Perhaps I'm old fashioned but the idea of kids with smart phones just rubs me the wrong way. DD9 is in 4th grade this year and she now has a phone. That chaps my butt already but we had to get her something. Neither my parents nor I have a house phone. She has been asking to stay home alone while I run to the grocery store or something like that, she is not left home alone all day long. Just when I have to run a quick errand or something. Anyway, since we don't have a house phone she needed something to be able to get a hold of one of us if she needs to so she got my moms old prepaid dumb phone. It's so old it's not even a flip phone. One of her friends had an iphone 2 years ago when they were in 2nd grade. I can't fathom that. I don't even have a smart phone.

They really are dense sometimes, aren't they? My DH does this too. He still doesn't understand the concept of "don't ask a kid if they want to do something". For example: "you want to pick up your dishes from the table?" instead of "pick up your dishes and put them in the dishwasher please". How do you think a 14 year old is going to respond to the former. It is just mind blowing how slow these guilt-ridden fathers are in developing clear, age-appropriate communication techniques as their children grow.

In theory I completely agree with the phone comments above. However, I got my two teenage SD's phones because I knew that BM was going to make that move soon, and if she did we would never hear the end of needing money for blah blah blah accessory, service etc... Also, I wanted DH to have a little more opportunity to monitor their activities as they are getting older and BM has some interesting ideas about what "appropriate" is. Lastly, they both get good grades, they don't have behavioral issues and they are generally good kids.

Based on OPs explanation, SDs clearly need a phone for safety and logistics, and I would get one with a GPS tracker based on that crazy commute. There is an app called Friend Locator that tells you where all of your friends and family are. But for the charger, you should just get a bunch of portable power bricks. The Mophie brand or the ones that attach to phone cases are a rip off. But there is a company called Anker - you can get them on Amazon. Those are cheap and one of the power bricks I use has enough power for 3 full phone charges in it. So if your SDs keep one on their bags and charge the brick once or twice a week you should be fine.