I was recently reminded of a peeve I have: kids with cell phones. I do not mean 15, 16, and 17 year old children, I mean those 14 and under. Why do they need a cell phone? Who do they talk to and what do they talk about?

As a parent myself, I just do not find a reason that giving my son a cell phone at his age is necessary. It is an extra bill to pay, and the phone, even if I went with a cheap charlie cell phone, I know my kid would lose it or damage it. How do I know? He already did it to my own. It was okay though and no harm done. It is just a phone.

Some of the phone services out there are trying to promote kid safe cell phones with GPS tracking. I understand the concept, but as much as it is safe for my kid, it is not safe for my wallet. Is it really necessary to give a child a phone?

I grew up fine without a cell phone. In fact, I did not have my first cell phone until I was 26! When I was in high school, beepers were all the rage. And those were also not allowed in school. By my senior year, cell phones were included on the banned list (I graduated in 1999.) I just do not see a point. There are so many other necessities and it is just another distraction. I keep hearing how someone’s daughter or son drive up the phone bill, or someone cannot pay the bill.

They are really only necessary for those who choose not to have a land line telephone at home, or people on the go. If children are given phones, then that makes me wonder who is watching them? The phone cannot.

What are your thoughts?

Disclosure policies are something that bloggers are creating on their own, or using websites like DisclosurePolicy.org for several purposes:

1. Inform readers that you may or may not accept pay to review posts.
2. Upkeep the integrity of the blogger who stands behind certain products whether or not they are paid to write about them.
3. What kind of content you will share with your readers.

For mommy bloggers (and daddy bloggers out there), this is really important. Many write about products they use and recommend in everyday life. Some may accept pay while others do not. Some blog and their post may conflict with their own opinion.

Site disclosures are for everyone. Whether you generate one, or write up your own, you are assuring your readers on what you will be sharing with them. Of course, the DisclosurePolicy.org is free to use if you choose to use the generated form to piece together your own policy. This is important when you want to gain the trust of your readers and eventually influence them. As a mommy blogger (or for some, a daddy blogger), it is important to disclose whether you are writing on a product that you were paid for and an endorse. For those blogs with a lot of influence, it could be damaging if the product does not live up to how it was written.

I usually recommended for blogs like these to choose only products that work and you can proudly back up before posting. Otherwise, it would be best to not allow paid to blog posts and to stick purely with banner or text advertising to be safe. This will prevent conflicts within blogs (those readers who might leave negative comments) and losing readership.

This can also apply to other sites, so in case you have more than one blog, you can create a disclosure policy for each one. Do you use a disclaimer or site disclosure policy?