Phone needs for a 10 year old

Susan, personally don't think a 10 yr old needs a phone, its one more thing for him to lose or have stolen from him. I have taken my own kids , by myself and there are more important lessons to teach on what to do if separated then relying on a phone. I also took my 11 yr dd on a RS tour , and I honestly don't recall anyone using phones to keep their kids together ( it was the 14 day family tour so tons of kids from 7-17 on the tour) likely the fact that we were in so many different countries influenced some people to not bother, but I am not sure. Since I have usually travelled independently with my kids ( I have only taken the one tour) I have of course had to do a few things.
First, I always made sure my kids had a card with their name and address and contact number for home on them, plus they always had a hotel card from wherever we were staying. I also did the usual "where to meet' scenario thing. If we entered a big crowded site we would note down something to meet by if lost , a huge statue or something.. "if we get separated meet here". I also had the " if you can't see me , I can't see you, don't move, stay where you are for 10 minutes and let me come to you!" Frankly in all our trips we never got separated.. my husband did once with my 14 yr old son, son got on metro and hubby didn't, but son had already been prepared for that, son got off next stop, where hubby caught up with him. Since your child is only 10 I doubt this would happen, I kept my 11 yr old beside me in crowded places and in busy metro stations I would grab her hand at boarding time. If you go on a RS Family tour your grandson will likely hang out with the other kids a lot, its really cool how our group of kids all melded together .

pat's advice is excellent.

Pat's advice is good, but since you've asked about phones, here are two suggestions. One, get a phone and SIM in the first country. It will likely work everywhere. Because your description suggests the phone is for emergencies only, you won't need much credit on it. Two, get a T-Mobile prepaid phone here that has the correct frequencies to work in Europe. Such prepaid phones are supposed to work overseas now. Per minute cost is high, but so what if only used in an emergency. Whatever route you choose, be sure the contacts list in all phones is programmed to correctly dial the numbers so that they'll work when calling from Europe.

Pat's advice is spot-on. Kids have been living (and going to Europe) perfectly well without cellphones for a long, long time.

Susan, I tend to agree with the others. A 10-year old is likely too young for a phone and even WITH a phone it would still be a good idea to use the methods that pat suggested in terms of a "meeting place" or whatever. I can't imagine any situation where I would have been separated from my children, as I always watched them closely when travelling. As you noted, you will NOT be able to use Walkie-Talkies, unless purchased in Europe. Even so, these are NOT a good idea as the range is affected by distance, buildings and other factors. If you were to be separated from your 10-year old and were out of range, he still wouldn't be able to contact you. NOT a good idea. Happy travels!

Thank you Pat!!! (and those who chimed in) for saying what I was afraid to say. I don't think a 10 year-old needs a phone. Just one thing to add... when I was that age and we were traveling, my parents would always point out who it would be safe to approach in the case of an emergency/separation/whatever. "That's a policeman in this country," etc. And they'd tuck a card in my pocket with the name and address of our hotel (not our room number!) and a contact phone number back home, just in case. I suppose these days, that card could also include your parental cell phone numbers, too!

I second Ken's comments about walkie-talkies. Although the FRS ones in the U.S. are great, you really can't rely on them for coverage. Sometimes they work, but often they don't. I wish I had them as a kid, though, because then they would have been great. As an adult, not so much. By-the-way, I didn't go into detail about my comment about programming the contact list in each phone to work overseas (I filed my earlier comment from my phone and it is hard to type much). Please ask if you don't know. Even if you don't get your grandson a phone, you might want to preprogram you and your husband's phones. Should you have an urgent need to make a call, you don't want to be delayed by trying to figure out the need for an international calling prefix. Here is a message thread that discusses this point (see my last post at the bottom) Calling from the US to a US-based carrier cell phone while in UK: HELP!

Just be sure he has your phone numbers, too - 'dial-able' from a European phone (country codes, etc.). Everybody on the street has a cellphone these days, plus restaurants/bars/hotels, so he could call you that way. If you're worried about losing him on the tour, I wouldn't be concerned. It's hard to lose a fairly slow-moving group of people, even if it's a smaller RS group. Each of these tours has everyone pair off to be each other's 'buddy' to help prevent just this very thing from happening. Also, threaten him to within an inch of his life that he'd better not wander off ;-) What fun! Have a fantastic time with your grandson - what a great opportunity for ALL of you. (Edit: looks like Paul and I were thinking the same thing at the same time!)

Let me also throw in some support for getting a 10-year-old a phone. I would not count on it as the first line of defense; what Pat suggested is much better because as we've all experienced, sometimes technology simply doesn't work. Having a mutually agreed upon place to meet if lost will always work. Nevertheless, in this day and age, the added security, or even the added peace of mind (even if misplaced), might be worth it to Susan when being responsible for her son or daughter's child, especially if the cost isn't that high. Why not if it makes you feel safer and has a good chance of being useful? It's likely the 10-year-old knows how to use the phone better than his grandparents, too. But stress the old-fashioned methods first. Use the phone only if that way fails. (Edit: Eileen, no, I think our ideas were similar, but not identical. Your idea is great. On the grandson's "in case of emergency" sheet, write down how to call the grandparents' cell phones with the necessary calling prefix, etc. You're right. Even if the kid doesn't have a phone, someone nearby will. By-the-way, studies have shown that a child should approach a female of child-bearing age (i.e., a possible mother) for help. It is far more likely to yield a successful result to say, "Will you help me?" rather than asking the public at large, "Will someone help me?")

Paul I taught all my kids if lost ( say in a store) to first see if there is an employee "behind the cash register" to help you( just saying "employee or worker" isn't that helpful when many do not wear uniforms, and how is a child to know if the uniformed person they approach is not just the delivery guy on coffee break etc) , then or instead, a woman who has kids with her ( trust me , having shopped with my kids I would hardly want to add one more to my troupe and would certainly help any little one approaching me to find their own mommy to drive nuts) lol What Eileen said about tour is true, a child would have to be fairly determined to get lost, and they do have the buddy system and your childs buddy will not be either of you, everyones buddy is someone else on tour ,,it sounds weird but it works great.

Thanks to everyone for the great replies. I was probably being overprotective with the phone idea - which I think grandparents tend to be, Based on all of your responses, I am going to totally skip the phone idea. I was already planning on things like setting up meeting places, what to do if we do get separated, etc and appreciate all of the good ideas for keeping him safe. We travel with him a lot in the US and he tends to stay close so I don't know why I was so worried about Europe since my husband and I have been on numerous trips and have no trouble getting around. Again thanks to all for the great help. This is one more 'to do' checked off of my trip preparation list! THANKS

Susan, have a great trip.

Susan have a great trip, if its your first RS tour you are really going to have a good time!

This is our 7th Rick Steves tour but our first one with our grandchild. I am really looking forward to showing him how wonderful European travel is and hopefully ignite a spark for international travel in the future. Thanks again for everyone's help. You are all a great group!

"...I don't know why I was so worried..." We know why - he's your grandson! And your children would be pretty irritated with you if you came home without him ;-) Do reread Pat's first post about her husband and son getting separated on the metro, and about how she would grab her daughter's hand at times...You might prepare your grandson that there will probably be times that you grab HIS hand! He won't fully understand the gift that you're giving him right now...but he will. (I've known some 10-year-old boys - that phone would probably have been 'misplaced' by Day 3...!)

Eileen, doubt that he would have had it on Day 2 - probably would have lost it on the airplane! Glad that's one less thing to worry about.