What age do kids get mobile phones ?

msmicawber

My daughter started nagging for a mobile at about 9 or 10, but I held out and didn't buy her one until last Christmas - she was 12.5 then. There were a various reasons I didn't want her to have one - I couldn't afford to put credit on it very often; I wasn't sure that she'd take good care of it; if she just got it when she asked for it, I didn't think she would appreciate it; and I was a little concerned that it may make her a target for a mugging.

Since I've bought it for her, she's wasted every penny of the credit I've put on it on texts, including the 'emergency money' that she vowed not to touch, dropped it in a pond, and switched it off whenever she's up to anything so that I can't contact her. OK so she's now a moody teenager, but I doubt she would have been much better at 9 or 10. I've now told her that if she wants credit, she must pay for it herself out of her pocket money (which will not be increased to cover it), and that she must put up with the eccentricities caused by the water damage as I won't be replacing it.

Thankfully, my 10 year old son admits that he only wants one to play games on, so I recently got a 2nd hand one with no sim card in it .... which he promptly lost!

Can you really afford to foot the bill for such a young child to have a mobile phone?

billy_the_kid_2

My son is 13 and we have now bought him a payg mobile. so that he can contact us in emergencies. We are currently buying him 10 pound topup cards every other month. He can take it to school but he must have it turned off in lesson time.

sarah*a

We got DD a cheapy PAYG one for her 10th birthday so that she could call us whenever she wanted (she lives with her mum). She lost it within 3 months. Her mother bought her another one as she was going away for a week with the choir and wanted her to be able to call us if she needed to. She lost that one. We gave her a fourth-hand handset with a PAYG sim card when she went away with choir this year - she's lost it.

She starts secondary school in sept - and is making noises about needing a phone in case she has to contact us in an emergency. We know at least one of her phones in somewhere in her mothers house so we've told her she has to find it if she wants one - or save up her own pocket money and buy it herself. Or learn to use a payphone like we did!!!

:cool:

Rachie_B

IMO a child doesnt need one til they are old enough to go out on their own of a weekend etc

and i dont just mean out playing in their street ,like a 9 yr old boy I know !!! he has a mobile and his mum will phone him on it to say his tea is ready or its time to come in etc, !!!!!! ???!!!!

my eldest son is 10 and he wont be having one until he is in secondary school (next sept)

a friend used to look after a little boy who aged 4 had a mobile !!!

inkie

My DD now 10, never asked for one - but her friend passed her old one onto her - what we did was put it on easymobile payg (web managed so I can keep an eye on useage etc. The vast majority of the time it just sits there in the kitchen, and she finds it a real pain when her friends texts her - shes an old head on young shoulders. Useful though as she went away with her friend for a week, and I wouldn't have liked the thought of not being able to get in touch with her.

patchwork_cat

Hi
This is a toughy as you don't want your children to be left out with all their friends. I feel that year 6 going up to high school is the right time and most of the children at my children's school start getting them then.

Having said that my son who is 13 bought himself a new one as he saved up his pocket money - very MSE. He sold his old one to us for his little sister who is 8. It wouldn't have been worth much on ebay , so he got a good deal, but we felt that since he had managed to save up 90% of the price of the phone and pay for top ups on the old one that he deserved a helping hand.

So my 8 year old has a phone. It is second hand, but a Nokia that you can get covers for, so she has a hello Kitty and polar bear cover for it which cost next to nothing on ebay and it looks like a different phone. She takes it with her when she plays with her friend on our cul de sac or the football field up the road.

I wouldn't have even bought her a second hand one yet if it hadn't been for her brother. Also she felt left our as she was the only family member without one.

Personally I do phone my daughter to tell her tea is ready - better than traipsing around all the neighbours gardens or bellowing for her. I don't see what is wrong with that.

mclaren_2

ailuro2 wrote:

buy him those two way radio things that cover a 2 kilometre range.
Free to use and he can use it to play with aswell as be called in from playing outside when it's teatime.

2 problems with the radios - what if he changes the channel? and also they dont cover 2km - you would be lucky if they would cover a 10th of that - they operate on 446 UHF but 0.5 watts. i use radios at 5 watts - supposed average 5 miles easy and i only get about half mile in town - buildings and out of town in country can get 3 miles - open water 10 miles. it depends on the terrrain though.

plus the problem with PMR is that everybody are on that frequency of 446.xxxx

as for mobile for the OP - this depends on a few factors - does your son get out on his own? if he does then it could be handy. also, what has he been like with other items? has he lost them?

I would get him a phone, but a very cheap one, ie £10 or so, and if he loses it, then he will not get it replaced.

I think now, phones are important for communications - esp if they are out on their own.

The problem is though, that as mobiles get newer and newer models, kids want the latest - as "their friends have the latest" and this can cause problems aswell.

IMHO i would spend £10 on a basic phone - you can even get a new phone for free if you buy £30 credit from virgin which imho is a good deal.

funky-footprints

my nephew had one for chirstmas last year (he is 12) his mother (my sil) isnt that high up the parenting tree and i think to her it is an excuse to find out where he is ..not that she ever rings him or anything .. i was quite disgusted when he said that was what he was having for christmas ..he didnt even want one. seeing as they arent allowed to use them in school ..he only has about 2 numbers on it, and his mother never answers hers when he rings her anycase. he doesnt go anywhere off the school bus apart from home where he sits till his mother gets home ..so why does he need one ? ?

i dont see the need for one until a kid is about 16 to be honest or at least independent ..they can pay for it themselves then. saying that my eldest is only 5 ..so i can have high opinions at the moment cant i ? ? lol !!!

filigree_2

My 12 year old son has a phone, I gave him my old one when I got an upgrade. I unlocked it and put in the cheapest possible PAYG card. Months and months later it sits in a drawer and he still hasn't used up the initial £5 credit. I still like him to have one because once a week he takes the train to meet his Dad from work. I don't think he's ever used it on those days, but it's a relief to know he has one for real emergencies. If he ever genuinely NEEDS a phone, he has one that does the job without any fancy extras.

When he was 8 there was no need - I walked him to and from school and he was with responsible adults 24/7. If there was any kind of emergency during the day, the school would phone me. As for social phone calls in the evenings, it's usually cheaper to use the landline.

My personal feeling is that if my son was 8 years old he would lose interest in the phone very quickly and it would be a waste of money. I'd rather buy him something with lasting play value.

Lillibet_2

I'm 31 & I haven't got one yet, although my dad keeps nagging me to get one so that he can find out where I am:rotfl:Seriously, I just don't need one! But then a 10 year old probably has far more of a social life than a grown adult anyway:rolleyes:

I had a set of walkie-talkies when I was younger & remember they were fab. Didn't cover a huge range but I loved them until I was about 10:D