When Should You Buy Your Child a Smartphone?

In every child’s life there are certain indelible rites of passage. Her first bike. Her first baseball mitt or roller skates or guitar. Her first car.

Yet none of these is more fraught with uncertainty, dread, and potential bankruptcy for you than her first mobile phone. OK, maybe the car; it’s hard to wrap your phone around a tree or get arrested for texting under the influence. But the hazards your kids will be facing on the information superhighway are just as real as those they’ll encounter on the road, if not quite as lethal.

You may also end up spending more for your kid’s data plan than you do on her first car. According to Scratch Wireless, a provider of inexpensive mobiles for teens, parents fork out an average of nearly $10,500 for one child’s phone service between the ages of 12 and 22. In a word, ouch!

A survey by AT&T reveals that the average child receives her first cell phone a smidge past her 12th birthday—and a third of those are smartphones. When should you give your child her first phone? How should you do it? What can you do to minimize the cost and/or pain? Is there any way of getting out of it? The answer to that last question is probably not. Here are the answers to the others.

Training wheels

Nothing says “consumerism gone wild” like the sight of 9-year-olds carrying iPhones. Yet, in the more affluent parts of the country, fourth-graders can be seen carrying digital hand-me-downs from their parents, who reflexively upgrade to the latest Apple or Android handset and think nothing of passing a massively powerful handheld computer to the little squibs.

That’s like putting a Porsche Carrera in the hands of a student driver, says Caroline Jones Knorr, parenting editor for Common Sense Media.

“I think parents often put too much technology in the hands of kids before they’re able to fully understand the consequences of using it,” she says. “And then the kids treat these things as status symbols, instead of tools for communicating with their parents.”

So give younger kids a dumb phone. A simplified feature phone that lets you talk to them and get their location is more than enough for most pre-tweens. Like training wheels on a bike, dumb phones are an excellent way to teach kids how to communicate through technology.

We gave our daughter a Firefly Mobile phone when she was 8. It had two big buttons on it—one dialed Mom, and the other called Dad—plus a third for emergencies. We could control not only whom she called, but also who was allowed to call her. It was cute and colorful, and she lost it within a week.

You can still get a Firefly Mobile Glowphone for $50, then add a pay-as-you-go service plan. A better idea? FiLIP makes a kid-friendly wristwatch that functions as both a location finder and a very basic phone (really). The $200 rubber-coated device is designed for tykes as young as 4. (Look for a review of it coming soon to Modern Family.)

If you do decide to hand your old smartphone to your youngins, be sure to use the phone’s settings to turn off features you don’t want them to access, Knorr suggests. She adds that it’s also a good idea to teach your children how to make a phone call. Because, left literally to their own devices, most kids never would. They need to learn that sometimes the best way to resolve conflicts is to get on the horn and chat about them.

I remember teaching my kids to say hello when the phone rings, goodbye before they hang up, and to leave their numbers when they reach voice mail. I can’t remember my parents ever teaching me these things. It appears to be a lost art.

Smart phones, smarter parents

So what is the right age to get your kids a smartphone?

I’ve asked a lot of people this question lately, and the consensus seems to be middle school. That’s when mobile phones become a necessity—often more for the parents than for the kids. Kids’ schools are farther away, they often have after-school activities, and it’s nice to be able to call or text to say you’ll be late picking them up from soccer practice.

You can get away with a dumb phone here, too, and endure the unending wrath of your teen. (“You’re ruining my life—I hate you!”) Or you can succumb to their smartphone desires and deal with excessive texting, sexting, Snapchatting, cyberbullying, video game addiction, and all the other things that turn parents’ hair gray.

Seattle family therapist Jo Langford says you shouldn’t buy your teen a mobile phone—you should buy her two mobile phones. One is the smartphone she wants, the other is a cheap feature phone. Then you hand her a contract that lays out the rules if she wants to keep the smartphone—like, for example, Mom or Dad must have all the passwords to the device and may check it at any time. (Langford offers detailed sample guidelines on his site.) If she blows it, she gets the dumb phone for a while. That gives her the basic safety features you want, without all the digital goodies she craves.

