My Kid Has A Cell Phone ... So Shoot Me ...

Back around the time my ex and I stopped living together we decided to get my oldest a cell phone ... it started because she was at a cheerleading practice that ended early, and she tried to call us from the coach's phone, but she had transposed two of the numbers in my cell phone number ... she sat around waiting with the coach for 45 minutes ... now why exactly the coach didn't have the information sheets that we filled out at the beginning of the year, I don't know ... but she didn't ...

So, with that and then the fact that we (parents) both wanted to be able to talk to the kids easily when they were at each others' houses, we decided to get our oldest a cell phone. She has had one go through the washing machine, one she washed because she got paint on it and one was dropped in the toilet ... but .. I've dropped my phone in the toilet and had mine go through the washing machine ... I know plenty of adults that have done that as well ... and since she doesn't do her own laundry (yet) ... was that one really her fault? ... and really knowing the amount of adults I know that have done things with phones that are just crazy .. including throwing them into walls and shattering them when a conversation ended badly ... the fact that in three and a half years the only thing that she has done to a phone that is really more irresponsible than most adults I know have done is wash it because it had paint on it (clearly I never had the "you can't wash your phone" discussion) ... means that she has actually been pretty responsible ...

She texts, which her second grade teacher said actually improved her spelling (you have to know how to spell to use T9) ... and she can text or call when she's at her dad's or vice versa, leaving constant communication open between my kids and both parents.

I ordered her a new phone today, she still has the one that was dropped in the toilet, and it works, but it doesn't work right. The new phone was free ... I had to pay shipping and a small "upgrade" fee, which my ex will pay half of, so for about ten dollars she will have a brand new phone ... but with our custody agreement being every other month, I think it's important to have the communication be a sure thing, not an "if her phone decides to work today" thing ...

Once I have a steady paycheck again I fully plan on getting my second oldest a line of her own as well ... so yes, maybe when we were kids we didn't have cell phones, maybe my kids don't need them ... but they are a convenience that is offered in our society today and one that I think benefits our family and the kids' life of having two homes ...

I am, however, tired of the judgment, tired of the "your nine year-old has a cell phone?" ..."why yes, she does .. and she has had one since she was six, so shoot me ...."