[omnibrain]

I advice against using your ISP's email service. What happens with your email address when you switch providers? Are you going to mail all your contacts with your new email address and update it at every service you ever registered for?

[me1010]

I agree, if the email account is going to be used for long term purposes. However, an email account for someone at the high school level should be fine. Presumably, the kid is going to go to a college somewhere - and will use the college account until such time as the kid graduates and moves on into the 'real' world -- whatever that means. I'm just trying to say that a gmail account for a kid isn't a necessary burden that needs rescuing at even the meager upfront cost of $0.50... plus the massive cost in lost privacy - which is an ongoing fee into the indeterminable future...