Did you get your child a cellphone too? How old? Did you restrict use? How so? I'm a ways out from having to think about this, but curious what the standard is becoming.
** edit ** also, if school requires your child to memorize their phone number did you have them memorize both? Just one? I actually have to think about that at present
I am too afraid to get rid of the landline. I dont want to depend on a charged cell phone. (or one that breaks unexpectedly) I feel much safer just paying the extra money and keeping it.
Yes I have a land line I will not give it up,we have 3 kids in the home they know how to use it & my cell aswell but the just incase we have a land line.No my kiddos don't have a cell my son is the oldest he is 7 the only phone I will get is the prepaid cell phones for emergency uses or to get ahold of me,dad,or someone that is an emergency contact.I haven't pruchaed one yet because I haven't had to.Since he is in school then home & now I have them in sports it is on the same playing field same nites so I don't have to leave & take sissy to hers that would be the only reason why I would get him one at such a young age.Yes he knows my number & home & papa's if not he knows where they are on the phone to call
My older two boys both have cell phones. They did not get their own phones till they were 12. At that point they start doing a lot of running around town with friends and they are no longer in after school care and no matter how much we may say go home after school and go no where till I get home lol it doesnt always work that way. I feel it is a way that I can get a hold of them. But have rules with it. Its a privilage not something they are entitled to. I make sure they know the phone is for me not for their friends so If they I take it away I dont care that their friends cant text them. Oh ya make sure you get unlimited text thats all kids do. And pay phone have become few and far between like when we were growing up
we don't have a land line. we are thru verizone on our calling plan. my son knows our cell phones #'s and we have our address written down for him...just in. that phone stays in the house as our main phone. much cheaper than having a land line. we only pay $10 a month on our plan!!!!
There was a post awhile back about a mom who bought her son a phone from a some place where you could actually block out times when the phone couldn't be used (ie. during class), what numbers could and couldn't be entered into the phone, who you could receive texts from, and a whole host of other parental controls. I thought it was amazing. I'm trying to remember the website now where she bought the phone but I'm drawing a blank!
We do not have a land line but my girls are still babies so they don't need phones yet! We'll cross the bridge when we get there! If I think of that website I'll post it as an edit for you!
**EDIT: It's called kajeet! The phones are no contract prepaid with several different plans! A lot of the phones are refurbished so they aren't as expensive as normal and some of them are only $25.00!! This place has one several parenting awards too! I know we'll be looking into something like this when my girls hit that age!
We are a no landline family and have been for about 1 1/2 years. We had a landline until our son got a cell phone. Our son was old enough to be home alone, but we live in the country with the closest neighbor a mile away. I worried about emergencies and no phone. We got our son a cell phone for his 15th birthday and turned off the landline. Honestly, I wish we hadn't. He's glued to the darn thing. We've had to set limits on when he can use it, such as no phone after 9 p.m.
Our son has memorized his number, mine, and my husband's. When the school wants a phone number for any reason he puts my number. I feel that if the school needs something they should talk to a parent, not the student. There is no reason for the school to have my son's number.
My daughter (5) uses my phone. Because we don't have a land line, I consider it the family phone and she has full access to use it (asking first, or course).
Cancelled our landline ages ago, never used it. We DO have enhanced 911 service from cell phones in our area.
Kids are 18, 16, 13, the youngest has had a cell for 5 years. She knew my cell number long before that and that's the only one that matters!
:)
I have been an "no land line" family since 2002. Love it!!! My cell phone offered me unlimited long distance calling with no extra fees and was much cheaper than long distance on a land line - so I gave up the land line.
My son memorized the cell phone number and I used that number for my home number on all school forms. I preferred using the cell number as my contact number even when I had a land line as the cell is always with me.
I got my son a cell phone when he was 10 and going to an out of town sports camp. At that time he had no text and was not allowed to carry the phone once camp was over. In fact, he didn't even know his own phone number!!!
Now that he is 14, he has grown into the phone. I have a family text package, but his phone has all data access blocked and third party charges blocked. He does carry it with him now, even to school, but leaves it turned off during classes. It comes in handy on days like today when he got home before I did. Oh, and he has learned his phone number finally. LOL
Like all things with children, you need to set boundaries about usage. Since we share a minute plan he knows that he is limited to mostly weekends, during the unlimited minutes time, to actually talk on the phone. My phone usage gets priority since it is also my business number.
