Just Get Your Kid The iPhone.

Somehow somewhere it became a badge of honor to not get your kid a cell phone. Parents everywhere are lying about how much time their kids spend on technology every day. They are all shouting from the rooftops that they aren’t getting a phone until their kids are old enough to pay for it themselves or learn to appreciate what they have and blah blah blah… 

I am here to tell you that all that y’all is just straight up malarkey. You aren’t doing your kid any favors by not getting them an iPhone, and honestly you aren’t doing yourself any favors either! 

There’s a ton of reasons why the iPhone is the phone to get your middle schooler, or even *gasp* elementary schooler. 

Why should I get my kid an iPhone? 

iMessage. 

First there’s read receipts. When your kid gets a text from you, or you get one from them, you can turn on read receipts. They may not always be able to respond right away, but if the phone shows you what time they read the message, then you at least know they got it. It’s all about the peace of mind. 

And speaking of peace of mind, another great thing is the location tracker.

My daughter knows I’m tracking her location, and sometimes she tracks mine too. Neither of us is going anywhere or doing anything that we’d need to hide, so this works amazingly. 

If I’m running a little late to pick her up, or if she’s waiting on me to get somewhere for whatever reason, she can just track my phone and know exactly when I’m going to be there. 

And if she’s off with her friends I can check on her location without having to annoy her and ask a hundred times. It’s a win/win. 

FaceTime.

Some would argue that Skype and other video chats can be used, but not as easily as FaceTime. The thing with kids is, they all pretty much use FaceTime exclusively, and hardly ever actually dial a phone number. 

So it’s natural for you to video chat them. And then you have video confirmation they’re doing and saying exactly what they’re supposed to. 

Convenience and apps.

All the cool apps and such are on the iPhone. If you want your kid to have access to all the tech their teachers are using at school, then an iPhone makes the most sense because that’s the standard and most instructions are set up for iPhone anyway. 

And finally, cool factor.

You want their phone to be something they keep up with. The best way to do that is to make it an accessory they don’t want to put down. 

If you’re worried about damage, just pick up an otter box. They make your phone pretty much indestructible. Seriously, I once ran over my phone with a car and the otter box saved it. 

So, get off the fence, and just do it. Don’t cave to the peer pressure of NOT doing it. Just do what you WANT to do.