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The Quad City Times ran an article asking that very question.  When it comes to cell phones, how young is too young?

This is a question that parents of my acquaintance discuss together all the time.  Several of my kids’ friends’ parents have caved in and gotten their kids cells, even though they said they wouldn’t.  This makes is really hard on our family, where the rule has been that nobody gets a cell until they’re freshmen in high school.  But by the times kids are freshmen, almost all of their friends have phones already.

My friends who get their kids cell phones aren’t the kinds of parents who spoil their kids and buy them every new shiny gadget.  On the contrary, these are kids who have chores and have to buy their own extras.  But they are also active kids, in sports, theater, and other after school activities.  But some families have kids in three different schools; last year I had a child in the middle school, intermediate school, and elementary school.  Getting them home from school was a feat of scheduling and logistics worthy of a military general, involving older kids riding the bus halfway home and picking up the younger kids…assuming everyone was going home after school on a given day.

If someone missed a bus, everything messed up.  The capability to call each other would come in very handy in those situations.  One parent in the Quad City article said, “Just a few years ago, a child with a cell phone was seen as over-the-top spoiling. Now, many families view it as a basic communication tool and safety precaution.”

My husband and I spend huge parts of our parenting lives trying to avoid that sort of “over-the-top-spoiling,” but what if this really isn’t about that any more?  We live in a small town, but things happen.  What if it’s about basic communication and safety now?

I do think that elementary school is too young for a phone.  These kids are never alone, anyway (at least, they shouldn’t be!).  But they have more freedom in middle school, and with more freedom comes more risk.  And with more risk comes more need by parents to be in touch, even at a distance.

I guess, as with most things, we all have to use our judgment.