I love being a "no land line" home.
Good Luck and God Bless
Hi - I just wanted to suggest an alternative to the "no landline" option. It's possible to have a home phone with NO monthly charges.
A couple of years ago we got an Ooma box. You connect it to your internet modem, then connect a phone to it. So, now you have a "landline", but the totally cool thing is that you never have to pay another penny for it. REALLY! No monthly or yearly payments for your home phone. The quality is fine and we've saved sooooo much money with this. I think the Ooma box costs about $225, but I got mine on sale (Costco? Amazon? Can't remember where) for about $179.
You can port over your existing number for $30 or get a new one. We got a new number, and the really cool thing is that no telemarketers have it. Only the people we've given it to. Win-win!
Good luck!
If you are considering getting rid of your land line dont, at least have it set up for emergency use only. If you ever needed to call 911 they would have your address to respond to, from a cell phone you only have a city to where the phone is registered. If you called 911 and hung up without saying anything they would have to show up by law, which may be neccessary in an emergency.
Yes, out kids memorized both numbers. They are consecutive so it's pretty easy.
We don't let our kids go anywhere without adults at this time so they have no need whatsoever for their own phone. I imagine when she is older and may go somewhere on her own she'll need one.
My friend lets her son stay at soccer practice and she will run errands. She got him a cell that he keeps in his gear. He is 10. We do live in a somewhat small town so she is less than 7 minutes from him even on the other side of town. He has had the same soccer coach, and team mates/parents since he was 4 so he is very safe with them.
I had gotten rid of our landline in 2007 (due to trying to set it up with Vonage - which they never got the services hooked up on their end right and somehow had me billed for 2 lines in another state! UGH! so went to my cell only). Then when I went into labor in 2009 during the night my cell phone was dead! I couldn't call anyone to try to decide if I was really in labor or not. Then when my newborn came down with H1N1 and her temp spiked in the middle of the night I discovered my phone was dead! I realized then that if I would have had to call 911 I wouldn't be able to so got a landline again. And even though I gave out my landline most ppl still use my cell. Except family. but that's ok. we have it if we need it.
My daughter (12 years) got her cell phone last summer before starting middle school. That way if she ever had to walk home she would have it if needed. She usually turns it off after she gets home without me telling her so i haven't really had to restrict her use. However when she lost it for a week at a friends house, I did find out that I could set up restrictions online as to when she could use it & who. Maybe even texting too? we have a verizon plan.
When she was younger and had to memorize her number we had both landline & cell but I only had her memorize the landline. Not really sure why!
Me and my husband have cells only. Our son is only 2.5 so obviously he doesn't need one. Or is it so obvious there days? haha I heard of a mom on here getting an IPHONE for her 2-3 year old.
My sister who has 10 children has no land line. They just can't afford it. I think it's kind of sad for her 15 year old daughter. She's home schooled so he social life isn't that full. She was asked for her phone number by a boy at a religious retreat. She said only her parents have phones and she could give him one of their #s. So he wasn't interested. She probably won't get her own phone until she's paying for it on her own. She's such a good kid, she told her mom she wasn't ready to be talking on the phone to boys anyway.
I think kids take things for grated way too much these days. When my son is old enough to be at home alone, I'll only get him a cell rather than getting a land line if it's cheaper. Someone here said it's $10 a month for a prepaid phone. That sounds good.
I know someone at work who has about 6 people on her cell plan and it's cheaper. I wouldn't add any family members who didn't live with me or anything though unless I could REALLY trust them to split the cost.
Unless they are old enough to be home alone they don't need their own phone because you are home.
we just recently moved. Without realizing the house we moved into did not already have phone service installed! So currently we are without a land line. My oldest son ( 15) has a cell phone and we would never leave the two younger ones home ( 10, and 3) so, so far it has been a non issue. I did go out and get the Magic Jack ( plugs into the computer) Magic Jack is not perfectly reliable, I have some choppy calls, dropped calls, cuts in and out from time to time, but it saves me on minutes so that I can at least call my mom and sister and best friend just to chit chat. I am actually looking into a cell phone package that has a family plan to save money.
I have had my daughter memorize my cell phone, but she just has her dads cell number written down.
Yes, I have a land line and another dedicated fax line. I have a home office that my company reimburses for as well as their blackberry. I have to have a land line because of potential poor cell reception for conference calls. My daughter and I also have our personal cell phones so lots of numbers for us!
