Why does this bother me???

>>>Even my 10 year old doesn't NEED a cell phone.

Do any of US really NEED a cellphone? It may be more convenient, but I'd argue whether we really NEEDED one. In the past 15+ years I've had a cellphone (DH works for a big cellphone company and his first cellphone weighed 20 lbs. LOL!) I can't think of ONCE single incident when my cellphone saved my life. But, by george, yes I have one!

Kids with cellphones is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. (I do concede that there are some very special circumstances where cellphones are helpful, even necessary for safety issues.)

(I overheard a conversation between a mother and her teenaged daughter and the mother was chastising her for a $300 phone bill !!!!!! Um, take the phone away, mom.)

My DS will be in middle school this year and he asked if he will get a phone. Um, no. I told him if he needed to call me to use one of his friend's phones! :lol

I asked him to think about when he would possibly need a cellphone and he couldn't think of any. So, he does not feel deprived.

I think cellphones are just a distraction and unnecessary for many of the kids who have them.

I grew up with very little, so it's difficult for me to refuse my children "things" even if we can afford them, but I believe I am raising them to be discriminating of what their true NEEDS are vs. their WANTS. It's a very important life lesson they should learn early for a contented life.
 
I just have to add a little something that happened to me last night.

My neice's birthday is coming up on Sunday. She lives in Florida and will be turning 8. It's hard to keep up what her likes and dislikes are..so I try to call and see if there is anything she has been wanting. Plan is to purchase the gift prior to my parents leaving on Wednesday for their trip to Florida. My DD(18 yr old) was home when I called my neice. I put the phone on speaker so that we both could talk to her. When I asked for some gift ideas she acted little silly. We could not make out anything she said. I finally said "Kenzie--can you help Aunt Kathleen out with some gift ideas? Maybe give me two or three, this way you will be surprised" Her comment was "I don't know why you bother calling. Just send me money" I was floored. DD was as well. There was a pause as that I didnt know what to say and I thought maybe her mom or my brother would be correcting her mighty fast. That didn't happen so she said "OK bye have to go" And hung up. Plain and simple my DD said "Mom you would never tolerate that from us." I kinda was still recovering from the shock of it all then smiled and said "NO you know what Sammy. I didn't raise you that way. You WOULD NEVER talk to an adult like that!"
So it's not just cell phones--- this was terrible. MY DH was angry and said just send her money.
 
>I just have to add a little something that happened to me
>last night.
>
>My neice's birthday is coming up on Sunday. She lives in
>Florida and will be turning 8. It's hard to keep up what her
>likes and dislikes are..so I try to call and see if there is
>anything she has been wanting. Plan is to purchase the gift
>prior to my parents leaving on Wednesday for their trip to
>Florida. My DD(18 yr old) was home when I called my neice. I
>put the phone on speaker so that we both could talk to her.
>When I asked for some gift ideas she acted little silly. We
>could not make out anything she said. I finally said
>"Kenzie--can you help Aunt Kathleen out with some gift ideas?
>Maybe give me two or three, this way you will be surprised"
>Her comment was "I don't know why you bother calling. Just
>send me money" I was floored. DD was as well. There was a
>pause as that I didnt know what to say and I thought maybe her
>mom or my brother would be correcting her mighty fast. That
>didn't happen so she said "OK bye have to go" And hung up.
>Plain and simple my DD said "Mom you would never tolerate that
>from us." I kinda was still recovering from the shock of it
>all then smiled and said "NO you know what Sammy. I didn't
>raise you that way. You WOULD NEVER talk to an adult like
>that!"
>So it's not just cell phones--- this was terrible. MY DH was
>angry and said just send her money.

That's unbelievable! Honestly I would have a hard time sending *anything* after that!!

Sparrow

Even after all this time the earth never says to the sun, "you owe me." Look what happens with a love like that.

It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz
 
Uh, yeah, she wouldn't be getting a single thing from me. Except maybe a Miss Manners book on etiquette. How unbelievably rude!
 
WOW! I have to admit that I haven't stopped thinking about all this for a week now! :) I guess it all comes down to US. THE PARENTS! It's just simply amazing to me, as I've been really paying attention to folks this last week at all kinds of places...baseball games/practice, at restaurants, at my house, etc.

3 situations I found interesting:

Dinner Sunday night. My parents, me and my boys, SO and his DS, my best friend and her family. The ONLY ones to say "Please", "Thank You", "No, Thank You", besides the adults, WERE MY KIDS! Even my MOM said something to remind all the other kiddos to use their manners.

