Why I Love the Idea of a Landline for Kids

The other day I came across a story I can’t stop thinking about.

A mom in Maine didn’t want to hand her 9-year-old a smartphone just yet, so instead she bought her a landline for her 10th birthday. A real, corded, old-school phone. At first her daughter thought it was a toy, but soon she was happily dialing grandparents and friends, twirling the cord around her finger like we all used to. I remember spending hours on the phone talking to my friends, and it was such an important foundational tool for me socially.

What I loved even more is that this mom got other families on board, too. They now have a little “landline pod” so the kids can call each other directly—no borrowing mom’s phone, no texting, no apps. Just simple conversations, the way we all grew up.

I started to think of our oldest, who also turned 10 this year and has been hinting at phones. Our kids know our stance on smartphones (they can get one when they are old enough to afford to pay the phone bill like we both had to growing up), so they don’t really ask for them. Still, they do always make a point to tell us when one of their friends gets one as sort of a hint, hint, wink, wink type deal.

And while we won’t be getting them cellphones anytime soon, I can so picture our kids sprawled out on the couch, legs kicking in the air, laughing with their cousins or best friends over the receiver. There’s something really sweet about slowing down, pressing actual buttons, and hearing the dial tone click on. It reminds me of simpler, slower times, which I think we could all use right now.

What do you think? Would you ever do a landline for your child instead of a cellphone?