Price of Popularity

For the record, I'm really against kids having their own cell phones. They don't really need them, but want them. That being said, both Justin and Ty now have their own phones- I lost. Justin's been begging for two years and was in his opinion truly the only kid in the whole eighth grade without his own phone. That didn't change my mind. Grandpa Mike entered the picture, sending the boys his old phones and the rest is history. We put both of them on a plan with 500 texting minutes and told them they have to pay the $10 month for that as well as any minutes they go over. Seemed fair. We reminded them a few times to watch their messages, those overage minutes add up.

The first bill came this week and Justin's not a happy kid. Not only did he go over, he went over by a lot- 946 messages to be exact. He had a total of 1446 messages this month alone. So, his overage bill was $94.60. That's a lot for a 14-year old for one month- a lot of messages and a lot of money! He's taken it pretty well, and has decided he's not too fond of cell phones any more. I'm not sure if he's going to keep track of his messages, or keep his phone off all together. I think he's still deciding. Ty didn't have the same problem- the few friends he texts are on Verizon... so he's not charged. Yes, he's been rubbing it in. More fuel to the sibling rivalry fire that's always going on around here. Not what I need!