Cell Phones

I got my first cell phone after I was 27 years old. Months after I bought my first house, and had a child. Why did I get my phone? I did not not want my wife and newborn to not be able to get ahold of me. Now while my newborn could not make the phone call herself (though I am sure she has wanted a phone that long) you get my meaning. Today, some 10 years later I do not leave the house without my phone, I am addicted. I make calls and text, I don’t have a data plan but I see a future where I will need one, eventually.

Do I need a phone? Sure, I can think of tons of reasons why I need it. Work, family, friends, joke texts, all manner of reasons. Now does my daughter need a phone? Here is where I and a lot of parents out there disagree, if you are one of those parents, fine, your kid, your choice,  I will just have my kid use your phone to call me when she needs too. (thanks btw). No, my child does NOT need a phone.

Why do I feel this way? Well, I just think kids are way too spoiled nowadays (not to mention out of control), and I should know, I was spoiled rotten as a kid (thanks mom & dad). Do I know where my kid is going, yes,  and if she doesnt check in after a designated time, I go after her, I know her friends and I kn0w parents. I have a problem with parents not wanting to parent anymore, drop them off somewhere and let whatever establishment watch them. That is another rant so I will get back to the cell phones.

My kid forgets where her shoes are, she forgets to brush her hair, she forgets what time it is, and she needs a phone? Nah, I don’t think so. Most of her friends have phones, if not all of them, so I am the mean guy, I am the mean dad who doesnt let her text her friend sitting in the chair next to her, I am the mean dad who doesnt let her sneak phone call late at night to say things like. “What are you doing? Nothing. Me either, there is a new Jonas coming on, lets watch it.”

Will she get a phone? Yes, someday, probably sooner than later (12 or 13 perhaps. I didn’t get a land line till I was 15 or 16 and I shared that with my sister), but I will fight tooth an nail. She will thank me later (I often have delusions of granduer). Just as I thanked my dad for making me build character. It is for the best, one day she will probably have a phone built into her ear and she will think back and remember when she never had one.

And if I haven’t in a while. Thanks Dad. I love you.

J