Parenting, Cell Phone | featured news

As teenagers demand independence and eventually move out, they’re not always quick to cut the cord when it comes paying their own cell phone bill. Among 620 parents with 18- to 35-year-old children, more than 40 percent of those surveyed said they still pay for their kids’ cellphone service, and 29 percent were still doing so even if their children no longer lived at home.

With the average tot aged 2-5 now more able to play video games or downloadable apps than ride a bike or tie their shoelaces, and with three-quarters of all middle and high school-aged kids already owning a cellular handset, how young is too young to give a child a cell phone?

"The Smurfs' Village," a game for the iPhone and other Apple gadgets, was released a month ago and quickly became the highest-grossing application in the iTunes store. Yet it's free to download.So where does the money come from? Kelly Rummelhart of Gridley, Calif., has part of the answer. Her 4-year-old son was using her iPad to play the game and racked up $66.88 in charges on her credit card without knowing what he was doing.

If you needed more proof that texting is on the rise, here's a stat for you: the average teenager sends over 3,000 texts per month. That's more than six texts per waking hour.