Why I Like Sharing My Phone With My Pre-Teen

September 27, 2019

But Mom, all my friends have phones…

Well, guess what? I’m not their mom, I’m yours. You have a Kindle and a Chrome book to keep you busy.

I keep wavering back and forth about when my 6th grader can get her own phone.

There are some days I don’t want her using my phone but in all actuality I’d rather her use mine than have to be responsible for her own. The thing is yes, most of her friends have phone but that means she will always have a way to get a hold of me if she needs it.

I want her to experience life being more unplugged and the way to do that is to keep pushing back the age when she can get her own phone.

The bonus is that I can monitor conversations on my phone and can see if things are happening that I might need to have a discussion about. The more I can hold out on getting her a phone the more she can see there is more to life than being on a device.

She will figure out how she can be of value to other people and it will also teach her delayed gratification. We are living in an instant/must have now society. She does quiet fine without a phone of her own and until it becomes a necessity (maybe high school), then she can learn the virtue of patience.

When and why did you get your child a phone?