How do you get a cellphone?

Try this: if you ever find yourself in an emergency, you will need a way to contact them. If something comes up that will change a fixed schedule, ya’ll will need to tell ‘em. You might also offer to pay for part of it. Owning a cell phone can also teach you responsibility.

If you’re desperate: a cell phone will help your grades improve. With a cell phone, you can contact other studends when a tricky part of an assignment stumps you.

Don’t say everyone in your class has one. That’s the bandwagon appeal; it never works….with parents that is.

To tell you the true? If I could throw my cell phone I would throw it away. I don’t like to be so “Available” to everyone all the time. I like your parents. One day you will understand they did a very good job in raising you.

The joke is not on you, it is about the people who think cellphone are very important, while people were much more happier in the early days with no cellolar.

Speaking as a parent – what have you done to actually prove you deserve a cellphone? Begging clearly isn’t working, so let me suggest a different approach. Offer to work for it. Do extra chores. Try to find odd jobs in your neighborhood ( make sure your parents know you are doing this, and know where you are and what you are doing.) Do things around the house without be nagged to do so ( this will show you are growing up). Cell phones are not cheap, and the service isn’t either. You need to shoulder some of the financial responsibility for the phone, instead of just expecting your parents to pay for everything.

Ugg I have the same problem! I’m 13 too. There’s no chance I’m getting one until I have a nearly full time job (which will probably not be until I’m 18). Here’s some tips that are pretty much for ever kid for whatever you want:
—No whining! No good parent will give in to it and the more you whine, the longer you’ll have to wait.
—Don’t beg! Same reasons as the “No whining” rule.
—Wait until your parents are in a good mood. Most kids can read their parents pretty well. You can tell if it’s a good time or not.
—Put your info and stuff together in your room (or some other quiet place) before you talk to them. Think about what you want to say and then present your reasoning in a professional, mature way.
—If they say they’ll “think about it”, don’t bug them about it until they say something for sure. They’re more probable to give it to you if you are mature about it.
—If they say no, respect it. If you think it might change something, then do it again in a few months.

Good luck!

@chocolatereigns – I’m impressed. Very good answer!

@Eureka thanks :)

Don’t lie to them, first of all. I can hardly believe that “no one talks to you” because you don’t have a cell phone.

But if you really, really need a cell phone, then look into the options available with a Net10 phone. This is a prepaid phone that you can buy at Radio Shack for as little as $30, and then pay for minutes as you use them (before you use them, actually) at a rate of 10 cents per minute. (Which means that you’d probably have to spend about $10 per month, because you buy minutes in 3-month packages, and even if you haven’t used all your minutes in those 3 months, you need to renew buy purchasing another 3-month package.)

Show them that you can pay for it and that you can use it responsibly. The argument that “everyone else has one” is a non-starter to a parent. Don’t go there.

You NEED a cell phone? Focus on school, not the current trends. In ten years you’ll have a great education, and these bozos will be doing drugs with fifty children.

See if you can talk to them into agreeing on a pre-paid phone,I have seen Trac-fone phones advertised for $10 plus the cost of airtime minutes. I believe some parents make too much of a big deal about cell phones ! I would understand if someone under 16 would request an iphone/Blackberry with unlimited voice/text and data !!

Guess what? i made it through high school without a cellphone and i am glad i did not have one. my mind would have constantly been tuned into texting someone or trying to disguise an incoming phone call. my attention was focused toward my grades and starting a life for myself, not for a cellphone. have you ever thought that maybe your parents cannot afford a cellphone for you?

I owned many cellphones by having a job while going out to the store and purchasing the one of my like. If your parents do not allow you to have one, just convince them that cellphones are important these days for emergencies because if you were to get stuck in a difficult situation were payphones aren’t around, then you would not have a way to communicate with them – unless some good samaritan loans you theirs but it’s not always that easy.

Talk to your parents, they will understand =)

What the big question is Can you afford it? If the answer is yes and you absolutely need it you should get a Pay as You go phone. Virgin mobile has some good ones. Pay as you go means no contract so you pay for what you use. Bring it up with your parents. If they say no, get it anyways. Since there’s no contract it should be reasonably easy to hide.

@john65pennington, didn’t it irk you when your parents used that “when I was your age…” excuse as a “reason why or why not”. Really; the adults here understand that argument, but you need to work on a valid reason for today if you want to have any credence in a discussion with a 13-year-old. (Not that that’s so all-fired important, either. I’m just sayin’.)

I don’t see any reason why a 13 year old should need a celphone. Emergencies happen very rarely, and usually there are ample people around with celphones that can be utilized. The only thing I see teenagers do with their celphones is text other teenagers.

For that matter, do your parents know you spend time on social networking sites as well?

@Rarebear, I used to think the same way – emergencies happen very rarely, but it’s understandable that we never know when the unexpected is about to happen, common sense =)

I agree with @Bugabear. For some parents, expense may be an issue. We don’t want to invest a modest amount of money into anyhing our children may not use responsibly.

A “pay-as-you-go” or “prepaid” plan will allow you to demonstrate that you will use the cell responsibly. As their confidence builds, perhaps they’ll allow you to graduate to a smart phone or something.