Or you can get a smartphone with parentalcontrols built in. Kajeet sells a line of smartphones that let you set time limits, filter websites, and block numbers. You can also bring your old hand-me-down Android or iPhone handsets and sign up for Kajeet Wireless service (provided via the Sprint network) for $5 to $50 a month.

This is your phone on crack

Buying the phone is only half the battle. Now you need to keep your kids from bankrupting you with overage charges. Nobody wants to drop 10 large just so the kids can watch YouTube on their phones all night long.

A prepaid calling card may be cheaper over the long haul than adding your text-crazed teens to your family plan. When they run out of minutes, SMS messages, or data, they’re done—end of story. Or you can opt for a smartphone from Scratch Wireless or Republic Wireless, which use available WiFi connections to place calls for free. If you’re not near a hotspot, then you can purchase minutes from a traditional cell carrier.

You also need to protect your investment in modern communications before your progeny lose it, sit on it, or drop it in the toilet.  

Hey, no one ever said having kids was cheap or easy. That goes double for managing their digital lives. Think of it as your own rite of passage. 

By Dan Tynan

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Miss. Man, Declared Dead, Wakes Up in Body Bag at Funeral Home

A Mississippi man woke up in a body bag as funeral home workers prepared to embalm him, ABC affiliate WAPT reported.

Walter Williams, 78, of Lexington, Miss., appeared to have died at his home Wednesday night. The coroner came to the house and pronounced him dead at 9 p.m.

"I stood there and watched them put him in a body bag and zipped it up," Williams' nephew, Eddie Hester, told WAPT.

Williams was taken to Porter and Sons Funeral Home. They were getting ready to embalm him, and that's when he started kicking inside the body bag.

"He was not dead, long story short," funeral home manager Byron Porter told WAPT. He said this was the first time he'd ever seen anything like it.

"My cousin called me and said, 'Not yet,' and I said, 'What you mean not yet?' He said, 'Daddy still here,'" Hester said.

Williams was rushed to a nearby hospital. Holmes County coroner Dexter Howard said it's possible that Williams' pacemaker shut down and then started up again.

"It was a miraculous moment," said Howard, who is an elected official and not a medical doctor. "Never in my life have I seen anything like it."

Howard, who has held the post of chief coroner since 2002 and was deputy coroner before that, said he visited Williams in the hospital Thursday night.

"His daughters were there and he was talking a little, but he's still weak," he said.

Williams' family members say they're happy he's alive.

"I don't know how long he's going to be here, but I know he's back right now," Hester told WAPT. "That's all that matters."

By Katie Moisse

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Inside The White House (Movie Theater)

 President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wear 3-D glasses while watching Super Bowl 43, Arizona Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, at a Super Bowl Party in the family theater of the White House. Guests included family, friends, staff members and bipartisan members of Congress, 2/1/09. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

First Lady Michelle Obama greets White House associates in the White House theater. The associates watched Slumdog Millionaire as appreciation for their donated time and help.(Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton) 

 President Barack Obama hosts a screening for a documentary on the National Parks directed by Ken Burns and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan in the Family Theater at the White House, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

 President Barack Obama delivers remarks before a screening of "The Pacific" in the Family Theater of the White House, March 11, 2010. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the two executive producers of "The Pacific", sit in the front row. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

 President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet Tuskeegee Airmen in the East Garden Room of the White House prior to a screening of the film, 'Red Tails' in the Family Theater, Jan. 13, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

 May 25, 2012 "The President was welcoming service members and their families to a screening of 'Men in Black 3' in the White House Family Theater. The movie was being presented in 3D, so the President jokingly asked them to try on their 3D glasses while he was speaking to them." (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

 President Barack Obama delivers remarks prior to a screening of "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" in the White House Family Theater, Nov. 7, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama talks with Rachel Robinson before the '42' movie screening with Robinson family members, cast, and crew in the Family Theater at the White House, April 2, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Portrait from Separate Pieces

San Francisco based artist Jason Mecier created this portrait of Steve Jobs made out of 20lbs of E-Waste..

His upcycled artwork took over 40 hours to make and is comprised of assorted broken Macintosh keyboards, one I-Pod, one I-Book, headphones, floppy discs, mice, batteries, memory sticks, broken circuit boards and other Apple products.

