When to give kids cellphone privileges

The decision to give your child their first phone may not always be planned. Mother of three Katie Norton says for her eldest daughter, it felt like a necessity.

"I gave her a cellphone when she was 11, because she started doing cheer so she was gone for a couple hours," Norton said. "It was just a way to keep in touch with her."

Safety is an important consideration. Dr. Stephanie Marcy, a child psychologist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, says a lot of parents often over think this.

"Parents are looking for excuses," Marcy said. "They feel guilty on one hand for being the one kid on the block that doesn't have a smartphone, but on the other hand they feel guilty for caving to pressure."

Eyewitness News viewers told us via Facebook about what they think is an appropriate age. The youngest answer was nine, while the oldest was 15. Most parents agreed on 13.

Marcy says it depends on your child's maturity.

"If they show developmentally that they're behaving maturely, even if they're only nine or ten, then they earn the right with supervision to start to show that they can earn that phone," Marcy said.

For a child's very first phone, Marcy strongly recommends going with the lowest-tech device available, such as phones that only allow calls to and from specific people. That removes any room for abuse.

When a child grows in maturity then their phone privileges can grow with them.

"There are so many plans now that parents can use to really limit what they're child is being able to use on their phone," Marcy said. "There's a lot of ways parents can monitor it by starting low and letting their child earn their way up."

Once kids have their phones, they also need to earn their parents trust.

"She likes to text a lot, so I think she knows because we pay for the phone, I'm able to see it. I'm able to look at the phone whenever I want to," Norton said.

Marcy says if you want to reward a child for getting good grades or other positive behavior, parents can buy a limited amount of texting or online privileges and then no more until their children earn the privilege to have more.