Thomas Rogers
Well-Known Member
Okay, here is another OT question for the group, especially for parents.
Our son is 14 and working part-time. He is very active in afterschool activities. He is a A student (Distinquished Honor). Anyway, school is about to start back up, and he is starting high school (9th grade).
We have debated getting him a cellphone. Since he works part-time, the bills will be his responsibility. For the most part, he is responsible so we aren't too worried about the bills.
Our main concerns and things to consider with him having a phone are:
- potential loss (or damage) of the phone due to theft, negligence, accident
- making sure our son gains "good habits" with regards to phone use, texting, etc and that he is courteous when he uses it in public, and frugal as to its use...in general we want to make sure he uses the phone contientiously.
The main question I have is would it simply be better to add a new phone to our family plan for a few dollars a month (I suspect around $10 or so additional), or would it be better to get a prepaid phone. The newer prepaid phones are cheap and very nice IMHO and we would be willing to buy him one along with a card with some minutes as a gift and them make the whole thing his responsibility. I kind of like the idea of prepaid because the phones are cheap, and on the off chance he is irresponsible, the risk of a large bill not an issue.
I guess I need to know the pros and cons of going prepaid vs adding another phone. Oh, we have Verizon Wireless if it makes a difference.
Thoughts? Anyone else gone down this road.
Yeah, I know, many will chime in with "teens don't need cell phones", etc, but since he is an active teen that doesn't drive my wife thinks he needs something so that he can contact us when the unexpected happens (a ride falls through, practice runs late, ends early, etc).
Thanks,
TJR
Our son is 14 and working part-time. He is very active in afterschool activities. He is a A student (Distinquished Honor). Anyway, school is about to start back up, and he is starting high school (9th grade).
We have debated getting him a cellphone. Since he works part-time, the bills will be his responsibility. For the most part, he is responsible so we aren't too worried about the bills.
Our main concerns and things to consider with him having a phone are:
- potential loss (or damage) of the phone due to theft, negligence, accident
- making sure our son gains "good habits" with regards to phone use, texting, etc and that he is courteous when he uses it in public, and frugal as to its use...in general we want to make sure he uses the phone contientiously.
The main question I have is would it simply be better to add a new phone to our family plan for a few dollars a month (I suspect around $10 or so additional), or would it be better to get a prepaid phone. The newer prepaid phones are cheap and very nice IMHO and we would be willing to buy him one along with a card with some minutes as a gift and them make the whole thing his responsibility. I kind of like the idea of prepaid because the phones are cheap, and on the off chance he is irresponsible, the risk of a large bill not an issue.
I guess I need to know the pros and cons of going prepaid vs adding another phone. Oh, we have Verizon Wireless if it makes a difference.
Thoughts? Anyone else gone down this road.
Yeah, I know, many will chime in with "teens don't need cell phones", etc, but since he is an active teen that doesn't drive my wife thinks he needs something so that he can contact us when the unexpected happens (a ride falls through, practice runs late, ends early, etc).
Thanks,
TJR