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No One is Born Racist

No one is born racist, racism is a learned behavior, think about it, if you raised on treating everyone the same and never look or focus at the a person's skin, you will see all the people in the world equal, the picture of the black man and the white baby becoming a friends caught my eyes and hold my attention, as I was affected why originally we was born clean and kind from inside through the inspiration that God grant it to us, and then the human nature came to change this innocent nature from good to bad.

the white baby's mother look like if she cant stand the black man that is seating in front of her, that's why she turned herself to avoid looking and facing the man. 

as you can also observe the harmony between the black baby and the white baby, they are very happy for the new friendship that they made, they look very cute, clean and pure. 

Therefore no one ever is born Racist, it's a despicable and completely taught phenomenon.

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Doctors in Sweden successfully transplant wombs

The experimental surgery may allow infertile women to become pregnant but is not without critics

Nine women in Sweden have successfully received transplanted uteruses donated from relatives in an experimental procedure that has raised some ethical concerns. The women will soon try to become pregnant with their new wombs, Dr. Mats Brannstrom, the leader of the pioneering project, has revealed.

The women were born without a uterus or had it removed because of cervical cancer. Most are in their 30s and are part of the first major experiment to test whether it's possible to transplant uteruses into women so that they can give birth.

In many European countries, including Sweden, using a pregnancy surrogate isn't allowed.

Lifesaving transplants of organs such as hearts, livers and kidneys have been done for decades, and doctors are increasingly transplanting hands, faces and other body parts to improve patients' quality of life. Uterus transplants — the first ones are intended to be temporary, just to allow childbearing — push that frontier even farther.

There have been two other attempts to transplant uteruses — in Turkey and Saudi Arabia — but both failed to produce babies. Scientists in Britain, Hungary and elsewhere are planning similar operations, but the efforts in Sweden are the most advanced.

"This is a new kind of surgery," Brannstrom told The Associated Press in an interview from Goteborg. "We have no textbook to look at."

He said the nine uterus recipients are doing well. Many already had their periods six weeks after the transplants — an early sign that the wombs are healthy and functioning. One woman had an infection in her new uterus, and others had some minor rejection episodes, but none of the recipients or donors needed intensive care after the surgeries, he said. All left the hospital within days.

The operations did not connect the uteruses to the fallopian tubes, so the women are unable to become pregnant naturally. But all who received a womb have their own ovaries. Before the transplants, the women had some eggs removed and fertilized in vitro. The embryos were then frozen, and doctors plan to transfer them into the new uteruses, allowing the women to carry their biological children.

The transplants have ignited hope among women unable to have children because they lost their uterus to cancer or were born without one. About 1 in 4,500 women is born with a syndrome, known as MRKH, in which she doesn't have a uterus.

Fertility experts have hailed the project as significant but stress it's unknown whether the transplants will result in healthy babies.

Ethical concerns

Some experts have raised concerns about whether it's ethical to use living donors for an experimental procedure that doesn't save lives.

In Britain, doctors planning to perform uterus transplants will use wombs only from dying or dead people, as the transplant team in Turkey did last year. The Turkish doctors announced their patient got pregnant but miscarried after two months.

Dr. Richard Smith, head of the U.K. charity Womb Transplant UK, which is trying to raise $823,000 to carry out five operations in Britain, said Brannstrom "has done something amazing, and we understand completely why he has taken this route, but we are wary of that approach." 

He said removing a uterus for donation is like a radical hysterectomy but requires taking a bigger chunk of the surrounding blood vessels to ensure adequate blood flow, raising the risk of complications for the donor. Smith said British officials don't consider it ethical to let donors take such chances for an operation that isn't lifesaving.

But John Harris, a bioethics expert at the University of Manchester, didn't see a problem with that, as long as donors are fully informed. He said donating a kidney isn't necessarily lifesaving yet is widely promoted.

"Dialysis is available, but we have come to accept and to even encourage people to take risks to donate a kidney," he said.

Smith said the biggest question is how any pregnancies will proceed.

"The principal concern for me is if the baby will get enough nourishment from the placenta and if the blood flow is good enough," he said.

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