Yikes
So Lucinda had some money from her birthday. At first she wanted to buy two more American Girl dolls, but we pointed out that she hardly plays with the ones she already has. We told her she should think about different things to buy with the money and compare them carefully. We came up with a list of about six or seven things that she wanted. The list included things like the Barbie Power Wheels Jeep, a loft bed, a Playstation, and a few other things. In the end, she decided that she wanted her own phone.
Now, we’re not philosophically opposed to this. But at seven, who are you gonna call? But we’d told her that it was all right, so yesterday after school Mommy and Lucinda went and got it. It’s a Cingular Go Phone on a pay-as-you-go plan. So now she’s all set up. She picked out a ring tone and now she’s just trying to figure out who to call. It’s kind of cute in a weird sort of way.
March 20th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Interesting proposition…but would not be my choice for a 7 year old. And even my 12 year old rarely uses her phone (which we got a pkg deal for 4 phones) and only for emergencies – when she’s out visiting with friends.
I would think that a 7 year old shouldn’t be so unsupervised as to need to *call you* when she’s *out*.
Though, my most recent *BLEH* was my 15 year old now having destroyed her fifth cell phone in two years – this one ended up going through the washer and dryer when she did her own laundry. But we’ve had one dropped and cracked the screen, one in a glass of water, one run over by her bike (dropped out her pocket) and one in the washer — this is her second time on that carelessness. And we don’t qualify for another *up-grade* for another year and half.
Drat!
March 20th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Well, we don’t really anticipate that she will have a lot of use for this just yet. But she wanted it and was willing to spend her own money to get it. We also made it clear that the phone is her responsibility, and we’re not going to help if it gets broken or lost. More than anything else, it’s so she can’t say that we won’t let her have one.