being able to text my kids a message when I am at work such as "pick up some bread on your way home from school" as soon as dd gets out of school she reads her phone and makes the stop--If I had to wait until she gets home who knows if by the time I got in touch with her she was already napping or out with a friend etc..

Now that I have 2 in college ( ok comparing apples to oranges with your kids..) I love being able to talk to them so much via text--I rarely talked to my mom when I was at college--or my friends it was so expensive or a PITA to make that call.

because I cant always talk to my kids when I am at work--I can usually sneak in a text--I wouldn't be able to sneak in a call

bottom line for MY family was that 1- they were in HS and needed to be picked up at all different times and 2. I started working FT and I wanted/needed to be in touch with my kids All my other kids were younger when they got their phone. The thing that held us up was that we did not have a phone plan and at the time that was the cheapest way to go to get texting etc..so as soon as we could budget for a phone plan we added everyone in

also--look around it is harder and harder to find a payphone--when I was in school and needed to call for a ride I used a payphone...
 
oh YES we have a landline--I THINK my in laws--my mom and telemarkers are the only ones who regularly call it :)

we also can look up calls made and times of texts phone calls online and we often check on that as well as periodic physical checking of their phones and FB and twitter accts!
 
icoupon2 said:
But what would you do if you worked outside the home? Not everyone is home to drop off, pick up, shuttle to every activity every time, and there are not pay phones on every corner anymore....
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Well back in the day parents talked to each other and took turns picking up and dropping off.

Again........not judging just asking. If your kid has an activity to go to and you're working and so are most of the other parents and all avenues are exhausted then yeah I guess that kid needs a phone (although my parents would have said I couldn't do that activity because it didn't fit in our schedule). Again, I'm asking why peeps think they need one (not that they don't need one). I'm trying to figure out how to deal with DS that's all (because he'll hit me will all kinds of excuses).
 
And I will put in my obligatory PSA that if your kids qualify for free hot school lunch in IL, call ATT at 800-244-4444 and let them know, there is a highly reduced rate for a home phone line if your child(ren) qualify for hot lunch.
 
I was thinking more about this--:)

Kids do not really talk via a phone anymore kinda like in the olden days--LOL

my kids do have their phone son them most of the time so they can text etc..but they have no data and our only computers are desktops that are out in the wide open very busy space in the house
 
And to actually answer your question, mine do not need one anymore than they need Xbox or access to a computer or Pac Sun shirts. It is a combo of a want, a social status item, a parental indulgence, and an electronic leash :)
 
oh and lol MY mom NEVER or VERY rarely EVER talked my my friends parents at all--my parents were very unsocial--yeah they hardly drove us either--LOL
 
skincarekathy said:
And I will put in my obligatory PSA that if your kids qualify for free hot school lunch in IL, call ATT at 800-244-4444 and let them know, there is a highly reduced rate for a home phone line if your child(ren) qualify for hot lunch.
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Lol What?
 
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