I was completely against my children having phones at a young age. It just seemed too risky. With all the online safety concerns, I wanted to shelter them from potential mistakes. When my husband deployed and I was the solo parent for all four kids, life presented challenges that I could not have predicted. Suddenly I was faced with having to get a phone for my oldest so he would be safe at home when I was out.
We had not had a landline phone in years. My husband and I were doing fine with our cell phones. So one more phone seemed unnecessary. But, it got tricky when my oldest son was old enough to stay home while I drove the younger kids to their practices and activities. He had more schoolwork to complete, so staying home gave him quiet time to work. But, not having a phone at home was an issue.
I had no way to reach him if I was delayed or had an emergency. He had no way to call me if something happened and he needed help. It was a bad situation.
Parenting alone, I had to decide whether to get my son a phone or risk a situation where we could not stay in communication. I made the choice to get him a phone so he could have a way to reach me, and I could call him to relay messages while I was out. The rules were that he could use it when he was out in the neighborhood with friends so we could reach him when needed. He respected our boundaries, and we stayed on top of looking through his phone randomly to keep him accountable.
My oldest daughter needed a phone for a completely different reason. It involved safety, but for the safety of small kids she was babysitting. After her first babysitting experience we realized that most homes did not have a home phone for her to use in case of emergency. To start, I lent her my phone so she had something. But, that caused me to not have my phone when I needed it when she was babysitting for longer stretches of time.
My husband and I decided to pass her our son’s phone because he saved up his money to upgrade to a newer phone. The phone was only to be used when she was babysitting or for us to reach her when she was hanging out in our neighborhood with her friends.
My kids were a bit free range because we lived in a safe, traditional neighborhood with kids out all the time. We would tell one child to gather the others when it was time for dinner. The older two were responsible for gathering the younger two to bring them home. That was part of the deal for them having phones in the first place.
The issues with teens having phones
While teens having phones can be helpful for keeping track of them and staying in contact when we are running errands or shuttling their siblings to events, it can also present major parenting challenges. Some of these are related to safety and some are related to teenage development.
My teen daughter got very engrossed in her phone. This was partly due to the influence of her best friend. The friend had a phone at 10 years old and was allowed to access social media platforms that were not appropriate for children (in my opinion). My daughter was not allowed on social media. She had to follow our rules for use, and I would randomly check her phone to keep tabs on what was being texted and searched. We set up parental controls but even though the platform was supposed to be cutting edge with their parental oversight options, my daughter could still access some sites were did not want her to use.
My teen son was less emotionally connected to his phone. He used it to stay in touch with long distance friends. He was more compliant when it was time for me to read text messages that he and his friends sent to each other.
As a parent, I am always thinking about what they could be viewing. We set limits and block websites to attempt to keep them safe online. I was a kid once. I know I was not perfect or perfectly sheltered from life. Exposures are opportunities to teach and learn. But, as parents, it is also sad when our kids lose that protection that was easier to provide when they were younger.
The fact of life is we live in a digital age. There are benefits of teens having phones. There are also safety issues that we need to stay on top of as parents.
If you find yourself in a situation where you need to get your teen a phone, consider the best phones with parental controls for teens.
This post is sponsored by MMGuardian. All opinions are my own. Please view my disclosure for more info.
Best Parental Control Phones for Teens
MMGuardian phones are among the best phones for ensuring your teens safety and promoting healthy digital habits. The MMGuardian Phones for teens stand out as the best phone for kids, offering comprehensive built-in parental controls That give parents peace of mind, while allowing children to explore and learn in a safe environment.
MMGuardian Phones are customized Samsung phones, designed specifically with kids’ safety in mind. This makes them the best phones for kids in an increasingly digitized world. Parental control phones from MMGuardian offer unparalleled security features. These include advanced GPS tracking, real-time monitoring, and instant alerts for inappropriate content.
Keep your teen safe on their phone with an MMGuardian parental control phone for kids. You will have complete control over setting the rules, from your own phone using the parent phone app.
Benefits of MMGuardian Phones
There is a strong list of benefits to choosing MMGuardian phones for your teens.
The built-in parental control features include detailed message monitoring, app management, web filtering, and Safety Alerts. This ensures that you are always aware of what your child is doing online. You can block websites, set app and screen time limits, and prevent use of unauthorized apps. The fully customizable parental control features of MMGuardian parental control phones help you create a safe and controlled digital environment for your child.
Control features include:
- Comprehensive parental controls to block inappropriate content and monitor messaging. These include AI-powered Safety Alerts about concerning topics such as online predators, inappropriate pictures, school shootings, and more. Best of all, kids cannot get around the controls, even with safe mode or factory resetting.
- Social media monitoring including Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, and more.
- Designed for children of any age, whether it’s their first phone and parents want to really lock it down, or it’s a phone for a teen and the parent wants to be hands-off but rely on MMGuardian’s Safety Alerts to notify them of anything concerning.
- The MMGuardian Phone is unlocked so parents can choose a plan with their preferred carrier, or pick one of the affordable options from our partner US Mobile (SIM included as an option).
- Affordable pricing, especially compared to our competitors- only $9.99/month!
View customer testimonials from parents who have chosen MMGuardian phones for their child. The experiences of other parents is always helpful to finding the right phone for your teenager.
Get an MMGuardian phone and read more about what sets MMGuardian phones apart from other brands.
Boundaries and lessons: Teens and phones
It’s important no matter what new rules you put in place with kids that you have an open conversation about expectations. Our children need to hear from us that we are engaged in helping them learn but also that we are available to teach through mistakes. As we give our teens more freedom, we will be required to monitor them and pull them back if they step over our boundaries. Even when we did not have phones as teenagers, we made errors. Phones are not the reason teens make mistakes these days.
Keep these parenting steps in mind:
- Be clear and patient with your child as they learn.
- It’s okay to take a child’s phone away when it is being misused or they are spending too much time with it.
- It’s okay to enforce the rules and be a strong parent.
- Our children learn self-discipline when we enforce the rules we want them to follow.
Getting your teen a phone is not an easy decision. Being assured that the safety features and parental controls put you in control of the experience is the best way to navigate this new stage with your children. MMGuardian phones empower parents with safeguards for parental control of teen phone use.
Are you navigating phone safety for your teen? What rules do you have in place for your teen’s safe phone use? We can learn from each other.
