do all of your 9 year olds have mobile phones?

[thighslapper]

Conversation with a pal whos 9 year old is the only kid in his class without one......some of them have one of those iphone jobbies (are they not fortunes???)

I ask as ds told me that aged 7 he was the only kid to NOT have a nintendo ds....

NOW he tells me he is the only kid to NOT have a pet in his class..

Pal tells me she is thinking of getting her boy a mobile..

How do you not make them too different from their peers, BUT how the hell do you draw a sensible line in the sand and say ENOUGH???

My youngest ds4 (10) has a blackberry and is on contract. He has had a phone since about 7. He doesnt use it other than to let us know what is happening after school as he has rugby, extra lessons, tennis, etc and the finishing times are not always the same. He also uses it to chat to his brothers in "The Brothers of Doom" blackberry messaging group my older 3 DS' created (who knows what they chat about!)

the awful truth about your story maypole is those horrid people would have targeted anybody that day they were out for a phone and probably something they could sell for drugs if kids have basic non value phones it lowers the risk :)

DD is in Year 4 and no phone or even talk of it here. No idea about her friends, as I said it's never come up in conversation.

yes i guess it was a case of wrong place wrong time it just really scares me small kids who cant defend them selves with basicly £££££ worth of kit.

also this trend of having music on when walking around or on the bus on speaker i have seen a few bad moments on the bus invloing that too

like you say aandk its best if they have the no frills kind (if its really for contact with mum and dad)

No - my DD is 9 and sometimes uses a spare PAYG to contact her friends during the holidays. Otherwise I don't see the point until they are in Secondary School, and then only cheap, basic ones.

She's only just had a DS as well.

Just say "no" until you feel the time is right.

I think its all what works best for your lifestlyle if it isn't needed in your life then they don't need one we just feel it works easier for us. :)

My DS (11) doesn't have one yet - about half his class do, tbh he doesn't need one yet. When he walks the dog for me, he takes mine but knows it's just for emergencies.

When he does start going into town with his mates etc he can have one, he knows this and it will probably be within the year. He won't go to Upper School until 13 here.

he's fibbing ! dd doesn't have one and ds will probably get a cheap payg for when he starts secondary in September age 13.

I told DS that he needed to give me good reasons for needing a phone and then I'd get him one. Of course he couldn't think of any. "I want one" and "everyone else has got one" didn't really do the trick.

The one he has is the second cheapest Tesco had. It's almost kewl by it's uncoolness. This is the way to go if you're not going down the Smartphone route IMO!