American Housewife - Phone Free Day - Review: "Illegal or Frowned Upon?"

Could you spend a day without your phone? For Katie and Taylor, it's easier said than done!

Anna-Kat's taken to stealing Taylor's phone on a regular basis and Taylor is, understandably, not having it. Taylor asks Katie to get Anna-Kat a phone so she'll leave hers' alone, but Katie's firm that no one gets a phone until they're 14. So what does Anna-Kat do? She continues to steal Taylor's phone. The two stay at each other's throats and Taylor continues to beg Katie to just give in and buy Anna-Kat a phone. Katie laments that she didn't need a phone when she was a kid, and neither does Anna-Kat. Taylor shoots back that Katie couldn't go a day without her phone now. Katie disagrees and the two settle on a bet. If Katie and Taylor can go a day without their phones, Anna-Kat will have to wait until she's 14. If Katie breaks, then she'll buy Taylor a new phone and give Anna-Kat her old one.

Oliver and Greg are also in an argument of their own. While watch shopping with Cooper, Oliver overhears a stock tip from a couple of rich guys. Realizing he could potentially get rich if he buys stock in that company, he decides he wants to open his first brokerage account. Since he's not 18, he'll have to get his parents' help, which Greg is fine with - that is, until he hears that Oliver's plan to get rich involves what essentially amounts to insider trading. Greg tells Oliver it's not going to happen, but Oliver's not ready to give up, so he and Cooper consult the stockpile of advice videos Spencer left for Oliver before he died. Sure enough, there's one on how to make your first million. Spencer's advice? Do WHATEVER you have to do to make it happen! After consulting with Spencer's lawyer, Oliver decides he's got one good option - emancipation!

While's Oliver's scheming his way to independence, Katie's watching closely over Taylor and Anna-Kat to make sure they don't break the phone fast. Katie takes them with her to pick up a cake for work and tells them to go spend some time walking around town experiencing life without a phone. Katie runs into a phone dilemma of her own fairly quickly though. Her phone has the order number for the cake on it and she's left her license in the car with her phone, so she has no proof of ID to pick up the cake. She goes back to the car to get her license, only to realize that Taylor has the keys, and since neither of them has their phones, she has no way to contact her until the time they've agreed to meet back up at! So Katie heads out to search for them the old-fashioned way.

Katie walks down the street looking through shop windows, and ironically enough, looks right at Taylor and Anna-Kat, only they're trying on wigs and have their backs turned, so she doesn't recognize them and keeps walking. With no way to get into the car to get her license, Katie decides to take the cake and run with it when the shop-owner turns away. Only problem - she runs right into somebody!

Anna-Kat's having fun hanging out with her big sister, but all Taylor can think about is getting her phone back. When Taylor says that Anna-Kat should be hoping that Katie breaks and uses her phone, since that means she'll get a phone, Anna-Kat angrily says that's not why she's been stealing Taylor's phone and stomps out. Taylor follows her and Anna-Kat admits that the reason she's been stealing her phone is because she wants Taylor to pay attention to her, and the only thing she ever does pay attention to is the phone. Taylor tries to say that they're just at different stages in their lives, but Anna-Kat reminds her that that shouldn't stop them from being good sisters to each other and Taylor agrees to spend more time with her.

Katie finally finds the girls and they rush to another bakery and then to the baby shower, only to find out that it has been canceled, a fact Taylor reminds Katie she would have known had she had her phone!

Back at home, Oliver presents his case to Greg, who's about to freak out when he remembers Katie's advice about using reverse psychology on the kids. So, he acts like he's fine with Oliver trying to get himself emancipated! Later, Oliver's about to call Spencer's lawyer to start the emancipation process when he hesitates, wishing Spencer were there to give him advice in person. And who does appear but Imaginary Spencer! Imaginary Spencer tells Oliver that even though he never let anyone stand in his way, he also probably wasn't the best example. After all, all the tapes he left Oliver are about how to get out of trouble. Even though Oliver thinks this is his big break, Imaginary Spencer assures him he'll have plenty of chances for that and says that maybe what Greg wants is for him to not get himself into the bad situations Spencer was constantly in the first place. Finally, Imaginary Spencer reminds Oliver that he's a good person and being a good person means knowing when you're wrong. ("And the next step is rewarding yourself for doing right with a nice crispy nudie mag!") Oliver goes to Greg and apologizes, assuring him that he's "still going to be super rich someday" but he's going to do it in a way that makes Greg proud.

Random Thoughts:
-I agree with Katie. Gender reveal cakes are stupid.

-I just about rolled when Taylor couldn't figure out which card game they were playing and Anna-Kat said "Those eight years between us really don't make much of a difference."

-Funniest lines go to Doris, when discussing the merits of giving her kids phones ("My baby calls Siri Mama.") and Katie, when talking about her childhood without phones ("When I was your age, there were no cell phones and I was better for it. I went out into the world, talked to people, got strangers to buy me beer outside 7-11. It was an all American childhood!")

How old do you think kids should be when they get a phone? (I got one at 14 and didn't really need it any sooner than that. Granted, 14 wasn't exactly....recently.... for me either.) Let me know what you think below!