Most of you know I have a teenage boy and a tween boy (along with my almost 6 year old girl).  The boys are at a stage where they want more independence.  And let’s face it, they want cell phones.  When I was contacted by Disney Mobile to try out their new service I thought it would be a great way to simply “introduce” my tween to having a cell phone.  Both boys were excited, but Zarek was really anticipating getting his own cell phone.  Their only worry was that they would get a phone that had cartoons or Disney pictures covering the phone. 

When the phones arrived, much to their relief the phones were “cool” and they received the “official cool seal of approval.” No Mickey or Minney Mouse covered their phones.  In fact, they looked just as awesome as any other flip phone they might purchase elsewhere.  They received cool silver flip phones.  I have to admit, I liked the way looked as well.  But the purpose of the cell phone was not to look cool.  For me to set it apart from the rest of the pack it had to offer something that other cell services did not.  Disney does that.  And they do that well.  This is truly a family friendly plan.  We have had the VIP service which has allowed us to try out all of the amazing features they provide.  They have amazing features.

I think one of my favorite service is the Family Locater.  This service has the ability for the parent’s to use their phones to track the location of the cell phone of their child using GPS technology.  It is extremely accurate.  (And truth be told, I have used it more than once to find my kiddos.  Not because they were not where they said they would be but because they were going several different places and this way, I knew where they were.  Especially if they were not answering their phone.) I love knowing that as long as the cell phone is on my tween, I know where he is.  Big Brother watching?  Nah.  Just a concerned parent.  Of course, the kids wished that they could track their parents, but it isn’t a two way thing.  (Do my kids really need to know if I am at the mall when I should be at home working?  I think not!)

In addition, they have a Family Alert feature.  This allows any member of the family to send out a message that will be sent to everyone else’s phone.  You know, for those times when you need to let your tween or teen know about a different after school plan or that dinner times have changed etc.  Some days I would just get a message from one of the boys saying, “Hi!” to everyone.  It is nice to be able to keep in touch with the entire family with just one message that gets sent out to everyone.

Family Monitor feature helps you stay in control of your family