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Old 06-05-2015, 09:19 PM
 
Location: I am right here.
4,977 posts, read 5,741,219 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CSD610 View Post
I can tell you that those "olden days" were not that long ago, 13 years to be exact for me so what exactly is your point in mentioning the "olden days"?

At the age of 11 a child does not need a cell phone. Our children are almost all over the age of 30 now and none of them had a cell phone or a pager at that age.
Mr. CSD and I survived pretty well without a cell phone until we were adults when cell phones came out and were more affordable and we did just fine without them.
I was almost 40 years old before I got a cell phone and in my opinion there is no reason a child needs a cell phone.

If that child is being bullied for not having a cell phone that child needs to report the bullies, a cell phone will not cure one from being bullied because a bully will find something new to be a bully with.

PS ~~ The "olden days" pay phones were only a dime in the area I lived in......
My point of the "olden days" was that PAY PHONES were a thing. They are no longer a thing. So what happens when the 11 year old is out with friends without a parent and needs to call mom? No pay phone! Also, so much of socializing and such is done via text now. If the kid does not have a cell phone, don't be too upset when little Susie is not included in social things, since there is no easy way to contact her.

Each of my boys (now 20-somethings) had a cell phone once they started 7th grade. Their school was 10 miles away from home and there was not a pay phone. Each did extra curricular activities, and that cell phone made contact possible. They did not start out with smart phones. However, by high school, each had a smart phone. I had a family plan with unlimited texting and data. My kids got tired of me not having a smart phone, so they all chipped in and and bought me one for my birthday 5 years ago!
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Old 06-05-2015, 09:21 PM
 
Location: Texas
44,256 posts, read 64,192,652 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PacoMartin View Post
Nothing. I misused your comment and I am sorry.

Elementary School children should not be walking with anything worth $600 (even if the actual sale price was much less). It doesn't matter how rich you are. You don't need to put your children in danger.



This is a serious question. You may able to avoid buying a cellular service with unrestricted access to cell data. But I was able to purchase an android phone for $20. Even 11 year old kids can lay their hands on $20 from birthday money. They are around wifi frequently at home or in public places. The browser on the phone works like any other browser. They can be sitting on the back porch looking at this phone and shove it in their pocket. How do you police something so readily available?
Yup...how do you police it...

I think for me, it would be hard for my kids to buy anything without my knowing.
Especially with home schooling in elementary so they can get ahead and see the world instead of wasting time in an inefficient classroom.
You can buy phones that don't do internet pretty easy.
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Old 06-06-2015, 04:12 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stan4 View Post
I think for me, it would be hard for my kids to buy anything without my knowing.
You can buy phones that don't do internet pretty easy.
I realize that you can buy a phone without internet, but you can buy a phone/tablet that does internet for $20 to $30 today. If you don't connect it as a phone, it becomes a cheap tablet. While you think it would be hard for your kids to buy anything on their own, I think it is not hard for kids to find $20-$30. Stores don't consider tablets something they should not sell to children. They only weigh 4 ounces so it is easy to hide and recharge.
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Old 06-06-2015, 07:57 AM
 
27,957 posts, read 39,667,152 times
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Who pays retail for a cellphone?

Brand new iphone 6... I paid half of that or something along those lines.
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Old 06-06-2015, 11:25 AM
 
Location: Texas
44,256 posts, read 64,192,652 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PacoMartin View Post
I realize that you can buy a phone without internet, but you can buy a phone/tablet that does internet for $20 to $30 today. If you don't connect it as a phone, it becomes a cheap tablet. While you think it would be hard for your kids to buy anything on their own, I think it is not hard for kids to find $20-$30. Stores don't consider tablets something they should not sell to children. They only weigh 4 ounces so it is easy to hide and recharge.
How does my 11 year old get to a store by themselves? I was allowed to bike around the green belt in our neighborhood at the age of 9 and go play free with other children out of sight of my mother when I was a kid, but there was still no way I could get to an electronics store or any other store to buy anything.
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Old 06-06-2015, 11:33 AM
 
