Teens & Cell Phones

My daughter is 19 and a freshman in college and has had a cell phone since she was 14 and a freshman in high school. I resisted the idea at first but gave in once she started high school because she was involved in a lot of activities and socializing. With the phone if she wants to stay a little late or make a change in plans it's no bother to call me. If I have a change in plans, like I'm running late or something I can call her or text her. My oldest son is 13 and has a cell phone now for the same reasons.

It has really made things easier all around to be instantly accessible and has helped me to be more flexible and understanding with my kids, instead of being overbearing and dogmatic and frantic about where they were going and stuff. In particular with my teenage son. He has been requesting more freedom to go places on his own or with his friends. I feel a little better allowing him the freedom a young man needs now that he has a phone. Before I was very nervous about that and tried to keep him close to me at home.

It's also a useful discipline tool, because we made it clear to the kids that we would take phones away for poor behavior and/or a drop in grades. It has helped them to learn about budgeting, because we have a family plan with a set amount of minutes and texts. If they go over that, it comes out of their allowance. We had one very large bill once because my son didn't quite grasp that downloads of special phone add-ons could quickly add up. We had to block downloading for his phone and take the money for the bill out of his allowance. He definitely learned his lesson.

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