What age did you allow your child to have their phone in their room in the night?

[GiveMyRegardsToYourLizard]

Please note that I'm asking when 'did' you.
Not when 'will you'.

Because until I had a teenager I very haughtily thought there's no way until DS was at least 16.

But now I'm actually at the teenage tantrum point, it's proving way more a bone of contention then I ever imagined and I need to 'pick my battles'🤯

Dh goes to say goodnight and removes phones when he goes to bed around 10.15 ish. Non negotiable. Dds 12 and 14

Depending on your provider you can also control wifi access through your account. We have a booster that allows this but yet to set it up. I really need to though as woke DS14 up this morning and found both iPad and phone in his bed despite our verbal rule of no tech in bedrooms at bedtime...

We use Screen Time app which isn't free but covers as many devices as you like, all controlled from your phone and they can't uninstall it without putting in the password. If they do put in the password you get a notification. You can easily allow extra time if requested. You can allow certain apps eg we allow kindle and spotify when other apps are blocked, but everything stops working at midnight.

DD is 16 and doesn't have her phone at night, puts it away when she goes to bed around 11. I know for a fact she has other devices but I don't really mind and many of her friends aren't on at stupid hours either.

Ds is 15 and we've never removed his phone at night. When he was a lot younger he wouldn't be on it late anyway. When he was older, I'd just say to put it off at a certain time and he did. There was never any need to physically remove it from the room. He never sneaked on it overnight or anything. We always expected and trusted him to behave responsibly with his phone, which he did. I can't imagine us all having a whole house phone curfew at 9pm! How ridiculous. Our ds can self regulate. Is that the problem? That dc can't or won't control their own phone usage? Surely removing a phone just makes it all the more the forbidden fruit?

We've always had a charging station downstairs, and all phones and iPads have to go on them at bedtime. DH and I don't take phones to bed with us. But it's always been the way, which helps. They do sometimes sneak them but if caught they're very sheepish.

I use Google Family Link. Your child will need a Google email address, as will you. It's brilliant. Eldest is early teen and has had his phone in his room for ages because it locks at 9.15. He uses it for an alarm which is why it's allowed in there. I've blocked social media apps as well through this and can see what apps he does go on/download.

I used to use Qustodio but had issues so tried to get rid of it. Could do it on my phone but could not get rid of it on DS's and it was causing problems. Think I ended up doing a factory reset in the end! Plus yes, you do have to pay if you want greater control.

They are allowed them in their rooms on airplane mode. My two sons can be trusted totally (ASD!) but my daughter has had hers removed if on it when she shouldn't be. I prefer to go for a trusting approach personally.

Very curious about this.

Dd is almost 12. For now, We occasionally let her take her phone into her room at night to use for looking up reference photos for drawings (I spot check the history and the router traffic this is what she does), but have screen locks come on at negotiated times appropriate to what weekend/school night/holiday.

Contrary to my previous expectations, I gave in at 14 or 15.

I would have said never a year or two previously but the rows were not worth it.

He’s 17 now and whilst I would still prefer he didn’t have it overnight, it’s not proved to be a total disaster, he’s a good kid still.

The idea that I couldn’t have my phone at 16 is insane, and honestly seems borderline abusive, at 14 all I needed was 10 minutes of privacy with the internet to destress, and yes that usually included adult content. I was an early bloomer and if I wasn’t allowed that I would have totally gotten a girl pregnant lol!

Back in my day it wasn’t a phone but my PSP to browse the internet but even though I would get distracted occasionally - being able to watch 10 minutes of porn helped me get to sleep and de stress.

So unless you have actual reasons like failing grades, not wanting to wake up in the morning etc. I would never take his phone

This is the perfect answer.
Most of the time I would simply watch porn/nude pics and in 10 minutes I felt less stressed and quickly fell asleep. Unless they have proven to be noticeably irresponsible, let the guy have his phone

DS was 18. The other two aren't allowed a phone in their room as they're too young.