24,488 posts, read 41,049,542 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jude1948 View Post
Her Birthday is this month and she has been wanting a phone. I can understand that. But $600!!!
Then she will need a special case to protect it. What type of phone would you get your 11 year old daughter
My sister made a deal with my 10 year old niece. If she placed in the top 3 of her school spelling bee, she'd get an iPhone 6. My niece now has a 1st place spelling bee plaque on her wall. She worked really hard over the year to attain her standing. Yes, she has a case on it.
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Old 06-06-2015, 11:38 AM
 
24,488 posts, read 41,049,542 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PacoMartin View Post
Have you ever seen anyone get mugged? Have you ever seen someone grab a piece of jewelry around the neck of a woman (which is not worth anywhere near $600) and twist and pull on it until she can't breathe when mercifully the chain breaks. If so you would think hard about walking around with something valuable, and even less about putting your own daughter in that kind of danger.

I very much like the idea of Android phone with everything backed up on google. If I am mugged, then I hand over the phone and whatever cash I have on me, I buy a new phone, and get my data back. Your daughter's safety should be far more important than helping satisfy her sense of self worth by having a device that her friends have.
If you live in an area where your child is subject to such crime, I'd question your parenting skills. Around here, children and adults walk around with their devices in hand or sticking out of their back pockets. I've never seen phone theft in the police blotter.
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Old 06-06-2015, 12:59 PM
 
14,612 posts, read 17,402,420 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stan4 View Post
How does my 11 year old get to a store by themselves? I was allowed to bike around the green belt in our neighborhood at the age of 9 and go play free with other children out of sight of my mother when I was a kid, but there was still no way I could get to an electronics store or any other store to buy anything.
Free thinking here

I suppose it is where you live. When I was 12 I started walking to a Jr High School of 1000 kids instead of an Elementary School of 200 kids. Suddenly there were kids fencing stolen items in homeroom. Being a nerd that simply meant I was beat up regularly.

Now they send the kids to middle school at age 11, and the elementary schools are bigger. So there might be 550 kids in an elementary school and 850 in a Middle School. But I have no doubt that there are kids with PayPal accounts that can buy all kinds of things. I would think an Android tablet would be relatively easy to come by.

It is about 4 miles from the Housing Projects near the Middle School where I went to the Walmart and there is a bus.Even if you ride a bus regularly, you would want to have a cheap Android tablet just to know when the bus was late. A resourceful kid could get to the Walmart. He may sell your kid a tablet even if your kid couldn't get to the Walmart on his own.
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Old 06-06-2015, 06:17 PM
 
17,764 posts, read 15,450,407 times
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You're all assuming the OP's son is going to pay $600 outright for said phone. OP probably wasn't understanding that a phone, on contract, won't be $600 out of pocket, but the cost of said phone will be absorbed into the monthly plan that's bundled with the phone. She might have looked up the phone online, saw it was $600, and freaked.

Bottomline: whether an 11 yr old or this 11 yr old in particular should have an iPhone 6 or not, is really no one's business but his/her parents. It doesn't matter what you did or didn't do, what your parents did or didn't do. You get to control what your children get. And that's it.
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Old 06-07-2015, 02:48 AM
 
14,612 posts, read 17,402,420 times
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None of my business
Quote:
Originally Posted by lottamoxie View Post
Bottomline: whether an 11 yr old or this 11 yr old in particular should have an iPhone 6 or not, is really no one's business but his/her parents.
Quote:
Originally Posted by plwhit View Post
It's really none of your business what your son gets his daughter is it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by LBTRS View Post
While I don't know their "sons" financial status and maybe they can afford a $600 phone for their daughter. That is their business not mine.
Not a big issue
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Meyers View Post
Its just an iPhone. Millions upon millions of kids have em now. The vast majority of them arent devil spawn. Get over it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeJaquish View Post
Shucks, I see 17 year old girls driving BMW rag tops. A $600 phone? Whatever.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cindersslipper View Post
All the kids have them here. No big deal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Geek View Post
Some babies have $1,000 strollers too. Oh no, the world is ending! People with money buy nice things!
I think most sane people would agree that to say something to a stranger about what he is giving to his 11 year old is not your business. Also it isn't even close to the most conspicuous display of consumption in our society.

To balance my other posts, a child in an upscale suburban school is not likely to get robbed or mugged.

But seriously, why would anyone take a chance like that, even if it was a remote chance? Why not buy a product which has no kiddie snob appeal, permits limited communication, no internet, and whose primary design is keeping track of the location of your child?


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