This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sprint for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
What is the best time to get your child a cell phone?
It seems like kids are getting phones earlier and earlier these days! It can be quite the controversial topic, with some feeling like kids are getting them too soon, while others wish that every child would have one for safety reasons.
It’s most certainly a personal choice for each family. My kids are still far too young for them, but I do wonder what age we will cave and buy them phones. There will definitely be some strict rules put into place when they get them, like no texting at the dinner table and always responding to texts/calls from mom or dad, but knowing when they are ready for the responsibility is going to be the hard part.
A few things I know I’ll be looking for are the following:
1. Time away from home – Are they spending enough time away from home to require a phone? Not just a friend’s homes where they could borrow the phone of the parent at the house, but in extracurricular activities and such so that they would need a way to contact me regularly.
2. Responsibility – Do they take good care of the things that they have? Not regularly losing or breaking their possesions? – My husband is an extremely careful person and always takes the best care of his things, so I know this will be a huge one for him! We definitely don’t want to be buying them a phone that they are going to lose the next day or break within a couple of weeks.
3. Self control – Do they have the self control to only use the phone when appropriate. Not jumping on it every time there is a lull in conversation or a spare second to breathe. We don’t want them to become consumed by electronics. Sure, screens are fun and won’t be forbidden in our house, but living life with people in front of you is much more fun and useful. We want to be sure they have the self control to make that distinction before entrusting them with a phone.
4. Payment – I’m seriously considering making them pitch in for the phone bill at some point while they are at home. I definitely want my kids getting jobs young and paying for their own gas and things like that, so it makes sense by the time they are older to start pitching in to cover their phone bills too. I definitely want them to learn to budget before they are out on their own, so they can start making good choices with money from a young age.
What are your rules for phone-use? What do YOU think the appropriate age for kids and phones should be in your house?
For those of you with kids already using phones, I wanted to let you know that right now Sprint is offering a special family share pack. For customers who bring their number and activate it, Sprint will buy out their contracts with a Visa Prepaid Card worth up to $350! The new plan offers the best deal in data making it affordable to get what you need from data! #ItsANewDayForData For those of you looking for the numbers – for a family of four you can get 20GB shared data with unlimited talk and text for $100 a month!
Do you have certain requirements your kids have to reach before they get phones? Will you make them pay the bills themselves or enforce other rules to keep things under control? I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas!
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