Cell Phones

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Any advice on cell phone usage?

My son "has" a new cell phone. It's called the "family's back-up" cell which he has permission to use when need-be. Every time he has possession of it, there's a problem:

1) Lost the cell case
2) Used it to take photos of "friends" without their permission
3) Constant calling (he called me 12 times in 1 hr and 20 min) Excessive??
4) Set a password and forgot it (I had to reset it)
5) Pressing buttons (loves buttons) - without realizing what he's doing (setting alarms, accessing settings, etc)

He's very impulsive and I get how this will (hopefully) settle once the novelty wears off but I'm not sure what I can do in the mean time.

Sorry, I have no solid suggestions, but I enjoyed your post. This all is just kids being kids to me, having to learn responsibility. And possibly an indication that you were right the first time thinking he wasn't ready for a phone ... but knowing there were good reasons you overrode that feeling, I would be patient, pick your battles, and give him a little time to adjust. For me, handling these things lightly (gentle joking) always worked best, although sometimes a back up threat along the lines of "if you can't handle these requests, maybe you aren't ready for the device" is helpful.

Ps - all our family cell phones use the same password, based on a landline we all are familiar with.

We bought DS a belt clip that holds his phone, wallet and keys. We've been working with him to make sure the phone is either charging, in the holster, or in his hands and thus far he hasn't lost his phone. We did finally remove text capability when we found he wasn't able to keep from dashing off angry messages to friends - but our carrier does allow you to restrict texts (so we could have that feature just between us) and we might change it to that.

As far as the other stuff, you might want to downgrade his phone to one that doesn't have a camera or other features - maybe like this one? http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/fir ... 78396.html

Well he realized the crypto (maze-like) password was not a good idea. Particularly since his "buddy" saw the password and when my son tried to change it - he didn't have it long enough (before going away to camp) to memorize it.. and we both forgot to show me the new pass.

I bought him a $25 clip for the cell phone. He claimed he "put it down on the ground while playing basketball" because it was bothering him. However, I can't imagine playing with a cell phone in hand, would not be bothersome either. WHY he put the case down without the phone in it .. is questionable.

This kid has to learn everything the hard way. For example, he now knows NOT TO PUT THE CELL ON THE GROUND because it can get lost or stolen. He also knows not to muck with the password because he'll likely forget.. and finally, (I think) he's learned NOT to give his cell to his buddies because they call whoever they want with it (and no, it's not their mom).

Using a sense of humour is a great idea .. I just need to chill out! I've been a bit hard on him about it because it's constant with this darn thing. I have no "humour" in me but I'll have to dig deep!