Tips on cell phones for kids

I had the opportunity to speak with Amanda from AT&T this last week to get some tips on buying cell phones for kids. Now, my kids have been begging for a cell phone since they were in kindergarten and since they are still in elementary school I still don’t think they need their own phone, but the time isn’t far away. There are lots of families that might have kids in elementary and high school. What about those with kids in college. Each family has their own needs. So how will I know they are ready and what does a parent look for in a phone or a service contract? Amanda had some great tips. First start with an assessment of how and where the phone will be used. Will your kids be calling from school to tell you where they are going or from sports practice when they need a ride? Check for coverage areas where the phone will be used. Next, while I still think of phones primarily for talking, kids these days use texting as their primary form of communicating. Additionally, give some thought to a data plan. Do they need web access for doing homework or email a professor an assignment or will they want to update their Facebook page? Maybe you need to check emails from work. Often families will add all the phones onto one contract that may include shared voice minutes but unlimited text. I really liked some of the Smart Limits that are offered that I was unaware of. These days parents can set limits to how many minutes their kids can talk, set the times that the phone can be used so that it’s unavailable during school hours or at night. Restrictions can be placed on outbound calling, web browsing or texting. I also liked the Family Map that shows the phones GPS location. You can also schedule text alerts to your phone notifying you when the childs phone moves to a geographic location (so you know when they've arrived home after school). There are even road side assistance plans that will follow your child and their phone rather than a driver so if they are carpooling with friends often, you can still help make sure they are safe if the driver runs out of gas or gets a flat tire. I was unaware of many of the special features and although they are add on’s, they can be added just to one or two phones. They don’t have to be purchased for all the phones on your family plan. It’s nice to know there are all these options available, I’ll probably need them sooner than I hoped.