To Give or Not to Give a Cell Phone – That is the Question

Thanks to
everyone who weighed in on the cell phone dilemma. My internet has been down
for a week, so I apologize for taking so long to respond. While we haven’t made
any definitive decisions yet, many of you gave convincing arguments on both
sides. I was impressed to see that many parents have created cell phone
contracts with their kids prior to giving them a phone. If you want to see
samples of these, you can click here and here. If we decide to let Jorjanne have a
phone, there will definitely be a contract required!

In the
meantime, we are taking this opportunity to teach Jorjanne about
responsibility. With a cell phone comes the responsibility to use it
appropriately. She recently saw some of the pitfalls of social media firsthand
as many of her friends were attacked on Instagram. We had a long discussion,
and I think she understands that we aren’t trying to limit her, but to protect
her from potential hurts that could come from having her own phone.

Having a
phone in and of itself is not bad. The scary thing to me is that she can be
totally respectful and responsible and still be bullied by others via texts or
social media. I cannot protect her from all the evils out there, nor would I
want to do so. She needs to experience some freedom while she is at home under
our supervision and protection, but how much and when is debatable.  All that said, the verdict is still out.
Today we are not buying her a cell phone, but we may change our mind once
cheerleading practices begin and her time away from us increases.