11 to young for cell phone?

[wlf]

my daughter lives 2 states away from me.i don't get to see her as often as i like but i keep in touch with her often and visit as often as i can.her mom and stepdad chose to have the house phone turned off over a year ago and my way of calling to talk to my daughter has  always been  by  calling her mom's cell phone. which has never been any problem. her mom asked me to buy my daughter a cell phone so we could keep in touch through her own phone. but my daughter is at the age of chatting with girlfriends and such also. what does everyone think about this?is this reasonable? caring dad

[SLYarnell]

There are cell phones available that will restrict both incoming and out going calls to certain numbers.  This might be the solution you are looking for.  I know we are considering it for my SD who just turned 13.  

[mango]

Get unrestricted minutes. Might be a good idea!

[NeverGiveUp]

I got one each for my 10 YO and 13 YO.  When I gave them the phones I made the restrictions clear to them:

- You can call anyone you want for as long as you want as long as it's on a weekend or after peek time.  (It's free on the plan)
- You have 'this many minutes' of peak time to talk to your friends after school.
- You can call me anytime, anywhere, for as long as you wish.

Then you can monitor their usage online.  See who they're talking to and for how long.  If they surpass their limit, the phone gets turned off.  It's been 6months and I haven't had an overcharge yet.  There's nothing a teenage girls wants LESS than to have her phone taken away :-)