My husband and I caved and bought our 13 year old a cell phone for Christmas. We agonized over the decision, but for our particular circumstances…two parents working…son with diabetes…we decided it would be OK to “take the plunge.” However, after seeing all the horror stories of kids getting into trouble with these little technological gadgets, we wanted to minimize what features he had access to.
Well, of course with modern technology, 99% of the phones out there have all the bells and whistles. That is…except for one. Yes, it’s the one you would normally buy for your aging parents. Clearly displayed on the keys are 911, ICE (in case of emergency), and very large numbers for those not so spry peepers. Despite our desire to keep our son safe, even we couldn’t resort to “geeking him out” with such a contraption. So we bought him one of the less expensive LG phones and made a few minor adjustments with the help of our knowledgeable Verizon rep (whom I’m guessing had kids of his own). Anyway, we turned off our son’s ability to send & receive pictures or access the Internet, but allowed him the ability to text. Currently, he only knows about 10 people with cell phones, mostly family, and we weren’t too concerned about him “sexting” with grandma. Now, that’s just plain creepy.
Oh yeah, and the next service we’re adding…the locator function. It basically turns your child’s cell phone into a GPS so you know where they are at all times. If they enter a “forbidden zone” or if you just want to make sure they got home safely, you can have a text message sent to your cell phone. So watch out, kid. Big Mother’s watching!
Kathryn Mahoney is a freelance humor writer, author, copywriter, but most importantly, a wife and mother of two beautiful boys. She started this blog to give other moms a place to “escape the chaos” and most importantly…to just LAUGH! To learn more about Kathryn, visit 