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You can imagine my surprise when my son, who was barely entering second grade, asked me for his very own cell phone. I’m old enough to remember the birth of the smart phone and like many parents my age, didn’t own a cell phone until my college years. Today, the number of children using technology is astounding, but under the right circumstances, can be beneficial for cognitive and social development.
One of the questions that have been raised in our home is “When is my child ready for a cell phone?” In answering that question, I’ve considered whether or not a cell phone is necessary for keeping in contact with my kids as well as their social and emotional maturity. Issues of safety and responsibility immediately arise. I like the idea of being able to communicate with my kids at all times, but how do I ensure that my son isn’t using his phone to play games or text his friends during school hours? How do I set safe limits to ensure my son does not have access to inappropriate content? How much cell phone time is too much? The answer to these questions and so many more that arose was in Virgin Mobile Custom, a technology that will change the way parents manage and monitor their child’s cell phone usage.
Virgin Mobile Custom offers parents the peace of mind they want when it comes to giving their children a cell phone. Exclusive to Walmart, this no-contract, pre-paid mobile plan allows parents the freedom to customize their children’s usage including their access to content, how much time they spend on their device, and who they are communicating with.
How Does Virgin Mobile Custom Work?
To get started, you’ll need to purchase one of three phones enabled with this technology. We received LG’s Unify smart phone which is the highest priced device available at $129.99 but you can opt for the LG Pulse or ZTE Emblem, both of which are under $100. Select the top-up card in the amount you desire (or use your credit card) and you’re ready to begin setting up your child’s smart phone.
To set up the phone, you’ll be walked through a series of instructions to create a new account. You’ll then choose the number of minutes, number of texts, and amount of data available to your child for that month. You will also need to download the Virgin Mobile Custom App onto your own smart phone so that you can control his/her device. One thing that should be noted is that you need to specifically select the option that does not allow the user of the phone the ability to make plan changes or alter restrictions. This is something that you should do from your own device.
How To Set Parental Controls:
The most innovative feature you’ll appreciate about Virgin Mobile Custom is the ability to control when your child uses his/her smart phone, who your child communicates with, and which apps/content you want your child to engage with. IF I decide to allow my son to take his cell phone to school, he won’t be able to use it during school hours unless he needs to text or get in contact with either one of us. In addition to setting limits on his phone usage during the school day, I also set curfews for both bedtime and mornings, as I don’t want him staying up too late, waking up too early to play games, or using his device when he should be getting ready for school. One of the things I really like about the plans is that they are so flexible, I can increase (or decrease) my son’s usage during the month as often as I desire.
Limitless Mobile Plan Options To Fit Your Lifestyle:
I already hesitate when I have to sign a 2-year contract with my cell phone provider since I am never certain that I won’t find a better plan/rates in the future, so I definitely did not want to enter into a contract for my son’s new cell phone. Virgin Mobile Custom’s no-contract plans begin at just $6.98 per month on Sprint’s Nationwide Network. The plan can be shared across 5 lines (each of which can be added to be controlled by your device) which means if you have more than one child with a cell phone, you can personalize and control usage and content for all of them with one device. My son doesn’t really have many friends with cell phones, so I used the top-up card provided to give him plenty of data (4 GB) and allowed him 250 minutes of talk and 250 texts. I know that he won’t go over the talk time or number of texts, so I’ll monitor his data usage throughout the month to see if I need to make adjustments to the plan.
The Ultimate Personalized Plan:
The age of your child and how he/she uses a smart phone will vary which is why Virgin Mobile Custom introduced a handful of special offers to personalize each of your children’s plan. For example, if your tween spends most of his/her time on Facebook, you can purchase Unlimited Facebook for $5 per month and it won’t count against your monthly allotment of talk, text, or data. There are also plans for international calling, unlimited talk, unlimited text, and unlimited music streaming.
Giving my son a smart phone seemed daunting before Virgin Mobile Custom. It’s easy to monitor his usage and access to content from the safety of our home. To do so away from me is uncharted territory that I just wasn’t prepared to confront at such an early age. Virgin Mobile Custom gives parents the security they need to monitor their child’s cell phone usage while slowly empowering them to be independent and responsible.
If your child is begging you for a smart phone this season, I highly recommend considering Virgin Mobile Custom, available exclusively at Walmart.
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