What is the best phone for a 12 year old girl?

Answer 1

Contrary to common opinion, children do not need cell phones. Such is an extravagance that does nothing to teach them responsibility or value. Consider that a child of twelve years old should never be anywhere that a telephone is not available.

However, if some situation should exist where a child should need a cell phone, one similar to the LG VX1000 Migo appears to be an excellent choice. It has no texting capability. It cannot access the internet. It stores no games. It can make calls to exactly five numbers, four pre-programmed and an emergency (911) call.

Be the parent and think about what your child needs, not what she wants. Consider also what is safe for your child. Your child will not know, you have to.

Some hints:

1. Know the features of the phone. Many newer phones come with parental controls where you can set permissible call times and minutes usage. If you know the phone, you will know what your child is doing on it. This is not a privacy matter. Your child is a minor and has no right to privacy; she may only have earned the privilege of trust.
2. Talk to your child and explain the dangers. Explain why you choose to permit or disallow certain usages of the phone.
3. Don't let your child take a cell phone to school. There are phones there if she needs one, and the issues that can rise are far too many to deal with: from bullying to cheating. Avoid them by leaving the phone at home.
4. Watch the minutes used. Most cell plans, especially family packages allow you to track the minutes used on every phone on the package. Keep tabs on what calls and texts are going and coming. Keep in mind that excessive texting can be a sign of serious issues such as bullying or sexting.
5. Invest in cellware monitoring software. There are several available that allow you to watch incoming and outgoing calls, copy texts to your email, and allow you to monitor everything the comes in or goes out of your child's phone.

The point here is that the type of phone you purchase for your child, if you choose to do so, is not as important as how you allow that phone to be used.

A kids perspective

It really depends on the girl. If she likes to text a lot, she should get one with a full qwerty key board. She isn't old enough to need a blackberry. An iphone would be good, because she can put games on, but if you're looking for a cheaper phone, then the Samsung galaxy is good. It has a full qwerty key board, and is inexpensive. It isn't too new, however it comes in nice colours.