But for every parent, they must soon face the reality that a kids phone is not enough. No, in a year or two their child will outgrow any kids phone you get them and start wanting a “real” cell  phone.

That Means They Want a Smartphone of Some Kind

Did you see the news of the survey done on teenagers that said more than a third of them have iPhones? Seriously? I really find those numbers hard to believe and hope it had to do with the areas and schools the survey was conducted.

Nevertheless, one thing is clear: kids continue to grow up fast and their demands/needs/wants keep escalating with no sign of them slowing down.

Right now there are hardly any companies left that make phones just for young kids. There is the leader Kajeet and behind them is Firefly. That is about it.

Moving Away From Kid Phones To Adult Phones

All the other kids phones aren’t really kid phones at all. The major carriers try to sell parents on the idea that their children should have “real” cell phones and most parents seem to be fine with that. The biggest trend is that a large number of parents just give their kids their hand me downs when they upgrade to the latest iPhone etc.

If parents don’t give their kids their cell phones they aren’t using, they might alternatively look for prepaid cell phones. But again, a prepaid phone is not a kids phone.

So, it seems the need for special cell phones made just for children is dying. All those parental controls that parents once demanded are going by the wayside. Parents in 2012 are themselves totally comfortable with using smart phones and many find it hard to live without them. It is understandable then that they are becoming increasingly comfortable with their children, no matter what their age, also having a real adult phone.

I found two very interesting articles that discuss the impact cell phones are having on teenagers. The first from the New York Times, explains how a smart phone is now just as or even more desirable to a teen than a car! The auto industry is actually trying to figure out how to get more teens interested in buying cars and they are including integrating cell phone like features into them to create interest.

It is incredible that teenagers in 2012 see having a smart phone as the new way to show that they are an “adult” and have independence from their parents. The importance of being able to drive and have access to a car is now not nearly as important to them as it has been to all previous generations. In the “old” days, having a car meant freedom and independence while now you can apparently get that for the much smaller price of a smart phone!

The second article is about the high frequency that today’s teenagers text. An astonishing 7 texts per hour (awake time) or a total of over 3.400 per month is apparently what many of them do right now. This number is very disconcerting to any parent who doesn’t want to raise a kid who has his or her head buried in their cell phone all the time.

Predictably girls text more than boys but either way, those numbers are staggering and show why teenagers are increasingly using more and more data on their mobile devices. Parents might also be concerned that texts are silent and they can’t hear or see anything their kids are saying to their friends when they text. When teens had to talk, at least they had to run up to their rooms and close the door if they wanted or needed privacy. Now they can have that privacy anywhere when they text.

Like it or not, this is the way things are and will be going forward. Parents are going to have to figure out what they will or will not allow and know that they will get tremendous push back from their teens. When all their friends seem to have a cell phone / smart phone, it is hard to tell your kids that they cannot have one too.

Your kids can get around all texting charges if they start using a free download app by the name of WhatsApp Messenger. Anyone who has an iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or Nokia phone can use this app and you wont be charged any SMS charges because it uses your Internet data plan that you use for emailing.

The only real problem you might have getting your teenager to switch is that all their friends also need to start using WhatsApp as well. As long as your teen uses the app to text their friends who are also using the app, no texting charges will be incurred.

More and more phones for kids are of the smartphone variety and if your teen has one you might be very interested in lowering their texting charges. Getting them to start using WhatsApp to save money each month is a good way to do it.

With the bad reviews, lack of information online, and being made by a company (SPV?) I have never heard of, this phone is one I would buy with caution. Yes, it does have the 4 programmable keys which parents of young kids like but there seems to be a lot of risk (per the user reviews) of whether you can get it to work.

To get a better selection of phones for young children and teens, please go to my best cell phones for kids page.

A new BMJ study from Denmark was just released a few days ago where they studied all of the people in that country that have cell phone contracts. What did they find? So far there is no evidence that cell phone usage is tied to increased brain tumors or cancer risks.

But even though that study is the largest ever conducted, you can find varying opinions everywhere all over the Internet. For instance, the World Health Organization is unlikely going to change their view that the electromagnetic fields created by cell phones might be a disaster just waiting to happen. Likewise, this reporter is not convinced cell phones are safe for anyone and especially not children. She is especially concerned about the varying absorption rates of these mobile phones signals and notes that there is just too much that we don’t know at this time to be calling them safe. And MobileWise just plain believes that cell phones are not safe for kids because they are more vulnerable.

