Being a parent in the internet age is more complex than ever. It means confronting some decisions earlier generations never had to make and doing so with younger and younger children. One of those decisions is how and when to give a child a cell phone and what boundaries to set. To help, here’s a parent’s guide for providing a cell phone to a child.
Make the Cell Phone a Privilege
Before you even think of giving a cell phone to your child, you must let them know it’s a privilege, not a right. That means attaching the use of the phone to specific responsibilities and restrictions. It also means making them acknowledge those limitations. One way to do this is by spelling everything out in a contract for your child to sign. Doing so can make later enforcement of the rules easier and leave your child less room for argument.
Choose a Provider With Robust Parental Controls
Next, you’ll want to choose a phone and provider with robust parental controls. There are a variety of phones designed specifically for use by children and young adults. They typically boast features like remote location tracking, web content filtering, and screentime scheduling. They make monitoring your child’s usage easy. Plus, many are available with no contracts or even with prepaid plans. You can even add child-specific monitoring and control apps to an existing phone if you have one. They can make repurposing one of your old phones for your child’s use safe and easy.
Go over the Phone’s Features With Your Child
Before handing over any cell phone to your child, you should review its features with them in detail. That includes informing them of parental controls and what data you can monitor. You should never hide that functionality from your child. Doing so will only create trust issues and motivate them to circumvent your controls. You should also explain your restrictions on the phone’s use and why you’ve set them. That will encourage compliance and foster an open dialogue about the phone with your child.
Set a Trial Period and Adjustment Criteria
Finally, it would be best if you decided on a trial period to evaluate your child’s behavior with the phone. The reason is simple. Even if your child follows all the phone-related rules you’ve set, you can’t know how having the phone will affect them overall. For example, what if they exhibit signs of depression or start withdrawing from family life? Letting your child know that you will observe their behavior for some time as a condition of having the phone is a wise move. Plan for the trial period to last at least six months.
Concurrently, you should set conditions for your child to ask for increased phone privileges. That incentivizes them to use the phone responsibly, knowing there’s an additional reward for doing so. Plus, it makes them less likely to chafe at the existing restrictions and monitoring you’ve implemented.
Make Your Child’s First Phone a Success Story
Following the guidelines set forth here should make your child’s first cell phone experience positive. It should also take much of the stress out of the process for you. Then, you can move forward together as a family without the added worry that the introduction of technology might otherwise create.