Mobile phone at aged 9?

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  • Tina20
    Tina20 Posts: 471 Forumite
    First of all, someone leaves their 8yr old home alone for 20 minutes with the responsibility to 'lock up'????!!
    That's terrible parenting IMO!!!

    Second, I would let my DD have a phone when she was old enough to play in a park and walk to school herself, for safety but a very plain nokia. My best friends dad always said 'no phone till your 16' and would phone ME aged 12 to speak to his daughter. He relied on me to know where she was but wouldn't let her have a phone? Madness. He also would let her make 45 minute bus journeys in the dark because he didn't see the need to come and pick her up from my house....

    iPhones etc are crazy to give to a small child, I used to make mud pies aged 8/9 not playlists and apps! I got my first iPhone last year :)
    How can staring at a tiny screen for hours be good for a young growing brain and eyes?
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  • jamespir
    jamespir Posts: 21,456 Forumite
    kids under the age of thirteen shouldnt have phone's full stop
    especially not an iphone or blackberry theres no need plus they dont really have anyone to call

    as for leaving your eight year old alone in the house that is illegal even if it is for 20 minutes
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  • Emmarillo
    Emmarillo Posts: 513
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    My daughter is 10 and has had a phone for over a year, and her friends have had them for a similar amount of time. The first children to get them seemed to be the ones with separated parents, but it wasn't long until they all wanted them. Of course there are a few with iphones and blackberrys but I would say that 90% have their parents old phones that had been sitting in a drawer. I don't honestly see the harm in putting £10 credit on an old phone and letting a child have it. My daughter likes playing the games, listening to music and occasionally texts her friends. I like it because I can always get hold of her, as she is allowed to play at the park across the road with her friends. I've warned her that I can't afford to top her phone up very often, and luckily she's taken notice of that, as i've only added credit twice.
  • Birdy12
    Birdy12 Posts: 589
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    jamespir wrote: »
    kids under the age of thirteen shouldnt have phone's full stop
    especially not an iphone or blackberry theres no need plus they dont really have anyone to call

    as for leaving your eight year old alone in the house that is illegal even if it is for 20 minutes

    My DS started secondary school last September and I considered him having a mobile phone, from that time, as an essential item. I know many consider the mobile phone to be a nusiance, personally, I think it's one of the best things invented.

    Don't have anyone to call? How about their parents for a start? Worth having a 'phone even if you've only got one number stored and you need help.

    And where did you get this 'illegal' minimum age from? There is no illegal minimum age limit to leave a child at home. Advisory minimum ages are provided instead.

    Get your facts right before you post.
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  • peachyprice
    peachyprice Posts: 22,346
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    jamespir wrote: »
    kids under the age of thirteen shouldnt have phone's full stop
    especially not an iphone or blackberry theres no need plus they dont really have anyone to call

    What would you suggest they do in those two years between 11-13 when they have started secondary school and are expected to find their independence. Just send them out in the world with no way of communicating with their parents?
    as for leaving your eight year old alone in the house that is illegal even if it is for 20 minutes

    For goodness sake, no, it isn't.
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  • anniemf2508
    anniemf2508 Posts: 1,848 Forumite
    My daughter has had a phone since she was 9...at that age she was out playing with her friends, so it was nice to be able to contact her or for her to contact us if she needed to.
    She now has a android phone on contract as its nice to know shes always able to contact us (unlike pay as you go) and other than one horrendous £80 bill last summer shes been really responsible with it.
  • anniemf2508
    anniemf2508 Posts: 1,848 Forumite
    jamespir wrote: »
    kids under the age of thirteen shouldnt have phone's full stop
    especially not an iphone or blackberry theres no need plus they dont really have anyone to call

    kids start secondary school at 11/12 these days and alot of them take a bus or walk a substantial distance each day....
    my daughter was walking a mile and a half each way to school, having a phone with her gives a bit of peace of mind.
  • tyllwyd
    tyllwyd Posts: 5,496 Forumite
    edited 26 April 2012 at 10:22AM
    daisiegg wrote: »
    Agree with you again, but while it is the kids that are doing it, Facebook/phones are enabling them to do it. The vast majority of kids will say and do much, much more nasty and hurtful things over Fb/text than they ever would if they had to say it to someone's face. Especially when it can be anonymous. And there is a lot in place to try to teach them how to behave and deal with these new challenges - we have the community police officers in regularly doing assemblies about proper use of Facebook, we have whole PSHEE schemes based around sensible use of the Internet, etc etc.

    Yes, there is lots of stuff in my DDs school as well. The danger I can see with her is that she's a teenager, so she thinks she knows everything about technology and adults are behind the times. Since she goes on Facebook and happily chats away with her friends, all trivial teenage stuff, if adults overplay how dangerous Facebook is, she just thinks they are idiots and shuts off to it completely.

    I completely agree that kids will say/do more hurtful things by text/internet than to someone's face - in a way, that makes me think they need to be online earlier rather than later, so that you can teach primary school kids how to behave online while they are still young enough for parents to supervise and influence, rather than waiting until they are secondary school age, when they won't put up with parents trying to get involved but they are still too young to really understand the impact of what they might be doing.

    One thing I really don't like about Facebook is the 13 year minimum age. Facebook must know perfectly well that under 13s have accounts, but they have a get-out clause if there are problems because they can just say that the younger kid shouldn't have been on there, rather than making the investment to put in controls to make a safer version for under 13s.

    Edited to say - thinking about this has reminded of an experience at university in the 80s, when someone left a note in my pigeon-hole which really upset me - it made me realise that something written down can be much worse than if we'd just spoken about the problem. Today's kids are having to learn that much earlier than I did.
  • emsywoo123
    emsywoo123 Posts: 5,440 Forumite
    19lottie82 wrote: »
    I just checked online and a 8gb 3GS iPhone is £319?

    See my post #76 :D
  • emsywoo123
    emsywoo123 Posts: 5,440 Forumite
    Tina20 wrote: »
    How can staring at a tiny screen for hours be good for a young growing brain and eyes?

    Yup, that's what I do.......leave her on it for hours and hours...........
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