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I would tell her that if she has some good arguments to make about why she should have one, you are willing to listen. Hint: "because all my friends have one" is not a good argument! But if she can justify it in a way that makes sense to you, then you can get her one. Let her be the one to convince you, not us.
fwiw, my son will get his phone this summer, as he is transitioning from elementary to middle school and will start to be responsible for taking the bus back and forth to school and spending more time without adult supervision. I want him to be able to reach me if he needs to, and for me to be able to get a hold of him.
But I would not say that smart phones contribute to learning since their use in school is generally prohibited. For my son's schools (current and soon to be middle school), if the child is seen using a phone during the school day on school property, it is confiscated and the parent must come to the school to pick it up. My son already knows that if that happens, it's going to take a long time for him to earn it back, plus since he won't have the phone for communication between us, he also loses privileges of being able to go without adult supervision.
I just recently gave my 8 year old my Nexus One (2012) phone. He downloaded some games on it (to play on the bus). About four days a week he calls me from the bus and says, "Dad, I just got on the bus. I'll see you in twenty minutes. Love you".
We put it on T-Mobile. The $100 and 1,000 minutes (with 1 year expiration date if they don't use all the minutes) is perfect. I explained to him that he doesn't have or need internet connectivity on the bus ride home and he could wait until he got to the house if he wanted internet (wifi).
So far, it's been about 6 months and the only calls he's made are to me from the bus loop or while riding on the bus. He loves taking his phone on the bus. Although for the past couple of weeks, he's only been using it once or twice a week to play games. He does call me with it everyday though.
Supposedly "all" her friends have one. Can anyone here convince me that this isn't a bad idea? I'm not going for it. Am I just old school and not adapting with the times or is an 8 year old with a cell phone as ridiculous as I think it is?
Wait until your child is at least 10 before you buy a care for their birthday.
You child might need a phone if it is for YOUR convenience. You can justify a simple phone when she is in activities and you need to know when to pick her up, etc.
Supposedly "all" her friends have one. Can anyone here convince me that this isn't a bad idea? I'm not going for it. Am I just old school and not adapting with the times or is an 8 year old with a cell phone as ridiculous as I think it is?
Then get one of those flip phones. No internet. Call and text only. Then if she ever walks anywhere or whatnot you have added piece of mind.
Dont worry about her using it too much because she probably wants a cool phone not a flip phone and will probably be too embarassed to pull it out much.
Exactly! My daughter knows her phone is a privilege. She also knows she does not have privacy with her phone. We are allowed to read texts etc... There was a girl who started problems pretending to be another student and would send awful texts to my daughter and her friends. Basically it was another 10 year old with no supervision and likes drama. Her older sisters taught her how to make it look she was a boy in the class or another girl in the class and would say ugly things via imessage. Us moms and teacher talked about it and we were able to figure out it was one of the girls who was suppose to be all of their friends. I suspected it was that girl and it turned out she did the same thing the previous school year. I was also pleased to hear from the other moms that my daughter had a good head on her shoulder and did not allow herself to get sucked into the drama. If someone used bad language my daughter called them out. She stood up for her friends and would not play the game. The other moms all wanted to set play dates with my daughter. She made me proud. So I think you have to really monitor every now and then to make sure the phone is not being abused. Don't assume other parents are monitoring their children.
Ugh, that kind of crud drives me nuts. A guy I worked with was getting some weird texts from a kid and then next thing he knew the parents were asking him why he was texting their daughter. Well, turns out big brother lost privileges and wanted to text his GF so borrowed sisters phone.
I think the maturity and responsibility of the kid matters more than the age.
You're right, it is ridiculous. I look at them as an emergency notification system; is your 8 year old ever alone and in need of a way to get a hold of you? If not, I'd skip it until that becomes an issue.
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But if she can justify it in a way that makes sense to you, then you can get her one. Let her be the one to convince you, not us.
