Talk to me about mobile phones for children

[EastCoastDamsel]

DS (10yo in December) is desperate for a mobile phone and has asked for one for his birthday. He obviously wants a smart phone.

I had always said that I wouldn't even consider a phone before year 7 but I have started to think that it may not be the worst idea as he has recently changed schools and most of his classmates do have one.

The school is a fairly sporty one and the kids travel away by coach fairly frequently to attend away fixtures. It would be great to be able to contact him when they are on their way back as they are very often late and, especially now in winter, it can be excruciating waiting outside with DD (8yo) for the coach to return.

Additionally, I think it might help him make friends if he can chat to them.

I do remain sceptical as I worry about all the usual stuff:
Cyber bullying
Porn
Obsessive behaviour (not wanting to put the phone down, being on it all the time etc)
Losing it
Damaging it etc

I know it is MN and I am likely to be told to get him a Nokia or none at all and that I am being irresponsible just to consider caving in and getting him one for his birthday but...

Does anyone have any advice? What phones should I consider (ideally under £150)? What parental controls do you use? Have you managed to teach your children to use their phones responsibly?

have a look at the monqi phone. it looks like a regular smartphone but it has inbuilt parental controls, so you can control when and what they access online, what apps they download etc. it can be hard to find a case for it but you can get them here (email the seller with your colour choice). all the best x

@sleepismysuperpower1 Do you know if the Monqi can make WhatsApp video calls? My DD in Yr 6 likes to talk to a friend who moved away and we are looking at getting her own phone this year.

Following, I am getting DS one for Xmas so he can get used to it before Secondary school in September. My budget it only about £50 though so may have to go secondhand.

unlimited internet access with a smartphone means an early introduction to porn and is why kids are now growing up so twisted. Of course everyone else's little darling will have it and will show him the porn anyway. I've no idea what the solution to this is.

all he actually needs is a talk and text job. They're great - battery lasts two weeks, they can be dropped or sat on without damage and they are small unlike the brick of a smartphone. And they cost a tenner.

kids can talk to their mates on skype or similar from supervised home internet.

Ooh! The Monqi looks good. (And only £76 on Amazon)

OP, I got a Monqi phone for DD when I did a trial on MN and we got to keep the phone. It is very good and easy to use, it has tracking on there so you can see where they are at all times, but, it does have limitations...

the texts came through the Monqi system not as normal text messages which made it difficult and there are a lot of apps that you can't get on there , because they are not aimed at children, like Snapchat etc.

You can limit data use on there and you can limit time etc so it is good from that point of view. I would say it is great for younger kids.

DD got fed up with it, so in Y6 I gave her my old iphone 5s, which she loves. We have an agreement, that I can look through it at any time, check the apps, friends, followers etc. if she refuses then the phone gets taken away. If she changes the passcode and wont reveal it, the phone gets taken away.

DD is on Giffgaff on the £6 goody bag, which only gives 500mb data, but she can use wifi most of the time. She gets 300 mins and 500 texts which is ample. The next goodybag up is £8 and that gives 2GB data, 500 mins and unlimited texts.

DD has a Moochies phone watch aimed at kids (Y6), but I expect when she gets to Y7 she'll move to an android phone and we'll put Qustodio on it to allow me to control it.

We use Qustodio on my iPad at the moment but android allows it to control more than iOS does. We mostly use it to control times the device is used as well as content. Not bullet proof as kids will try to circumvent but possibly worth looking into if you go with a regular device.

@bobsyourauntie i read somewhere ( i think on amazon) that you can download apps on their behalf on the google play store if they aren't available on the store on the phone, is that right?

@ChoccyJules i think so yes, since this says that instagram, snapchat and whattsapp are all available on the store x