Baseball game last night. 2 teams, 13 kids each, and all the parents. 4 different kids threw their jackets/sweat shirts to their parents without a single word to them. 2 kids asked their parents "where is my DRINK?". And then 2 other kids came up to their mom and said, "could you please hold my sweatshirt? Thanks".....MY KIDS!

My house, last week, during the afternoon. I had 8 boys playing at my house plus my 2 boys. Bathroom light always left on, toilet not flushed. House door left wide open. Empty food plates and cups left on the table and in the yard. Kids just randomly and without permission raiding my pantry and fridge! I'm amazed! Even my older DS asks if he can have a glass of WATER!

ANYWAY.....just interesting how some parents TOLERATE some of this behavior. (and I don't mean to come off as tooting my own parenting horn, either).

IT STARTS WITH US!

Gayle
 
Beavs, that IS the perfect gift.

Janie

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The idea is to die young as late as possible.
 
I do not think a 6 yo needs a cell phone. With kids getting everything they want without having to work for it or until they can pay for it is a sad state of our country. No wonder why many Americans have credit cards that are maxed out. Buying things that you can afford or have saved for teaches many important life lessons. Unfortunately, as earlier posted, the American way is to keep up with the Joneses.
 
I am with you .. and I dont even have kids!! a SIX year old and a cell phone ... that is ridiculous. I can't imagine my nephew having a cell phone ... well I won't have to b/c his parents WON'T get him one ... poor thing probably won't get one until he gets a job and buys it himself!

But yeah .. his friend's have all kind of expensive games .. and stuff that is WAAAAAAY ahead of what they should be doing. I have a coworker that lets her SIX year old play ADULT rated games on Playstation2 .. ridiculous!!! That is what is wrong w/a lot of kids nowaday!! GEEZE....

My dad always said if you want something .. you better dang well get out and get a job and pay for it yourself!!!
 
<I'm seriously thinking of just sending a card with no $$$$.>

That's exactly what you should do. What appalling behavior. Don't reinforce it.

Maggie:)
 
Isn't it amazing how few kids have manners??? Oh, one of my HUGE pet peeves!!! My kids know that they won't even get a glass of water without asking politely!! I notice it w/ my kids friends also, they know when they're at my house they'd better use their manners. ;-)
 
We let my 13 year old use one of our cell phones if he goes to a wrestling meet or some such and we need to keep in touch for some reason. We see no need for him to have his own at this point. I also let him use my little mp3 gadget, but he wants an ipod, so guess what? He gets to save up for it and earn it himself!

We pay for tae kwon do year round, wrestling year round, and scouting. We spend tons of money on good books and museum memberships, but we do not buy the kids the latest of everything fashionable and/or electronic, etc.

And I relate to what Cheryl said about college. Expecting our 7th child, we always get the college question. Our kids will be expected to get scholarships, work, do military service or all three if they want to go. We can help them a little bit, but they will bear the lion's share of the responsibility. And I believe that they will rise to the occasion.

Maggie:)
 
Kath,
I'd send her a $5 bill. (And that would be VERY generous) Maybe a $1 and tell her to buy her something really nice at the Dollar Store! I can't get over that.

I'm really bad to spoil my boys. I seem to buy a Hotwheels car every time I go to Target, and I'm like Shelley, I love buying them books. But they have piggy banks and they also know that if it's something big, they should wait and ask Santa for it.

I can't get over people I know who talk all the time about how tight money is and their kids have X-Boxes and 1,000 games to go with it. Yes, my kids often get a treat at the dollar store or the dollar bins at Target, but these electronics (ie ipods, cell phones, video games, etc.) are ridiculous. IMO (Though, I totally understand Shelley's situation, and I'd do the same thing, as far as a cell phone goes.)
 
>And I relate to what Cheryl said about college. Expecting our
>7th child, we always get the college question. Our kids will
>be expected to get scholarships, work, do military service or
>all three if they want to go. We can help them a little bit,
>but they will bear the lion's share of the responsibility.
>And I believe that they will rise to the occasion.

As much as I respect you all and value your opinions, I have to say that my view on college is much different. In this day and age where a college education is so important and vital to success I feel that it is the parent's duty to support their children through that venture as much as they possibly can--and to even scrimp and save to be able to afford it. Teenagers are not able to work full time and establish credit to put themselves through college. Scholarships, loans, and grants are great tools but I don't think that they should be the main source of funds for a student's college education. I also have strong feelings regarding the military and college perks. I feel that they strongly influence and alter a young person's mind; convincing them to go into the military just so they can afford a college education. Many of those who serve our country in the military are low income twenty-somethings who end up giving their lives because they were promised a college education in return.
The last thing I want to do is start a huge argument, but I just wanted to express my feelings and thoughts. :)

Allison

http://www.picturetrail.com/allisonj90
 
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