Kids and cell phones

What is the youngest age you would give your kid a cell phone?

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My son is only 7 I would only consider giving him one when he's older like MAYBE around 12 but he would have to show he's responsible 1st....

12. Any younger then would be acceptable if it was an old phone with PAYG service.

I have a 16 year old who I gave one when she was 14. She had her purse stolen and we have not had the chance to get her another one.

I used to feel that way too. MAYBE 12 or 14. Then I discovered kajeet. The phone let's me control SO MUCH that I honestly felt comfortable enough allowing my 9yr old to have a phone. Now, with that said it's basically a "backpack phone". Basically we have the parental controls set very high. Only myself and my husband (and grandma) can call him. He can only call us or 911. He cannot get online, text or use the phone during school hours or in the middle of the night. So I guess my answer is 9. But only with the same kind of phone with the ability to set restrictions!

Originally Posted by alwaysright

What is the youngest age you would give your kid a cell phone?

I think I will give him a cell phone until he is 18 or enter the college, as I think that if I give him a cell phone too early, he will decentralized energy to play his cell phone and his study performance of course if not so satisfied....

I got mines when I was 12. But it was a bad phone!
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.5; en-us; T-Mobile G1 Build/CRC1) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1

I don't have kids yet, but i would say 16 or 17.
Mozilla/4.1 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; ) 400x240 LGE VX10000

I am in FAVOR of giving them out as soon as they start spending the night elsewhere or start any type of schooling. That does not mean they get total control of the tool. It means using it smart. Instead of fearing it... learn to use its benefits: I wrote article about this and was looking for more discussion which is how I found this wonderful forum. I added this forum to my facebook so that my kids can see the topic for using while deciding these things in raising their kids!
I can't use a link because I am new but if you go to ehow and look for my member name of Alrady (same as here) or the article in search how to use cell phone to protect kids - you can see why I say what I am saying here.

I gave my daughter one when she was 11, but only because we wanted to make sure she could get ahold of us in an emergency from school or wherever.

Now she is thirteen, and got a new one (Samsung Eternity). Now she has texting too, but has already learned how to not go over her message limit (which she did the first month, of course).

I was worried she would lose the first phone, but she didn't (althought there were two close calls where she left it, but remembered quickly and we went back to get it). That is the main problem to me,,, they either lose them or drop/destroy them. But, my kid has learned to keep track of important things by having one (and her two near losses).

Hint: Turn off the caller id function (outgoing). This helps prevent their number getting into every other mobile address book on the planet!

My kids are the ages eight, six, and two years old I don't thank they need a cellphone until they are old enough to buy one or pay there own bill. My kids keep asking me for one but they might no what to do with it but I don't thank they need one wright now and futher more I can't afford it.

well I thought minimum 9years of age.which will help them a lot in an any emergency and also effective for keep tracking of their children when they are outside....Thanks....

for my experience,i found my students owned it around 12 years. i think they can use it well. but mabye the kids around that age cannot keep it well.

i gave my 2 year old sister a cellphone because she asked for one. instead of making the choice for your kids, let them make the decision themselves.

I would go with age 13. You know so he can get used to it fast before it can distract him during high school.