Cell phone parental controls

They're not available yet, but are they something your family could use? Here's what we're talking about:

• Limit the amount of time kids talk on the phone
  
• Designate the times when the phone can be used (e.g.,
  not after 9pm - that's homework time)
  
• Allow communication only with certain phone numbers
  (e.g., Mom, Dad, sibs, your 10 best friends, your grandparents, and emergency
  numbers)
  
• Block certain numbers
  
• "View history" - check what calls a child has made.
  

The technology exists but hasn't yet been picked up by US cell phone companies like Verizon, Nokia, or AT&T. Read one mom's thinking on cell phones for kids and what would simplify the decision in this issue of my newsletter. Getting Lynn's thinking definitely helped clarify my thinking on the subject.