Cell phones offer emergency contact

When terrorists attacked Sept. 11, school officials in Fairfax, Va., made an unusual discovery.

The cell phones administrators had banned weeks before quickly reappeared, and students rushed to get in touch with their parents. The Pentagon is only 14 miles away, and no doubt many of their parents earn a living there and in the immediate area.

It made administrators realize that students can carry the phones responsibly. The gadgets had been in pockets and backpacks and purses all along, silenced or turned off entirely.

The Yankee Group, a Boston-based technology research company, recently found that 32 percent of children ages 10 to 19 use cell phones.

This is not surprising, considering many parents have found the phones to be a mutually acceptable way to monitor their young ones at all times.

It is the cell-phone age, like it or not, and it's not a bad plan to let children be a part of it if they can do so responsibly.