What age are people giving their children their first phone?

[LemonChiffon]

Dd has been asking for a phone for her 10th birthday, which is coming up. I have no idea when people start giving their children phones and whether 10 is reasonable or not! So please let me know when you gave your child a phone!

Btw it would be an old phone of mine, with some v cheap SIM only contract.

Thanks!

@Shiningstarr same here, but not Teams. They need outlook for emails and also an app for timetable and homework. They were given as homework to download the app and login before ICT lesson where they will learn how to use the app.

I'd imagine if you don't have a phone, you'll need either a tablet or a laptop to use the app/website for the homework.

I am going for just before secondary school so I have contact with them in case they get stranded at school.

9 in our house she’s 13 now but still purely so I can see her location when she’s out and about and have means of emergency contact with her. I get a new iPhone every year and she always just gets my old one so not brand new

11 ready for secondary school.

My DD got hers aged 11,near the end of year 6. Nearly everyone in her class had one by that time. We got one as she started going to the park without us and it gave us peace of mind to know she could get in touch.

Those who are making apps on smartphones necessary for school work,using transport etc are not thinking through the ramifications of minors being able to send/receive indecent images.It is a criminal offence for anyone over the age of 10 (I believe) to do this.

The start of secondary. Demographics definitely plays a part. Anyone who gives a young child unfettered access to a phone is very, very stupid.

I suggest those who wish their children to have a smartphone read the posts on this forum:get-help.stopitnow.org.uk/family-and-friends/family-and-friends-forum

When my dd started getting the bus to secondary school was when she got her first phone

Those who's children get them for going on buses to school, is it because its a service bus or is it also for a school bus? Interested as a lot of kids round here travel by schoolbus with no adults from P1. I'm pretty sure they don't all have phones. However , another more kids generally do seem to be getting them at 7,8 and 9, identifiable by the sudden wearing of small bags...

DC don't get the bus, they walk, but their friends bus and its just the normal bus that anyone can use. Children start typically start using it from age 9 (first year of middle school) when they're expected by school to take themselves to/from school - parents aren't even allowed into the yard at middle school. The bus route goes from nearest town A to nearest town B and all around the local villages in between so picks up all the kids who are outside of walking distance.

I gave DC one at the start of Year 6, they were 10 and a half. They started walking to school alone in year 6 so I gave them one for safety.

There's just no need for primary school kids to have a smartphone IMO. My nephew is 9 but I don't think he's ever asked for a phone.

Mine will be 13 starting secondary school
so I’ll get them one around that age.

@Sarah2891 that depends on the situation surely? My primary aged DC was left to walk on a broken bone for 4 days on a school trip because a) no teacher bothered to take him seriously (SN) b) no teacher bothered to call me c) he couldn't contact me. I'm not sending my other DC on school trips without them being able to contact me directly.

Mine have smart phones because that is what we had in the cupboard. But they are locked down so they can't access internet or add contacts, apps etc themselves.

9

You do know that just because my DD has a smartphone I don't leave her on it without supervision?

Any device (ipad, laptop, phone) needs some form of parental control. DD knows that she has to share her passwords, we do have the right to check messages, websites, brower history etc.

We had periods where a WhatsApp conversation went out of hand but that could have happened with texts as well. They do need to learn to navigate the online world and as a parent it's my duty to ensure she is safe and learns to be responsible with it.

To be independent teens need to have the tools to learn it and it's our duty to ensure the tools are safe and she learns to navigate them.

About sexual exploitation - DD was 13 when she first mentioned that men cat-called her, on the way to school, wearing school uniform of school trousers and a jumper. She started covering up to a point where she would wear an oversized hoodie by over 20 degrees. It took a lot of time to convince her that she did nothing wrong, the men are the culprits and to give her body confidence back.
A smartphone ban for under 18s is not helping with real life experience but it can tell her where to catch the bus to go away from a bad situation.

Mine is just 10 and doesn’t have one yet. He can have one in the summer before he goes to high school. So many fallings out happen online so I’m avoiding it as long as possible.plus he doesn’t need be yet.