Jared asked continually from the age of 9 or 10. I said that he didn't need one, and wouldn't be bought one until he had enough money to service the contract himself.
On his first day at secondary school in Grantham (a 45 minute bus ride away) he couldn't find the bus stop, got so panicked that he lost his return ticket and took so long to figure out that he was in a hopeless situation needing adult intervention that he only *just* found a school-employed adult before they all left the site. If he'd left it another couple of minutes I have no idea how he would have contacted me as he didn't have money for a payphone...
We bought him a mobile phone the next day, and it's the best damn £14 I've spent on him.
£10 credit lasts six months, and over the course of the past year he has called to let me know that buses have broken down, drivers have been taken ill and routes cancelled. He has let me know when unscheduled rehearsals have taken place at school, and very usefully - what programme item he was in at Eastercon in a big hotel.
Once they have to travel any distance on their own, the lack of worry is worth the very small price.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-09-16 11:29 am (UTC)On his first day at secondary school in Grantham (a 45 minute bus ride away) he couldn't find the bus stop, got so panicked that he lost his return ticket and took so long to figure out that he was in a hopeless situation needing adult intervention that he only *just* found a school-employed adult before they all left the site. If he'd left it another couple of minutes I have no idea how he would have contacted me as he didn't have money for a payphone...
We bought him a mobile phone the next day, and it's the best damn £14 I've spent on him.
£10 credit lasts six months, and over the course of the past year he has called to let me know that buses have broken down, drivers have been taken ill and routes cancelled. He has let me know when unscheduled rehearsals have taken place at school, and very usefully - what programme item he was in at Eastercon in a big hotel.
Once they have to travel any distance on their own, the lack of worry is worth the very small price.