Choices For Age Appropriate Phones And Plans

The NY Times recently had a great piece about phones for kids. With increasing concerns about children online and texting too much, they came up with a few phone solutions that will help parents monitor how much time they spend on the phone along with the times they’re allowed to talk and text. There are three categories, each with recommended phones and software for choosing age appropriate phones.

Toddlers

While you can’t get a toddler a real phone, you can however get them one that is age appropriate and not dangerous. This is why Leapfrog’s Text and Learn device is the best way to get your kid into technology while being in complete control of what they can and can’t do. This “phone” costs $22 and has a qwerty keyboard and LCD screen. Programs for spelling and shape games run for ages 3 to 6-years old. The Text and Learn is 4 inches wide and 6-inches long and comes in a very vibrant rainbow color. Although it can’t really send out texts, it does teach your child the basic functions of a phone. The phone runs on 3 AAA batteries and has two volume levels, loud and louder. This is probably the only concern for adults, the volume level that is safest for their children. When turned on, a talking dog named Scout leads the children through games and activities, allowing the parent’s to relax for a bit.

Elementary School

Finally, a real cellphone but limited in terms of features. After all, it is for kids in elementary school so they won’t be needing 3G service. This is the new LG Rumor from Kajeet. Kajeet allows parental controls so that incoming and outgoing calls are blocked. This service also includes WalletManager, a system that allows parents to add talk time to their kid’s phone and set a limit. It’s almost like a prepaid phone except parents get to choose when their child can make calls and when they can’t. The phone has built in GPS mapping, just in case if a kid were to get lost, parents could find their child.

The phone itself costs $180, with unlimited texting and 150 minutes of talk time costing only $20 a month. The basic plan costs $5 a month for only 10 minutes of talk time a month, making the first option sound more reasonable. Sprint offers a family locater plan similar to this one and allows the parent to locate the child on an online map. For only $5 a month, you can locate up to 4 phones on any Sprint and Nextel network. The service also sends you notifications when your child has reached home or school safely.

Pre-teens

Parents who are worried about their kids going over the limit of minutes per month can get a texting-only device, such as the Peek Pronto. The Peek Pronto is an email and texting only device with a qwerty keyboard and a color screen. The best solution for text and phone for teenagers is the Sidekick LX, the latest in texting and instant messaging. The LX supports Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as GPS services and 3G cellular support. While parents may be willing to get these phones for their children, they should keep a close eye on the phone bill because going over on monthly texting limits is very easy to do, especially for a 13-year old who has a lot to say.

Are you ever concerned when making phone purchases for your kids? What are some of the limits you put on the phones and plans?

(Via NY Times)