Just tossing out a 'hmm what do you think' to folks out there who 've experience with this. My boys are 14 and 11. We live in a dual community of about 17,000 ppl with a bridge between. There is no public transportation here. The older goes to a High School and the younger goes to an elementary school. They are about 6-8 blocks from the school I work at. Our home is on the other side of the river.
My boys are involved in a few different activities and our schedules are different every single day. At Christmas, I finally relented and got my son a cell phone so he could phone for emergencies. Well technically I gave him MY cell phone and I got a new zero dollar 3 year contract phone. He was literally THE LAST of his group to have one, by almost a year. My younger is one of about 4 kids in his class without one.
We probably are mid middle class with a few of their friends a bit lower on the financial scale, but most of them higher. Most of the students in my class have them as well and they are the same age as my older.
I relented because one too many times he'd been stranded...practice done early and ppl left before we got there...missed bus etc.
His contract is 'about' $40 a month including unlimited text and he shares 300 min of talk each month with me.
Almost none of his friends, or my students have $ responsibility for part or all of their phone. I have him pay $20 a month, which is challenging itself as he does not have a 'job' but we make it work. I think it's important he understand that things like that cost $ and have a play in the finances.
He's responsible and doesn't have it on in class (they get taken away) and doesn't text instead of socializing. (so far so good)
Of course, everyone's situation is different in terms of where you live, how old your kids are, your budget line, your activities etc.
So what are your thoughts on this matter?
Do they get one? why/why not?
Do they pay part? all? none?
curious
Tuesday, Nice weekend!
1 day ago
5 comments:
I wrote a post about this in December - regarding my 6 year old! Cell phones are no longer a convenience, but are ingrained in our culture.
I think if the phone is for your convenience (so you know where he is and to keep him safe) you should pay for it. Texting and other social features are for his convenience, so he should pay for it.
Personally, I would pay for the basics and if he wants to text or add minutes, he should pay for the added features.
My son (13 in May) and daughter (9) share one. It is only used when they are dropped off at practice and I have to take the other to practice and when they walk home from school on minimum days. There is no texting plan (although my son wants to) and he doesn't use it to talk to his friends. It is an extra line on our plan and costs us $9.99/mo. No, they don't pay for it as we got it for safety purposes more than anything. As he gets older hw will want it for more social purposes and I suppose we will get him a texting plan. Not sure if he will have to contribute to it or not.
ooohhh... so glad that I am nt there!!!! dd is only 5 ;)
You should get a share plan. where you will only add them for 9.99/month.
also if you have Tmobile in ur area they do $20 for unlimited text for all lines.
So that will be a total of $40 for 2 additional lines.
Also look to see ur cell phone carrier accepts discount if you work for selected companies
Thanks for the comments everyone. We are going the 'he pays $20 for half his bill, $13 of which is for unlimited texting. The rest I will cover.
There are incredibly few options in my province, as it was, until recently all gov't controlled, without the possibility of outside carriers like Bell, Sprint, TMobile etc coming in.
We now have Sprint and Rogers dabbling in the market but their prices are far higher than what we pay for our SK Tel.
I can add him to my plan for $15, but when you add on the taxes, the user fees and the texting it works out to close to $40 per person LOL
Thanks for your input.
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