When is your child old enough to get a cell phone? This is something I have considered a lot recently. We live in a neighborhood with lots of kids in a small area that doesn’t have much traffic. Because of this my 7-year-old son spends lots of time riding his bike or playing at a friend’s house.

The problem was that he is too shy to ask to use a friends phone to call us when he wants to go to a different house and would ride home to tell us he was going to the house next door to where he was playing rather than calling. To fix this problem, we got him his own cell phone. We had a talk about the rules of a phone mostly not answering it unless the caller ID said mom or dad on it and not letting friends use it. I remember my brother’s first cell phone when he was 17 and the $600 bill that my mother received shortly thereafter. I didn’t want that to happen here.

The plan has worked very well for us and since my son started carrying a phone many of the kids in the neighborhood now have them, not only because they want to have the same things their friends do, but because it is undeniably convenient to be able to reach your kids whenever and wherever they are.

Verizon Wireless has published some information on when your kid might be ready for a cell phone. And they are mostly common sense like can your kid keep up with it and telling them when to answer and when not too. Verizon Wireless also says pre-pay is a good option for first time users and that its INpulse service allows parents to limit the use of the phone. When do you think a kid should get a cell phone?