Is your child asking for a way to chat with friends?
Your One Step:
✓ Get a landline!
Kids today: “What’s a landline?”
Parents today: “The phone YOU get to have!”
Kids want to communicate - that hasn’t changed over the years! In the late elementary and tween years, budding friendships mean many kids want a way to connect with friends and plan outings. The solution: the revival of the landline, reinvented for the digital age. Bringing back a home phone helps delay mobile phones and texting AND teaches phone etiquette and conversation skills!
We recently heard from one mom: after getting a landline, she noticed that her daughter would actually have a real conversation with her grandma, instead of spending the time clicking around to different apps on her phone, making funny faces and putting different filters on her grandmother's face.
Start with Landline Kids!
From summarizing available landline products to explaining how to set up a pod of landline friends, this group is helping take some of the guess work out of setting up a home phone in the digital age!
Tin Can is the new-school way for kids to talk with their friends. It’s a secure landline with no screens, no apps, no texting, just voice-to-voice connection. Tin Can gives kids a safe, screen-free way to stay in touch while encouraging real conversation and independence - no smartphone required. Learn about a parent’s experience with Tin Can here.
Cellular home phone. A communal cell phone or smartwatch that acts as the family landline. If using an old iPhone, set it up with its own Apple ID (not yours) and remove ALL features except calling (How do I do that?). Keep it in a central location, plugged in, not mobile.
A cellular home phone can be a good delay tactic or transitional step with older kids since you can lend this one out for mobile needs on a case-by-case basis but have it continue to live on the “home phone table” when at home. You can also later allow monitored texting from this family account.
Let the chatting begin!
Print and have your child fill out this template for friends and family phone numbers and let the calling begin!
Collective action tip:
Help create a phone directory for your grade or class that families with landlines can opt into.
Add some extra fun!
Print this landline bingo card and challenge your child to complete all the squares!
Help us reach more parents in 2026!
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