I want to get my 11 year old a phone now that she is in middle school sports. There has already been a couple instances where her practice got gone early and she was stuck waiting at school for me. I really don't need or want internet access. I'm thinking some type of prepaid deal as I want to do this on the cheap.
My 8 (soon to be 9) year old has an old iphone that we gave her to use on wifi only. Sub'd to this thread to see how others deal with this.
I don't have any old phones. I tend to use them until they just about become worthless before getting a new one.
Just head to your local Verizon store and get the cheapest smart phone they offer. My kids are 12 and 14 and they have had smart phones for years. I love the Life 360 app so we can see where they are at all times or at least where they left their phones. lol
Really, you have an 11 year chick. Chances are her friends all have iphones and secretly, she wants one to fit in. Make her a deal with grades, working hard at sports and some chores around the house and get her a mid level iphone and tell her she is responsible for it and if she breaks it or damages it, she has to buy the replacement and blah blah blah. . . Add her to your plan if you want, You have more control over the phone with that crap. Good luck. She's 11 now but you blink and she'll be in high school. and what sports are she into?
Last year during the virtual school year I got both of them, 9 year olds, iPhone SE from T-Mobile. I do not recommend the phone at all. Screen is $hit and it's fairly pretty trash. I went apple only because many of their friends didn't have a cell plan, but could use iMessages or whatever. 3 cracked screens between the two of them, but it has come in handy. My wife just installed life 360 for them and her. I do like to give them some freedom, and let kids be kids, so I never wanted to install any kind of tracking on them.
My 11 soon to be 12 yo son has my old iPhone 6 with cracked screen. No need to get him a new one for the first. We have a family plan so cost in negligible. He is not allowed to take it to school (our rules) and I have his screen time limited where he has to request more time via the phone itself. I can approve or deny remotely. (built in Apple OS feature) Like his computer and his xbox and any "Screen" time he has, we monitor and limit it greatly. On days/weeks when he has lost all screen time, he has a much better attitude and over all well being. Screen time is a life suck on him so thus the less is more for him.
Middle School age seems to a common time for kids to get phones. They're becoming more independent, so it's a good "tether" to be able to be able to communicate with them when you cannot physically put eyeballs on them. It's also a great way to gather intel on what your kids are doing, who they're talking to, and what they are up to and what they are talking about. I get my hands on my son's phone about once a week or so and I unlock his screen and look at his text messages. I'm a single Dad....my son has has a phone since he was about 8 because of my situation with him and being able to let him call me to locate me if he got dropped off by the bus before I could get there. But, as a side benefit, I know SO much more about my son than his Mom does. It's also another tremendous source of leverage for me. He's a GOOD kid. But, he's 11 and he's obviously still a work in progress. Once in rare while, I need to take away his privileges to his PC and/or phone. It sucks to do it, but it comes with the job.
Flip Phone. Text and voice only. You can get cheap ones (<$50) with Cricket family plans. Cricket is AT&T owned and uses the AT&T network. - and about $25/mo per line.
use an iPhone. Go through ALL THE PARENTAL CONTROLS AND APP LOCKS AND PRIVACY ETC to only allow texts and calls from you and to you. And you can block the download of any apps/content that you haven’t put on it yourself for them. My 4 year old has an iPad mini that she literally can only FaceTime us, or play abc mouse apps, and take photos. Everything else is locked out and she is not allowed to use anyone else’s devices. Location Tracking is fucking awesome too. Oh.... AND BUY A FUCKING OTTERBOX FOR IT.
A flip phone for a middle school girl? You may as well dress her up in a flour sack and make her wear her big brother's boots to school.
I use Republic Wireless for my personal phone so I re-activated one of my old phones for 1st phone for the kids. $20/mo for talk & text, can add data for $5/GB but it doesn't work with everyphone. You can bring your old phone IF it's a certain one or you can buy one of theirs. They have a $150 Moto G Play as their cheapest option new.
Hypothetical situation that does happen: A kid in school has an iphone, like all of his friends. An athlete "hooks up" with a cheerleader, records the whole thing, and airdrops it to any iphones that are set to receive airdrops. The kid opens it since it's from one of his "friends." Now the kid is in possession of child pornagraphy, and if the kid's phone airdrops it, you have distribution of child porn. Control everything. If they want a password or whatever to unlock the screen, use numbers. Do not use face recognition or thumbprint.
