Even though I never thought we would, we did! We got Cale his own cell phone. Almost 9 years old and he has a cell phone!! I don't like it one bit!!! However, under the circumstances, it was necessary.
I feel like I have been "smothering" (for lack of a better word) Cale since his diagnosis. I have a VERY hard time letting him go out and play with friends. I am always having his friends over here to play. It breaks my heart that he can't just jump on his bike and go off (of course he would have to let me know where he was going!). But, if he did want to go off on his bike, I was always telling him how far he could go and how soon he had to come back to "check in". What kind of childhood is that? I also feel, deep down, that his social skills are not as up there as they could be because of all of this.
Given all of that, we got him a phone. He will still have to tell me where he is going. He will still have to pack juice boxes, glucose tabs, a snack and his meter. But now I can reach him anywhere!! I have programmed all emergency numbers into his phone. There is also a place for emergency information. I programmed his name, address, date of birth and that he has type 1 diabetes (and for those that don't know - I programmed insulin dependent). There are no bells and whistles on this phone - except for a camera, they all come with cameras!!! He isn't allowed to call his friends without permission. He isn't allowed to give out his phone number without permission. He isn't allowed to text - it's not activated. He isn't allowed to take it to school. It is to stay on a little shelf in the kitchen unless he is going out to play or we are going out for the day (just in case). Basically, he can call family and 911. That is all we are letting him do at this point.
He has been having a ball with it over the last day. He keeps calling me from his room - cell to cell, no minutes used!! He took it with to Ryan's hockey lessons last night and would move about 10 feet away and call. He has mastered the ring tones. He has taken more pictures than one can imagine. I am sure the neatness will wear off soon.
While it still kills me to have gotten him a phone, I know have a little bit of relief when it comes to him being just a "normal" kid. The worries are still there, but they have subsided just a tad. And as an added bonus, this phone does come with the "family locater" option. For a few bucks a month, I can GPS the guy. I haven't activated it yet, maybe closer to summer just to ease my mind!!!!
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3 comments:
Can you hear me now?
I'm laughing my butt off about him moving 10 feet away and calling you! That's funny!
Not surprised about the amount of pictures, these kids know their phones better than we know ours! There's a place online that will send ringtones to your phone for free...phonezoo.com, and he can get rings such as the spongebob F.U.N. song and many others. I currently have the survivor ringtone....sooo cool!
You did the right thing getting him a phone. We have more legitimate reasons than other kids I believe. Jessi only uses her phone when she goes to a friends house for a playdate, and sometimes she calls her friends from home. AND...it's a great thing to take away for punishment!
Have a great Easter....you'll probably have better weather than us!!
wow I am astounded at how many of these kids have phones at 6 and so on .
I broke down and got a "kid" phone too primarily to have peace of mind when Caleb is on the school bus or at religion class. It pretty much sits in his backpack and has the battery wear down without use, but I feel good knowing that in the unlikely event that all our other precautions fail, he, or his older brother can reach me without difficulty.
It's nice that in additional to medical technology, we have other technology to help our kids be a little more normal. :)
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