AJ, Phone Home

I never thought any of my kids would get a cell phone before they were teenagers, but she worked so darn hard for it!

"Never" should not be in the parent's vocabulary, I guess.

Especially when your eldest comes to you with an invitation to attend a presentation at the end of the week. 

A few weeks ago, Ally started researching Trac Phones (and other pay-as-you-go phones) on the internet.  She left a written invitation to her meeting on each of our pillows, and last Thursday we walked down to the basement to find a presentation board, card table set up with a folder, note pad, pen, place card, and ice water for each of us.   Oh, and I can't forget the fresh cut flowers in a vase!  This kid knows how to give a good impression.

 Ally had narrowed her choices down to three kinds of telephones, and she had hand-outs prepared with such topics as "Which phone do you believe is the best?", "Discuss Pro's and Con's with your husband/wife", and "If Ally received a phone, what days of the week should she NOT use it?"  Mark was feverishly writing down questions for Ally as she presented her reasons for wanting/needing a cell phone at this time (primarily because she is in a lot of after-school activities which require her to call home for a ride).  I wrote down a few questions, and after her proposal we all talked about the options. 

Going into the meeting, Mark and I were both against our soon-to-be-teenager getting a cell phone at this time.  Even though she planned to pay for it herself, we did not think it was necessary for her to have a telephone.  After sharing many valid reasons for having a phone, we tabled the discussion for a few days. We didn't want Ally to be "rooked" (paying to keep a trac phone service plan going, even if she didn't use up all the minutes on her card).   After taking her to Radio Shack and discovering that simply adding a cellular phone onto our family plan wouldn't cost us anything (including a free phone) if we lowered our monthly time by 100 minutes, we decided that Ally had earned the right to have a cell phone. 

Ally paid the $30 activation fee and will give us $5 a month to use her cell phone.  We don't have a texting feature, and we have put a "curfew" on her use of the phone.  We also told the other kids not to expect a cell phone by age 13!  We still think that driving age (16) is a better time to start having a phone, but with all of the extra activities (including confirmation class starting up this fall in a neighboring town), we knew it was going to come in very handy for her to be able to communicate with us.  We told her little brother and sisters that Ally showed a lot of iniative, did her homework, and is working to pay for this privilege.  She's growing up so quickly!!

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?--Luke 14:28