Reply #184: I think the dad did the right thing in the end, but the daughter

[davidpdx]

should have to work off the bill in house chores.

Teaching here in Korea, many of the kids have cell phones as young as 10 or 11. The kids go to school during the day and then to hagwon (maybe one or two) after school before going home. My niece is 14 and got a cell phone a year ago. While I don't know what arrangement she has with her parents in terms of the bill, I'd venture to guess she's pretty responsible (if not, she'd hear it from her father, my Korean brother-in-law, who is VERY strict). Now I teach at a university and I don't take phones away often because most of them have built in dictionaries that they use during class (Korean to English) and I monitor them closely to make sure they aren't using the phones for texting.