kids with mobile phones?? how old

[pete a]

just having rows with the OH regarding my daughter having a mobile phone, said daughter is 10 next week and i feel that this is too young for a mobile, and don't see the need for it at this age.
OH argument is that lots of her friends have them so i should relent,???

[CommanderJameson]

I see your point, and even agree with you, but you're going to lose this one.

Start planning for a low-cost handset and a sensible method of funding the phone - there are such things as limited contracts, where minutes and texts are capped. It's like PAYG, but without the faff of actually Paying As You Go. Plus you get an itemised bill, which, where I the parent of a 10yo, would want.

[pincher]

We've just succumbed for daughters 9th birthday. Cheapish (£35) handset on O2 PAYG. She has been told that she will be expected to pay for top-ups out of her pocket money.

She took it to dance class yesterday morning and after I dropped her off, she called to say that she was staying for an extra half-hour for some competition practice so it meant I didn't have to sit around waiting for her.

Now ear piercing - that's whole different story!

[Jasandjules]

If she's going out without adult supervision then I'd have thought a PAYG phone is not a bad idea so that in the event of any kind of emergency she can contact you.........

As for age, I think my nephews and nieces were about 8-9 when they got 'phones for their Birthdays.

[Tiggsy]

Two reasons for a kid to have a phone - fun and safety. Depends on your budget for fun stuff for your kids and your kids need for safety as to when its time to let them have one. My daughter has had her own phone since 8 or 9 when she started walking to mates house on her own, popping to the shop/letterbox for us, etc - that was for safety and TBH phones weren't much fun 5 years ago. Now she's 13 she has a Nokia music thingy and (although the safety aspect is still vital) it's used more for fun.

My son is now 9 and has a cheap little phone for safety.....at 9 i think he's to young to have an expensive "fancy" phone so he's making do with what he has....no doubt he'll want an Iphone when he hits the big 10 though! (might stop him nicking mine!)

Tiggs

PS - Before the "we never had phones and we were ok in the 70/80's" lot pipe up.......you're right, you'd probably be fine today without a phone at 10 years old.....but, we've had numerous occasions where the kids having a phone has been very handy. Off the top of my head - dropped daughter at pool for a swim with her mates and drove off....pool shut 2 mins later for a fire alarm so had to go and get her.....she was in town and lost her purse so had no bus money...etc, etc - now these are all situations where any sensible child would cope without a phone...BUT, if having one is possible it makes things very much simpler. (i also remember as a kid going fishing with my brother when we were about 11 and 13.....only 5 mins from my house - gang of older kids turned up and spent 2 hrs being tts (spitting, chucking stones, etc) We couldnt get past them back to our house so basically had to take it until they got bored - we coped.....but if i'd had a phone I'd have had my dad and his cricket bat there as fast as possible!

In an age when the real danger to kids is keeping them IN all the time...having a gadet that lets them go out is no bad thing.

[bigTee]

they make then for a lot younger than 10!!

[pete a]

to be honest the cost is not an issue, more the moral side off things, i do understand that yes being able to call dad and mum could be usefull but do i want a 16 year old who has never had to work things out for themselves, sometimes technology can be harmfull to kids development, you only have to look at the little idiots milling around in tracksuits,trainers,caps, mobile in one hand, ciggie in the other to realise that current parenting,goverment policys etc seems to have bred a generation of good for nothing tts with no intrest in working hard to better themselves. i know this is only a phone but i dont think because it's populer it's always right.

[john2443]

Although I'm of the "we never had phones and we were ok in the 70/80's60/70s" era, No 1 daughter had one when she started at senior school, and it was worth it for when she wanted to go to the park or a friends after school etc and we've recently set up one of our spare old ones for No 2 once she was 10 and started walking herself to and from school.

I think it's a bit daft giving them to 5 yr old, as they will (should!?) be supervised at all times, but once they start going on their own to school/shops etc it is worth it.

I do my best to impress on them that they haven't got a phone to chat to their mates, it's for contacting home in an emergency or change of plan.

J

[10 Pence Short]

Give the poor lass a phone.

How else are the filthy paedos supposed to keep in touch?

[pincher]

pete a said:

...you only have to look at the little idiots milling around in tracksuits,trainers,caps, mobile in one hand, ciggie in the other to realise that current parenting,goverment policys etc seems to have bred a generation of good for nothing tts with no intrest in working hard to better themselves.

With all due respect, I don't personally think that having a mobile phone at 9 or 10 years old is necessarily a catalyst to that you have described above - I would suggest that it is more the relevant upbringing (parenting) that could be to blame?

[pete a]

i have suggested that when she starts senior school next september she can have one as she will be catching the bus to school.

[andy_s]

I'd consider it at senior school (11yrs+) but not before, there's no need and no, 'everyone else' doesn't have one.

[i remember]

I had one when i was about 11 which was about 8 years ago now but mine was for emergencys only and was kept by my parents until i went to golf or etc on my own and that was that . Then i just had it when i was a bit older and being at school etc. You see alot younger kids with them and dont really see the point tbh cos where are these kids going to be on their own that their parents wont know about? if they didnt know where they were then at an age like that is kind of bad parenting really!

Id say if your daughter was about 12 or whatever and in secondary school it would allow it but still for emergncy purposes only , trial it and if it works then bent the rules abit as she gets older . All about trust

[greggy50]

I am 17 now only on my 4th phone did not get on to I was 14 and a half was not allowed and to be honest I did not need one either. I think the trend for younger and younger children having phones is a bit pointless to be honest.

[LOGiK]

I got my first phone at 10... had no need for it at all. I don't think kids should have mobile phones from an early age though really, they become completely reliant upon them.

[BoRED S2upid]

Three and a half!. Do I win?

Old handset plays music for him to listen to when going to sleep and he can call nanny (in his imagination).

[Tiggsy]

My kids at 9 were/are walking to the corner shop, post box, mates house,etc. Chance of them being in trouble are very slim but you never know.

[okgo]

I had one at around 11/12 I think.

Utterly no need for one before then, safety is the only possible one, but even then if the situation is really bad a phone is not going to help, and most of the time there are plenty of people about wherever a ten year old goes.

[LOGiK]

I think giving a kid a mobile phone makes them less safe - even crap ones. Someone who wants to rob people will see it as an easy target. If they can get 50p for it, that's something to scum.

[Mr.Jimbo]

I reckon I was about 3 or 4 when I had my first phone... it was this wee beastie infact:



remember it clear as day for some reason!

Dad used to have Mobiles wayy before they were widespread/popular as he worked on call for the NHS and they adopted mobiles quite early on. Remember his old school 'bleep' too! This one was obsolete around then and seen fit as a plaything for me I dread to think if they put out any serious radiation or anything, but hell, I played with it, and I turned out just telephone