Yesterday was a big day for Jaiden. HE GOT A CELL PHONE! Hommy and I have been going back and forth for a while debating on this. Read along to see our reasonings as to why we decided to do so and the rules he has to abide by in THE CELL PHONE CONTRACT I created.
Jaiden is 11 going on 12 in August. He’s a very good kid and I say that with pride. Yes, he’s a tween and he has meltdowns and an attitude at times but what kid doesn’t? At first he had my old IPAD, that he cherished and used forever! But unfortunately that got broken, then I passed down my old Apple Orange iPhone 5C that recently got messed up also. It cost over $100 to fix and to me it just wasn’t worth paying so much to fix it when with a little more cash I could get and updated newer one. The iPad and the iPhone all ran on wifi only so he basically used it for playing games and watching youtube while he was at home.
Recently with all the craziness happening in the world I decided it was time to have the talk with Mommy about getting him an actual phone so that he’d be able to call or text in the case of an emergency. With the recent shooting that happened in Florida I read tons of news articles that stated how some kids texted their parents and or siblings to alert them of what was going on. It hit me hard and I thought to myself, if something like that GOD FORBID ever happens while Jaiden is in school how would I or he get in contact with one another? It scared me half to death. So that was my reasoning. And the only reason I needed to finally take the plunge and get him a phone.
My dad has been wanting to purchase Jaiden something for a while since I’m always telling him about how well his grades are in school so he offered to purchase the actual phone for him and Hommy and I set up the plan. I did not want to be stuck in a contract so we decided to get him a prepaid plan (I’ll explain later). I decided the best prepaid plan for him was a simple $45 a month plan that includes Unlimited Talk & Text & 10GB of Data. For $10 more I could have gotten him the ALL UNLIMITED plan but let’s be honest, he’s 11 and he needs some kind on restriction. 10GB of data should be more than enough for him and it should teach him that he can’t be on it all day.
With his new phone I decided I’d have him sign THE CELL PHONE CONTRACT I created. At first I searched PINTEREST for one to easily print out but the ones that I found weren’t the right fit for us. I wanted to give him realistic rules to follow. So I decided to just make my own with rules that fit his lifestyle. I must say he was not happy about certain things that were on the contract (mostly the crying part lol) but hey that’s LIFE!
THE CELL PHONE CONTRACT :
As you can see the rules on the contract are pretty decent. Nothing too crazy! Some rules I added are rules he already has in the house anyway like NO ELECTRONICS AT MEAL TIMES and KEEPING HIS GRADES UP. I know I may get some backlash as to “He’s too little”….or something of that sort, but this post isn’t intended to get you to buy your 11 yr old a phone, it’s a simple “He has a phone, this is why (not that I need to explain) and here are the rules”. Does your child have a Cell Phone? If so what are some rules they have to abide by in order to keep it? Let me know in the comments below and as always Thanks For Reading!
First of all Tai, I have to say that you and Hommy are absolute awesome parents. It feels great to see young people I grew up with who are AMAZING parents. Secondly, I cried reading this post. Your reason for getting him a phone is a sad but true reality. As far as getting him a phone and rules, Chris has had a phone for about 3 years now. I felt like he was ready especially so he can call me while he was in after school or at football practice or on far away trips with school or football team. I would say the number 1 rule for us is NO CELL PHONE IN BED. When we say bad time, I take the phone and charge it in my room or the sala. Ok that’s it for this long as response. Lol
Yall are incredible parents! I love the cell phone contract idea. I’m definitely going to be using that idea years down the road when m daughter gets her first phone.
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