Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to set the age when DD gets things by when I got them?

54 replies

Lizcat · 24/07/2011 19:10

I know I am, but canvassing others opinion of when is a good time, oh and I'm stuck at work with nothing else to do. So my stance to the can I get my ears pierce, a mobile phone and a TV in my bedroom. The summer after you are 13, 24 and 27 respectively. Really this my opening negiotiation with a 7 going on 17 year old.

What does the great netmums jury think? More the mobile phone and TV as don't want to open the ear piercing can of worms.

OP posts:
NettoSuperstar · 24/07/2011 19:13

I had my ears pierced at 10, TV in room at 11, and first mobile at 21.

DD had her ears pierced as a baby, and is having her first phone and TV in her room soon. She's 10 next month.

squeakytoy · 24/07/2011 19:14

I had a tv in my room from the age of about 11. It was a little black and white one, but it meant I could go up and watch what I wanted in the evenings (usually Top of the Pops), and watch tv when my friends came round, and my parents could have some peace.

Mobile phones didnt exist.. which is probably a blessing.

I would say though as soon as your child is going out without you, a mobile phone is useful.

Ear piercing was a rites of passage in the summer holidays before going to high school for me and the majority of my friends.

pommedechocolat · 24/07/2011 19:15

I never had a tv in my bedroom and would hope to avoid it for my dc too. First mobile I got it went I passed my driving test at 18 but I fear this may be younger in the next generation!!

I think when you did it is a good place to start and then, like the phone, you may have to make slight alterations to reflect how things have moved on.

valiumredhead · 24/07/2011 19:15

Ds had my old phone at 9 the year he started walking to and from school by himself.

Earring not an issue - yet!

He's had a telly for dvd's in his room for about a year but rarely watches telly up there, sometimes on sleepovers he does.

Goblinchild · 24/07/2011 19:19

So she hasn't worked out that she can do what she likes at 18?
I had ears pierced at 16, tv when I left home at 18 and mobiles hadn't been invented then.
DD had ears done at 11, mobile at the end of Y7 and got a laptop at 16 so dhe doesn't want a tv. She prefers DVDs, iPlayer and online stuff.
DS has different needs, due to his AS.
So he's never going to have his ears pierced, had a mobile at the beginning of Y7 and a TV without an ariel but with DVD capability in his room at 10.

'What does the great netmums jury think?'
I think you are pissed and on the wrong site.

NerfHerder · 24/07/2011 19:19

If you want to know what Netmums think... why don't you go and ask them?

zukiecat · 24/07/2011 19:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NettoSuperstar · 24/07/2011 19:20

I'll add that obv the ear piercing was my choice, I know most people don't like it on babies.

She's getting a phone as we are moving house, and she'll be still spending a lot of time where we live now with her best friend.
The TV is because she frequently has friends to stay, and they want to watch TV/DVDs without me, and we currently only have one TV in the lounge.

bruffin · 24/07/2011 19:20

I had ears pierced at 13 DD was 10.
Mobile phones were not invented when I was a child, DD and Ds got their phones when they were 10.
I have never had a tv in my room, Dcs are
13 and 15 have never had tv either, no plans to get one either.

Takver · 24/07/2011 19:21

PMSL at this one - dd would be
ok on the ear piercing (when she goes to secondary school)
would never get a tv in her bedroom,
could have a fifth share of a mobile when she's 26 (shared with work colleagues)
oh, and she'd have to wait until she was 18 to get her own tape player (she could have a cast off record player before then though)

Maybe I'm older than you . . . .

BrummieMummie · 24/07/2011 19:21

DD1 had her ears pierced at 11 because she didn't ask til then, first phone at 10, TV in room at 11

DS had first phone at 10, nearly 11, and TV in room at 11

DD2 had ears pierced at just turned 8 (same time as her sister) first phone at 9, TV in her room at 10.

DD1 and DS are both autumn babies so nearly the oldest in the school year while DD2 is nearly youngest, which might explain why she was a bit younger (or I just couldn't be arsed to argue about it so much by the time I got to DC3 Hmm)

bigTillyMint · 24/07/2011 19:22

I got my ears pierced at 17. DD was 11, DS doesn't seem keen Smile
I got my first TV in my room at 34. No TV's in children's rooms here!
I got my first mobile at 35. DD got hers at nearly 11 ready for secondary school, DS will get the same.

youarekidding · 24/07/2011 19:22

TV in room I was 11. DS was 4 as was given a TV/video combo and Thomas Tank videos. It was heavily policed and still is.

Mobile phone I was 18. It was a brick one as they weren't common in those days. Grin ave told DS when he's 11yo and starting secondary but may relent to a bit earlier.

He asked if he could have his ear pierced when friends DD's had theirs done, he was 6yo, I agreeed he chickened out. Grin I had to wait for 11 birthday but my sister had her's done a few months later at 8yo. So guess things differ between siblings let alone between us and our DC's.

LadyOfTheManor · 24/07/2011 19:22

I think if you ask Netmums they'll say you're being unreasonable for not allowing your DC to have/do those things by the age of 10.

ragged · 24/07/2011 19:22

We were out playing unsupervised at age 4-5yo, left at home alone unsupervised from age 8yo, walking miles across town by self by age 10yo (no mobile phones in those days), babysitting toddlers from age 12yo. You only have to read MN threads to see that most people would think those standards unreasonable nowadays.

The past not always your best guide.

Sandalwood · 24/07/2011 19:23

I think you're confusing us with someone else.

bigTillyMint · 24/07/2011 19:24

Ragged, you are so rightabout the freedoms we had.

FabbyChic · 24/07/2011 19:28

TV in room should be now.

Ears pierced aged 12

Mobile phone when off to secondary school.

superjobee · 24/07/2011 19:29

ears pierced at 10, tv and cable in room at 5, mobile at 11.

DD - ears pierced at 1, tv and sky in room at 3, mobile at 4.

mobile was as we lived down south and she liked having her own mobile to talk to rellys up here, she doesnt have it now and doesnt want one at the minute. she is 6 now.

zukiecat · 24/07/2011 19:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bruffin · 24/07/2011 19:30

Ragged
My dcs played out at that age as we live in a quiet culdesac, not sure what age I was.

EssentialFattyAcid · 24/07/2011 19:33

If your dd has a job and her own place at 18 I think it will be frankly ridiculous for you to carry on saying that she can't have a mobile phone or a TV anywhere she likes....

exoticfruits · 24/07/2011 19:35

Ears pierced and mobile 11yrs. TV in bedroom-never-or only when adults and buy their own.

LoveBeingAbleToNamechange · 24/07/2011 19:38

Refuse to answer till you know the name of the place you are posting

fastweb · 24/07/2011 19:46

Ears are not an issue for 11 yo boys in these parts. Even later on they seem to be more interested in piercing other bits of their face. So 18 then.

Mobile he has had since 10. It is for emergencies when he is at youth club (like we are running five minutes late, or he feels ill and wants to come home) and it's daily use seems to be alarm clock more than anything else.

Telly in room. Never. Electronics live downstairs.