I Need/want/demand a cell phone..

This is about the debate about the degree of necessity of getting a mobile phone for our boy . His demand for one had started quite early, as a matter-of-fact. Many of his friends already had one from their 3rd grade on . This, we gathered from his whining for one .Of course we thought that was nonsense- An elementary school kid needing a phone? Nah ! we said. It would be like spoiling you, we argued with him . But the wailing has gone on .. why can't only I have one ? please please please..nope usually went the immediate reply. In fact he didn't really , necessarily need one, as he was wont to travel back and forth mostly by bus and some of the schools were just walking distance from where we stayed. Mostly, I could see him walk to and from school through the kitchen window of the apartment .A phone sure would only add to the multiple distractions he already has. "So, why do you need one ?" "I want to talk to my friends" he retorts. "That's what the home phone is for ,  pick it up, use it all you want" .No, I need my own,  he  stays stubborn .

We, as parents have been giving a lot of thought to the topic of a phone for him for some time now. He is right on one point . Kids much younger than him do have their own phones,its just the norm and some do tout their mobiles in his face and he does feel embarrassed . But again , to him a cell phone would just be the means to get his favorite games at his fingertips.That was mainly why he yearned for one .The world of games were beckoning him .He was bored in the bus, he said. We have been sourly aware of the fact that maybe, he is already a little too much into video and online games and that much  less time is being used for furthering his efforts at studies. So its a constant fear, that we might be encouraging him to go lax in his studies if we put a mobile phone in his hand. As a result of our discussion we had come to the understanding he would be given a basic phone(no texting, no playing, so utilitarian , I know),when he entered his second year in Middle school.

Yesterday , after soccer, my dear son wants to talk to me privately. He nudges me , asks me to stay back , I am aware something is come up. I fear he is in trouble, he wants me to fall in line with him , but I hurry to start dinner as its already very late. He catches up with me with his very tired, soccer-practised leg and murmers, " Mom, several girls have started asking me my cell number, I felt embarrassed you know, I don't even have a number to give".He had my full attention by then. Now what will his dad have to say in defence to  that particular line of argument, I wonder.For, every time this topic of a phone for him came up, we have been able to convince him with one practical argument or the other, mostly related to his attention getting diverted on the phone, online songs and so on. Girls I know are a total different matter. I remembered how   he had tried to glean the reaction of the young girls who had tried to introduce themselves to my son at a recent temple. I wanted to see how dad reacted to this particular line of argument as I told him . He really had a problem. Your son's number is in demand among the girls now, they have started asking his number I say! So what, just give them my cell number he replies, trying to hide his amusement at this turn of events.(the interest of the young girls in his son that is) With a huff and a puff and total frustration about his lot, my son goes to get a shower before dinner. How dare you say that, I tell him my hubby, it sounded to me like "let the girls talk to me, I am ready to talk with them, than an offer of help".It really sounded like he was goading his son. No, I meant he can talk with all of them when I come home,on my cell, my husband retorts, "Oh ! come on" I say. My dear husband tends to forget  that the world he is now living in is no longer the 20th C. I remind him, now this is a serious matter, he is getting noticed and you better do what needs to be done, get him a phone soon. He is got to text and keep in contact out of school too, in order to form good friendships and relationships . Stay with the times please , I tell him.

Oh, don't worry he will get one soon, my hubby tells me, the soon being when the next model of his choice phone is released that is. I try to console my boy saying your wait won't be long , you are gonna get one by  the next academic year I promise you. He is in need of one I know, we cannot escape that fact for long, I know that too.