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For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

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For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Parenting

mobile phones and 8 year olds

29 replies

phones · 14/03/2009 19:54

my 8 year old son has been given a mobile phone from a relative as a present. i have heard and read about radiation from mobile phones and the harmful effects on children's brains. I also think that 8, is too young for a phone. what do you think? I think also, that it may also be intended for my 3 year old to use aswell. how would you feel and what would you do?

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Ceolas · 14/03/2009 19:56

I would not allow my 8 year old to have a phone. I'd take it and look after it for about 4 years til he went to high school

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phones · 14/03/2009 20:12

and if it was your ex partner who brought the phone [my 8 year olds dad]?

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janeite · 14/03/2009 20:13

I would not allow an eight year old to have a mobile phone, whoever had bought it. I'm afraid I'd give it back.

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jugglingwoman · 14/03/2009 20:16

I wouldn't. My godson (whilst in his mothers tummy) would kick off her mobile phone if she put it on her stomach. Nothing else bothered him.

Why don't you keep it and then if he visits his Dad, give it to him so he can be contacted (but never use it). His Dad might just think it's his best chance to have good contact and didn't think about the issues related to it.

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breadandroses · 14/03/2009 20:23

no no no

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phones · 14/03/2009 21:09

thanks everyone,
I'm really upset that I have to now explain/have told, my very over excited son that the phone will be off until he sees his dad next time...[I am now the bad guy for protecting him against cancer].

I have kept his dads phone number next to our home phone for the last 3 years and my son usually needs to be coaxed into phoning his dad. His dad never phones him, except on xmas day and then he upsets him.

His dad wont do his homework with him [always comes back half done or not at all] at weekends but will happily teach him how to text?

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Nabster · 14/03/2009 21:10

My son is 8 next week and wants a phone.

No way is he having one.

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PlumBumMum · 14/03/2009 21:12

No way, and def not a 3 year old

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phones · 14/03/2009 21:19

are you saying no because of the damage they can do physically?

or because people get mugged for mobile phones?

Or because it just is wrong?

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PlumBumMum · 14/03/2009 21:22

8 is far to young to have a mobile

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Nabster · 14/03/2009 21:25

No one knows 100% the risks for youngsters having phones.

he wouldn't be mugged as never alone.

Just too young and no need for one.

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stroppyknickers · 14/03/2009 21:25

If you don't allow your child free access to the house phone/ answering it/ using it/ giving out the number etc etc, why allow them access to their own phone? I would say no, but dd only just got a phone to use (strictly informed that it is not her phone) at ten.

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phones · 14/03/2009 21:30

Ok, I was thinking that when he satrts secondary school he could have his own phone, as then I won't be picking him up and dropping him off and it would be useful when he is older...

I have never stopped him from using the home phone and he does pick up the home phone if it rings sometimes when I ask him to. I have never ever, ever, ever stopped him talking to his dad!

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Ceolas · 14/03/2009 21:34

For my children it would be unneccessary. They are never anywhere without me or a responsible adult who could contact me in an emergency.

I will allow it at high school though.

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reindeermum · 14/03/2009 21:43

Absolutely completely and utterly RIDICULOUS and WRONG to let an 8year old have a mobile phone. You are doing the right thing. Don't worry about being the bad guy. Your ex should have discussed this with you first.

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phones · 14/03/2009 21:56

Thanks, just feel so awful as now my son is really upset...and i'm feeling really guilty for saying no and making him upset as it was from his dad!

Even though I think a mobile is wrong for age 8...I feel I've been put in a very difficult position by another grown up who, should know better.

How can I put it to an 8 year old that its a non starter?

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applepudding · 14/03/2009 22:09

I agree with the comment which says keep it for when he visits his dad so he can be contacted. Tell him that is what his dad sent it to him for. I can't see exactly who he would be phoning on it anyway unless his friends have mobiles.

Is radiation from mobile phone a danger if the child is just playing a game on it? I would never have considered buying a child this age a mobile but am just thinking that my DS plays games on his dad's phone.

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phones · 14/03/2009 22:17

I don't know.

As I understand it, from many websites and information points, mobile phones give off radiation. This has however also been disputed by many? But why risk it?

I think in children its about up to 75% [up until around age 10 and then it decreases] of this radiation that enters a childs brain and there are xrays that illustrate this on the internet. In grown ups its less than 10% radiation that is recieved.
I will look into it further.

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jugglingwoman · 15/03/2009 18:38

Ignoring the whole radiation issue, mobile phones are also the way/reason so many children can be bullied these days. Along with Beebo and the like. So be very wary (I do realise I sound over cautious but permanently talk to parents whose children have had 'nasty' texts from 'friends').

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SafetyFirst · 04/09/2009 00:01

Hi
Considering a mobile for my 11 year old I came across this web site
www.wiredchild.org
It seems there is evidence showing an increased risk of brain tumour after 10 years.
It also seems that mobiles where never safety tested.
Since mobiles have not been around long I think it is an experiment to be giving my child a mobile. After all I wouldn't give him a packet of cigarettes.

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LadyGlencoraPalliser · 04/09/2009 00:26

I don't often do this but
I think we have a namechanging poster with an agenda here.

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BitOfFun · 04/09/2009 00:53

What makes you say that?

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LadyGlencoraPalliser · 04/09/2009 00:56

Well, first post from phones, and if you do a search on SafetyFirst the only other threads they have posted on have to do with radiation, and one of them was started by a poster called Wholemeal in a very similar manner. So I reckon, rightly or wrongly, that all three posters are the same person with some sort of axe to grind. This thread doesn't read right to me, the OP seems to be feeding us lines.

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BitOfFun · 04/09/2009 01:14

Hmm, I see what you mean. The general social stuff of a phone at 8 is dodgy though, but yes, no reason to worry about cancer with moderate use.

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LadyGlencoraPalliser · 04/09/2009 10:28

By SafetyFirst on Sun 24-May-09 01:32:35
My son was badly effected by the WiFi in his school
He was the worst affected in his class.
He used to come home with throbbing headaches and then began to get terrible nightmares. They got worse and worse all year until he would wake in the night with heart palpitations feeling sick and dizzy. He was 6 years old.
The doctors didn't know what was wrong
It wasn't until I took monitoring equipment into the school later in the year that I found that particular class had high levels of radiation from the WiFi and phone masts outside.
I then went to complementary therapists and sent his blood to Germany for analysis.
They all confirmed radiation damage.
We had to spend a lot of money on supplements and medicine to protect his liver from further damage.
Meanwhile the other children in the class suffered but from general low immunity resulting in frequent days off sick.
1000's of German doctors have signed petitions to their government to ban this technology citing all these symptoms found in their patients.
See the Freiburg Appeal and Bamburg appeals
www.planningsanity.co.uk/reports/md341.doc
www.mastsanity.org/index.php?option=com_ content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=54

Also Panorama did an investigation on WiFi which featured some top scientists voicing their concerns. It can be seen here
www.mastsanity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=132&Itemid=113

So this 11 year old you are considering a mobile phone for, is this the same child?