When did you give your child their first phone?

[DrunkBetch]

My DS is going in to year 5 this September and has started asking for a phone. I know some of his classmates have them as I've seen them. I'm just not sure if he's a little young. So my question is when did your kids get their first mobiles?

Start of Y6, when he went to middle school and started travelling independently.

Year 6.

It seems to be getting younger now. I sold my old i-phone last week, to a parent buying for a 6 year old girl!

Yr6 gave dc a cheap £10 pay as you go phone. If they look after it, and use it responsibly, they got a decent phone on a contract when they started yr7.

My daughter had my old iPhone 6 gifted to her at age 8. About half of her class had phones too at the point.

She had a brand new contract phone at age 9 which was a absolute god send during lockdowns when it meant she could keep in touch with her friends.

There have been a few members of her class that don't have phones and they do seem to get left behind a little socially

During lockdown I gave my dd 9 my old phone when I upgraded so she could keep in touch with school friends.

Secondary school ... but that was 10 years ago so I know times have changed.

I am always amused when people say 'I gave my DC my old phone' ... I am sure the phone I use is considered ancient by many but it works perfectly well, I admit I am a complete Luddite regarding technology and can't imagine what I would need a different phone for.

Was going to be this year as DD starts High school, but because of COVID we got her one last year so she could keep in touch with friends on WhatsApp

Y6. Brick phone and PAYG. DD was walking home alone and it was an aid to her personal safety.

At the moment mine have smart watches that have a phone and text functionality but I need to approve numbers that want to call in and they want to call out to. The plan was that that was going to be sufficient for them to have something to contact us on if they were out and about until going up to secondary school, or summer before then.

DD has just had one ready for starting middle school next month, she's 9 and wants to start walking home with friends after the first few weeks.

Dd got a phone for her 11 birthday last year, ds will get one when he turns 11 next year. We’re not in the UK so they go to secondary school later here but like a pp, we preferred to get one and set the ground rules while we still know their friends and they’re less likely to push back against the rules. We have full access to dds phone (explained and agreed before getting it) and we do check.

Children are definitely getting them younger. Ds has just turned 10 but I’d say half of the children in his class have a phone and unfortunately it seems plenty of parents are a bit oblivious about limiting/monitoring. There have been issues with bullying and porn in his class in the last year.

Ds has asked if he can get a phone for Christmas but we’ve been clear that they don’t get one until 11 and we’re sticking to that.

Y5, as that’s when school lets them walk to and from by themselves. I want to get a ‘I’m safely at school’ text.

Heavily locked down - no camera, no internet browser, can’t download apps, turns off (apart from emergency calls) overnight. So it’s basically a brick phone with added location services and a touchscreen.

Originally secondary school was the plan but am about to give him one for his birthday in year 6. We moved last year and he misses his best friend, we live away from the majority of our family and DH goes away for work frequently. So although I don't need to contact him regularly, there are a lot of people he is isolated from that he'd love independent contact with. It'll be heavily regulated.

11th birthday in year 6.

Works well for us as both DDs birthdays are spring so they have a term to get used to their phone and the vagaries of texting etc plus our house rules get set and they get used to it.

DD nearly 9 has my old phone with no SIM for games. Will get one with sim when she starts walking to school.

PP who mentioned 8/9 yr olds keeping in touch via phone. None of my DDs friends have phones or any means of being in touch via phone so would be no point in her being able to do that. All contact is still done via parents at this age where we live.

DD is 11 and got her first one just before these summer holidays (finishing year 6, will start year 7 in September). She didn't really need one before then as she didn't travel to school independently.

If she'd walked to school at a younger age, I would have got a cheap basic PAYG (not a smartphone) for emergencies.

DC1 and DC2 got them as their birthday present in year 6.

DC3 got his in year 5 because it was the first lockdown (March 2020) and I wanted him to be able to stay in touch with his friends easily while they weren't at school.

The plan was for DD1 to get a phone when she was going into secondary school - so the summer holidays just before this.

However, we found ourselves in a situation where we had a spare phone (slight water damage) when she was 9, so I let her have it to use at home and play games on. She can also FaceTime family from it and her best friend.

It now has a SIM card in it - DD has severe allergies and over the summer holidays we have let her go a bit further with friends. She takes the phone with her in her bag just in case.

What I would say is that she isn’t using the phone as a phone - she will use it to play minecraft etc

Other kids in her class very much “have a phone” and carry it everywhere. I didn’t want that at this age (11) and to be fair she isn’t fussed about it and half the time it is dead!

When she was 8 when her dad left us. It was so she could contact him when she liked. No such thing as a smart phone in those days though.

I think year 5 is perfect so they are used to them before secondary and you can set guidelines.

9th birthday they got an ipod touch with no SIM so could only use on Wifi and essage their mates on imessage / facetime.

10th birthday they got a phone.

My daughter got hers about a month ago. She's starting secondary next month.
I set all the passcodes and have a parent app on it which allows me to keep an eye on her.

The Christmas they were in year six. But no data put on till they started high school so they had six months his g it just at home connected to the Wi-Fi so they could get used to having one, using WhatsApp but controlled at home. Data put on in the summer before they start high school and become more independent.

I wasn’t planning on giving mine one till she turned 11 but she had my old phone with no sim and her dad gave her a sim during lockdown (she was 9) . It was great she could contact friends etc and her dad can message her directly now rather than through me . I have the password and she doesn’t take it to bed etc with her .