i would rather have my child lick the sidewalk than use a payphone in manhattan.

first of all, they’re difficult to find. then once you find them, you have to make sure it isn’t broken. once you’ve established that it actually works, you then have to have enough money (25 cents doesn’t go very far nowadays – a few minutes on NYC payphones) and if you happen to have the best day ever and all of this goes according to plan, as a parent, you then worry about the diseases your kid can pick up from simply touching the receiver. i’ve seen people pee in public phone stalls (remember, there are no “booths” here), i’ve seen used needles, condoms…the list goes on. NYC is one of the greatest cities in the world – but it’s not the cleanest. it’s also not the safest. i feel lost when i leave my apartment without my cellphone – i think of all of the things that i could need it for… even just for emergency’s sake!

i say good for julianne!! she’s giving her son the chance to be independent, and yet, safe at the same time. and it’s peace of mind for her, i’m sure. in fact, a number of children in nyc have cell phones – it’s just the SAFE thing to do for your child. we tell children to call 911 if they’re ever in an emergency, and yet they’d have better luck finding a police officer on a city block, than a pay phone.

i say, if the technology exists – use it. if i could have had a cell phone as a child, i’m certain that i would have – it would have saved my mother and father plenty of worry at times, i guarantee.

I’m from Finland and here most of the 10-year-olds have their own cell phones and many children get their first cell phone when they are about 6 or 7, basically when they start the first grade,so they can reach their parents and parents can reach them when they need to. I’m 23 but feels like times have changed so much since I was a kid…

sounds like Cal has a firefly you can only put four numbers in it,I’m guessing he has mom,dad,and probably a either babysitter,family friend and a grandparent as one of the other two places.And people are right most places don’t have pay phones and if they do they dont work and they are filthy,my friends five year old had a firefly when she went to kindergarten for emergencies and it had her mom,dad and older brothers number in it so she could only call them and recieve calls from them.

I see nothing wrong with Cal who btw is going to be 11 in december having a cellphone so his mum and dad can reach him after school bc odds are half the pay phone in Mahattan don’t work so he wouldn’t be able to call him and they’d have no way to reach him.I agree there are just to many what if’s with payphone,I never have the right change for one myself before I had a cellphone last year and I haven’t seen a pay phone around my town in ages.if something happens I think cellphones are great for kids and parents alike.

Julianne is a great parent and she isn’t saying Cal is using this to call his friends she said it’s so they can reach him since he is going out and doing more things on his own and they won’t have to worry about him or where he is.

I graduated HS in 2003 and participated in sports. Even back then many of the schools didn’t have pay phones, so if parents wanted to get a hold of their children they had to buy cell phones. My 10 year old brother has a firefly http://WWW.fireflymobile.com. This phone has parental controls where children can oly receive and call certain people

A lot of places don’t have pay phones, and then you have to worry about your kid finding one when they need it, hoping they have change for the call. The elements come into play if you’re using an outdoor pay phone. Lots of pay phones don’t work and are just plain nasty. It’s much easier to have a phone in their pocket, they can call whenever they need to, and in the case of Cal, it seems like he has a firefly (or something like it), so not just anyone can call him, and he can’t call just anyone, the numbers have to be programmed by the parents. I totally see why parents want their kids to have a cell phone (especially celebrities.)

I just think it is insane to give children cell phones. What ever happend to pay phones???

10 year olds with cell phones? Kids can’t have phones at school, and when they are home, why not just call the house phone. Wow, I guess I’m a little old school..at the ripe old age of 31.

Julianne is an awesome awesome actress and Mom. I just LOVE her!