It souds to me like jlick and/or his wife don’t always know who is looking after their daughter! Why would you not have the phone number of the carer “conveniently available”? Like, in the memory of your own phone?
Aren’t we neglecting something in this thread? Isn’t there supposed to be a rumour knocking about that using mobiles might not be good for young children’ health? Or has that all been ruled out now? I try to avoid letting my kids use mobiles at all for that reason, and thought all Western parents did the same!
I read there are special phones just for kids. They can be set to just dial a few numbers and have a fast dial key for mom and dad.
I see nothing wrong with it but am still a little concerned with this on-going debate that they cause brain tumors.
Not much proof on this but then there have been no studies on people who have used them since they were little children.
Everything causes cancer. BBQ, pesticides on your leafy greens that prevent cancer, breathing Taiwan’s air. A child sticking a cell phone to his/her ear for a few minutes is probably relatively safe.
Anyway I have no idea what is safe, relatively safe or probably relatively safe, so I’ll just go along with these guidelines (as any responsible parent who had read them surely would). Essential calls only, as short as possible, and a resounding “No way” to the poll.
Hey, you receive the bill, and you decide if they are on the phone more than needed, or wanted. Getting a phone as a kid is a token of responsibility, and if they can not take it, then cancel it.
Any studies would be about people hugging the phone a lot of hours during the day, not your kids informing you that they finished earlier than expected, and want you to pick them up.
I survived childhood without a cellphone. I don’t remember a single instance in which I both should have called home and was wise enough to attempt to find a means of doing so. But a cell phone with a panic call button to parents is certainly a safety feature in case of emergency, so… if I were a parent, I might consider getting such a limited-use phone after, say, the age of 7.
Though my opinion may change as my daughter learns to talk and thus fully manipulate me around her mother, but I am adamantly against kids having cell phones. I didn’t get my first cell phone till 3 years ago. there are phones everywhere anyway if she would need to have to make an emergency call. Anyway, not until she’s 18 or can afford to pay the bill herself.
A friend of ours recently had to take her daughter to hopital for a brain exam and surgery. She met with a doctor who told her how busy the department had become since the popularity of cell phones. Although he couldn’t prove cell phones were the cause of a 300% rice in children with brain tumors, he swore blind that he could not think of any other reason for the massive coincidental rise in cases and it just so happened that many of his patients had cell phones or used one frequently.
I would never let my kid have a cell phone and he LOVES the damn things.
[quote=“sulavaca”]A friend of ours recently had to take her daughter to hopital for a brain exam and surgery. She met with a doctor who told her how busy the department had become since the popularity of cell phones. Although he couldn’t prove cell phones were the cause of a 300% rice in children with brain tumors, he swore blind that he could not think of any other reason for the massive coincidental rise in cases and it just so happened that many of his patients had cell phones or used one frequently.
I would never let my kid have a cell phone and he LOVES the damn things.[/quote]
Though those tumors could be caused by the addition of any number of carcinogens to the environment in Taiwan in the last 20-30 years, that is enough for me to keep my little girl from having one. Thanks.