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Perhaps you can identify with this.
Mommabear2008 writes in the New Comers Club, "My SD just turned 11 at the beginning of the month, and her mom thought it would be a good idea to get her a cell phone for Christmas. It didn't bother us, she paid for it, she's buying the minutes so why would we care? Well now SD is acting like she's 'entitled' to unlimited text, unlimited Internet, a new iPhone all for 'only $175 a month'..."
I can certainly guess where this is going. I have a stepdaughter myself. She's 15 (gorgeous and sweet), and a cell phone diva. We'd promised her a phone for over a year, so last Christmas we made it happen. When we ordered the phone and told her, she was happy but there was something that seemed off. Come to find out, she wanted another model! It was Christmas, so we gave in--she ended up with a $200 phone! Yay, right? Almost.
By February, she wanted umlimited text, more minutes, Internet access and a bunch of other stuff. No go kiddo, is how it ultimately went. But, OMG, how sad is she? Too bad, hot stuff.
With her on our plan our bill is already another $40 per month!
How much is your teen's cell phone bill?
Comments (12)
I don't even have a cell phone, my girls will get cell phones when they get drivers licenses. Other than that, they really don't NEED one. JMO
Limits!!! Our daughter is 16 and can use 350 min. per month of our shared minutes. She does have unlimited texting, I can see who she is texting and when, I can set times that texting is available. Not after midnight or during school. If grades are affected then more time will be taken away. We can also block #'s we don't know, and our #'s can be reached at anytime. (Verizon).
But think of this, one day the wants will exceed your ability to pay, if you don't start now making them earn what they get.
Times are changing. 10 years ago, we were all fine. Now, we'd be going nuts with out Cafemom, e-mails, texts, and -omg- GOOGLE! Things become needs over time. I'm sure by the time my DD is a teen, she'll "need" a phone. And I'll give it to her, probably before then. Unlimited minutes, texts, and internet? Why not? That's human interaction and research. If I can afford it, she can have it. If it doesn't affect her school work or behavior, there would be no strings attached. WIth technology taking over, I think a lot of parents are rebelling it JUST to rebel. That's not fair to the children.
I get wanting unlimited texts....Whenever I get a new cellphone (read as: whenever we have money again, lol) I'll have that feature myself, but I don't see why a teen would "need" (as they put it) unlimited internet? Don't they get enough of that already? ...That's one feature I wouldn't sign them up for personally.
I never had a cellphone until I was a senior in HS and even then I had to pay for it monthly and ALL of the extras I wanted.
i cant believe how so many parents seem to cave in to their childs sense of entitlement. all it does is "feed the beast". my 11 yr old DD got a cell phone from my dad. it was a prepaid, plain jane phone. she had broken it w/in a week. so no more phone. period. why do children need the internet on their phone? our society is in a vicious cycle of being entitled to want, that is largly how our country got in the problem it is in economically. and even though it is just a cell phone, we are passing that train of thought on down to our kids...NOW..when the kid has a job and pays for all their bells and whistles, thats different. they are learning to be responsible....my nieces ran up a $3,500 cell bill. my SIL was able to get the cell company to change it by back dating a new order for unlimited text, and the girls still have there phones. i just dont get that....
If you're going to pay for it, set up a plan so her phone just WON'T WORK if she goes over the minutes/texts you've alloted.
If she wants more, she can pay for it herself.
We have a family plan for the four of us, and DH is always saying we need to cut it down. Well, then he urged me to send for an international phone for the week our DD was in Belgium last month, and I just saw the bill. She racked up nearly $300 in ROAMING charges!!!!!!!!! Dh doesn't know yet, and I'm so afraid for him to find out. :( I know he'll have a fit.
We have a family plan with 4 lines and we are about to add a 5th. We have T-Mobile which offers a feature called Family Allowances. It costs $2 a month and allows us to control any time minutes available, text messaging, times of day they can use the phone and even allows us to block numbers. In addition to this they have their Fav 5 that they can talk to with unlimited minutes, free mobile to mobile, unlimited texting and free nights and weekends. All total with 1000 anytime minutes that we share our bill is at $140 a month. For those of you that don't have a plan with T-Mobile, you can get an Flex pay plan with them for $39 a month that gives them 300 anytime minutes, nights and weekends, 5 numbers that they can call unlimited a month. The best part once they use the 300 anytime minutes, it will not allow them to use anymore so you don't have to worry about overage charges. They can still talk to the people in their 5, nights and weekends. I am not sure but you may have to add unlimited text which is like 9.99 a month. This is way cheaper than prepaid phones (trust me we tried those first) and has more benefits.
My SD is 14, almost 15, and has a pre-paid phone. We only put time on it when she's doing good which is $20 a month. Right now she isn't doing good in school so she hasn't had time on the phone in months!
My 13 about to be 14 yr old son got an early bday present of a cell phone simply added as a line on my contract. We tried the prepaid deal for a while but this is less expensive. My main reason for getting him a phone now is so that when he is 16, driving (if allowed) and working (if allowed) he will have the responsibility of that phone handled. He mainly uses text so I am putting unlimited text on his phone so that he is not using my minutes on our shared plan. We have Verizon and now have friends & family so most of who he calls are the kids of my friends so our calls are free anyway. I do not agree however with giving something a child something like this just because everyone else has one. My DH ex bought my stepson a cell phone (prepaid) when he was 7! FOR WHAT!!!!! Now that cell is no where to be found. Anyway there's my 2 cents.