How to Purchase a Cell Phone for your Tween

Purchase a Cell Phone for your Tween

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Your tween has asked you for a cell phone, and you are considering getting them one. You need to be aware that this may cause issues for you, as you have to pay the bill. It may cause problems for your tween because they cannot moderate their own behavior. It may even cause problems for their friends’ families, as other children will turn to their parents for a cell phone as well. If you decided to get your tween a cell phone anyway, here are some tips.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Step1

Decide if they deserve a phone. Tweens wills start asking for cell phones as early as age eight or nine. Before giving in to their requests, you must first decide if they deserve a phone. Determine if they keep up with their possessions. If they do their chores without a fight, and take care of pets adequately, they may deserve a phone. If they still act like five year olds when you ask them to pick up their room, you may want to hold off. If you say no for these reasons, be sure to tell them why. They may moderate their behavior to get a cell phone, which will create a win-win situation.

Step2

Make them wait for the phone so they will appreciate it. When my son received his cell phone at age 11, for no other reason that the fact that he is a really great kid, my more challenging daughter began asking for one. We made her wait until she was 11 to get the phone as we felt that was an age when we thought she would be mature enough to handle one responsibly. She was very appreciative when she finally got her phone on her 11th birthday.

Step3

Determine features you want their cell phone to have. You can have your tweens phone equipped with tracking and use monitoring software. You can block calls from all but a number of people. You can have emergency only restrictions placed on the phones. There are even special phones that cater to limiting use or monitoring excessive usage.

Step4

Determine features they want their cell phone to have. If your child likes to take pictures, you can try to get them a picture phone. If they love music, you can buy a phone that has a built in mp3 player. The benefit of getting a second or third major feature on the phone is that the tween can have fun with it without going overboard with talking a texting.

Step5

Purchase accessories that will help them care for and keep the phone. While extra accessories may cost you a bit of money upfront, accessories can help keep your child’s phone in good condition longer. You can find fun protective covers online. You can add a wrist strap to help them hand onto the phone. Personally, I prefer a neck strap for the cell phones as it helps prevent my tweens and myself from dropping them.

Step6

Kids make mistakes. Phones will get lost and/or damaged. Purchase cell phone insurance for your child’s cell phone. My rule is you are entitled to one mistake per year. So when my son put his new phone in his swimsuit pocket and jumped into the pool, I paid the insurance deductible. When he left it in his pants pocket and washed his jeans a few months later. He paid the deductible from his allowance. It has not happened again.

Step7

Give them boundaries and consequences. Let them know that if they break rules of usage, using the phone too much or too late at night, that you will change the status to limit whom they can call and receive calls from, or even shut the phones off.