Moms Talk: To Cell Phone, or Not to Cell Phone

Lakewood Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families — right here in Lakewood.

In each weekly Moms Talk edition, our local Moms Council — comprised of expert moms and professional parents — takes questions from readers like you, provides advice, and shares solutions together, as a whole.

Moms, dads, grandparents and all the diverse families that make up our community will soon have a new Q&A resource, dedicated to providing advice about local neighborhood schools, the best area pediatricians, 24-hour pharmacies—and the thousands of other issues that arise when raising a child.

Moms Talk will also serve as the right place to drop-in and chat about the latest hot topics in parenting. 

To cell phone, or not to cell phone? That is the question on everyone's minds. This week, we're reaching out to all moms in the area to gain insight into the kids-with-cell phones dispute. How young is too young for a child to have his or her own cell phone?

So grab a cup of coffee and settle in as we start this week's conversation with a question from Lakewood Patch Columnist Chrissy Kadleck:

My husband and I decided to get my daughter a cell phone in fourth grade and she was the first in her class to have one. I'm sure we seemed like the "cool" parents to the kids and the "uncool" parents to those moms and dads who then had to hear about this classmate with a cell phone. 

For us, It was minimal cost to add the extra phone and we got a big payoff in terms of a sense of security that we could reach our daughter and she could reach us -- at any given time. We could coordinate school pickups, going home with friends, and navigate a sometimes lonely three-quarter mile walk home.

It also gave us the freedom to contact her when we were running late from appointments or to alter plans. Since our work schedules are often different, things can change quickly around our house. Flash forward two years and my daughter has never lost her phone, never racked up a crazy phone bill (we were smart and added unlimited texting), and has been mostly responsible keeping track of her phone and answering and responding when we text and call. That is, as long as the ringer is on and it's charged :) 

The one downside to her having a phone is the lack of control. Unlike with a land line, I don't always know who she is texting (even though she isn't a big texter) and when she is texting. But she does know that even though the phone is "hers", we are the parents and we will look at the phone and her texts if we feel it's necessary. 

But how young is too young? What is the appropriate age for a child to have a cell phone?

We want to hear what you—our readers—think about the appropriate age for cell phone use. When is it acceptable for a child to have his or her own personal cell phone?