Of great concern to parents is the belief that children’s brains are developing and can be harmed more than an adult brain that is fully formed. This is one of the main reasons many parents don’t want to buy phones for kids when their children come begging for them. At least parents can delay the inevitable for awhile by not allowing their kids to have them at real young ages and someday, after more time has gone by for research purposes, we might have an answer that is more believable.

I think the bottom line is that no matter how many studies there are out there at the moment in 2011, the real truth about the cell phone – cancer debate may not be known for another 20 or more years. It is great that many studies look good so far but cell phones have really permeated our everyday life so much now that they are always in our hands or in a pocket and it is just too early to tell if they can cause damage.

The government has a website called OnGuard Online that is there to help you understand the pitfalls that are out there. They have all sorts of topics including sections on kid’s privacy, phishing scams, spyware, social networking sites, malware, and many others. It’s a great site that will help parents learn about all the things their children will soon want to get involved with, technology wise. It will help you help them avoid all the scams and dangers.

I thought this link to mobile apps could be beneficial to parents who want to learn more about what apps are as that is all everyone is talking about now. As your kids get older (and that happens fast!) they will start asking about and wanting to sign up for social networking sites as well as wanting to start downloading apps.

More and more of the phones for kids that go on the market are having all these Internet related features built in. Pretty soon it is going to be hard to find phones that don’t have these features and of course your kids are always going to want them. So, the more you learn about this technology, the better prepared you will be when dealing with your own children when they come begging for smart phones.

Whether you are looking for a good phone for a child under 10 who has never had one or whether you need one for a teenager, they have a good variety of phones that all ages will like. You get a variety of plans to choose from and all of them include the parental controls that Kajeet is known for.

Right now there are a handful of phones on sale for back to school so now is a great time to buy. Please watch the short video below from Fox 4 Missouri where Kajeet is mentioned as the place to get great phones for kids. (see first 1:30 of the video)

The thing about kids of any age (and some adults too) is that they think they are indestructible. You probably know its true because chances are that you thought the same way when you were young. I know I did. Kids, teenagers, and young adults under 25 or 30 just don’t think anything will ever go wrong and that is when accidents can happen very quickly.

If you are looking for your kids first cell phone this warning video might not apply to you right now. However, you should always keep this in the back of your head because it won’t be long before they will want a phone that lets them text and not long after that they will be driving. Kids grow up so fast that you have to teach them the right and wrong ways of doing things very early on.

Ok, no more lecturing from me! I just saw this video and thought that it applies to all of us and especially to those of us with kids asking for cell phones.

(warning: a four letter word is repeated a couple of times in this video mainly out of astonishment)

I rode the bus home from work the other day and two teenage girls got in and sat in the seats in front of me. I’d say they were about 15 or 16 years old, somewhere in that range anyway. They started talking and then had to stop as one of their cell phones made that noise that phones make when a text comes in. The one girl quickly read the text and then you could tell her fingers were really going at it as she responded. She then pushed the final button, collapsed the phone, and stuck it back in her pocket.

The two girls started talking again and about a minute later you could hear that text chime that told her another message was just received. Pulling the phone out of her pocket, she proceeded to read it and respond just like the first time. Putting the phone back, they then started talking again.

This went on for about 5 more times and during about the fourth one, the other girl’s cell phone went off! Just like the first girl, the second girl started doing the same thing: reading messages, responding, putting away her phone, pulling it out again, and responding over and over.

The two girls didn’t have any time to talk to each other any more!

This very clearly showed me that this is the way teens communicate with each other in 2011 and beyond. Especially once you get to high school, if you want to have lots of friends and be part of most any group, you have to be social and to be social you need a cell phone that is easy to text with. You also need a phone plan that allows unlimited texts!

Kids have always had to deal with peer pressure in one form or another but today’s youth has it very different than kids did when I was growing up. We wanted the trendy clothes, the latest hair styles, and other simple things that we thought we needed to fit in and make friends. Teenagers today need all that AND they have to be part of the technological social revolution that is happening all around us.

In order to hang with the cool kids in 2011, you need a cell phone that can keep you in the loop. And for many of those teens, that means convincing their parents that they absolutely “need” them.

Having travelled to Japan where cell phone etiquette is a priority, I am wondering how many parents in America are teaching their young children when and how they they should be using their phones? It seems many adults over here have no idea themselves about any sort of phone etiquette as you hear people all the time yakking away in public. Being polite and courteous to others seems to be something that you see less and less of these days.

Young children who get cell phones for kids need to be taught early when it is appropriate to use them and that there are certain places that their phone should be put on vibrate or turned off. Is this something you as a parent will take the time to teach them or will you assume they will learn it on their own?