Cellphone for kids?

Argh! Tough call on that one. No pun intended, of course.

I have seen both positive and negative sides to kids having a cellphone.

After reading about the possible health dangers to children, it makes me a bit more concerned about the negative aspects of them having one. Since it has not yet been proven that there is a possibility of negative effects (dang, that could take almost a full generation to know for sure), I would rather err on the side of caution, personally.

The positive side I have seen before is how it has been used between my fiance and his son. The son is almost 12 and right in the middle of wavering back and forth between still wanting to be a little boy at times but also wanting to be more grown up and having a bit of independence.

Last weekend, my fiance took his son and one of his son's friends to the zoo. He gave them money for food and drinks and snacks and let them head off on their own with the understanding that the son could call dad anytime he wanted to just to check in or meet up if they wanted to. The boys had a ball and a couple of times the son did call to let dad know what cool thing he and his friend were doing. Dad also called them twice. Once to invite them to meet him at the paddle boats if they wanted to go out on the lake (they did) and once to call them when it was time to leave and they played a twenty questions yes or no game to see if his son and friend could find him. They didn't, but designated a meeting point and all met up to leave.

The negative side of this cell phone use I have observed from the son's ultra paranoid, schizophrenic mother. When the son is with the dad, mom calls no less than a dozen times a day for no real reason other than to find out what they are doing. She also uses the phone to her advantage when the son is with her. Invariably, the son (according to mom) does something "out of line" and gets grounded from using his cell phone to call his dad. The dad calls on the land line and mom always lets it go to the answering machine and never conveys to message to the son that his dad has called.

Last week dad and son went on vacation to a theme park that had water slides and water cannons and all sorts of fun stuff. The last day they were at the theme park, they decided to do just the water slides before heading home. Unfortunately after about two hours, they had to close the slides due to a lightning storm. They dried off, got changed and got into the car to head home. Upon checking his phone, the son had 22 messages from his mom, ten of them in the last half hour. She was frantic and pissed. Well, more like raging. The son told his dad he didn't even want to talk to her. Mom using the cell phone like a leash is not good idea in my opinion at all.

One other negative that I have seen is the responsibility of not necessarily using the phone too much, but actually being mature enough to not LOSE the phone. That happened to my fiance's son once. I don't think most kids are that conscientious. They leave stuff at friends houses, on the playgrounds, on the sidelines of basketball courts, in their desks at school, you name it

I guess all in all, I am not a big advocate of cell phones for children. If a responsible parent knows where their kids are and knows who they are with, why would the child need a cell phone?

I think more kids wants to grow up faster in this day of age. I'm seeing a lot of pre-teens looking like britney spears/christina aguelira. (how could the parents allow such a thing?) Cellphones is another 'grown-up' toy that has migrated to younger kids hands. Imagine what would happen if we lowered the age-limit for driving. I think it's gonna happen because of pressure from parents who want their kids to have all the toys and priviledges.

Well im sorry that you see it that way in some points i agree but as i want to mention kids that stay up late or go place/ trips and want to inform there parents if there staying late shouldnt they have a cell phone. I mean only responsible ones should.
( sry for the grammer run on setences )

Giving a kid a cellphone would be good.. I would give them prepaid that way they can't stay on the phone all time and they learn how to manage there minutes

If your kid is old enough to be out and away from you and other parents, they should have a cell phone.