Page 3 | iphones in year 5?

tripletrouble · 2012-01-16T23:31:31+00:00

My DS (year 5) was late out of school today because he was looking at a classmates new iphone4 ( the new one). DS's eyes were big with excitement and I could tell that he was wishing that he had one too. AIBU to think that 9 is too young to have a new iphone? Nine-year-olds should be kicking footballs around and playing games!! It just puts pressure on parents who can't afford the latest gadgets for themseves let alone their children, and makes the children who haven't got them unhappy!

Francagoestohollywood · 17/01/2012 13:55

I wouldn't give an iphone to a 10 yr old. Or any old mobile, to be honest, as at 10 here where I live they are still not that independent that I'd need to reach them on the phone.

I personally find the fact that it is ok for young children to own expensive gadgets quite disturbing. But that is me, and not because I htink that technology is the bogeyman.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 17/01/2012 14:26

Ridiculous....9 is too young for any phone, let alone an iphone!

Chattymummyhere · 17/01/2012 15:08

My son will be getting an Iphone 4 for christmas this year he will be 3! Me and my DH will of gotten new phones by then and he loves playing on the toddler apps, it will be used only at home, long trips and while waiting in hospitals/doctors not for him to take to the park or school when he starts.

I dont see why other people have such a big problem with it, us who do give our children phones and expensive gifts dont go around saying.

AIBU to think mrs X from across the road is just asking for her 10yr old DD to get bullied/kidnapped or is being abused because she does not have a phone?

Its always the parents who cannot afford to or seem to think we still live in the 1950's, alot of school now have app's they tell you to use to help your children, Hv's also reccomemend apps for delayed children, hell there was one school in the new for using Ipad's to teach their children and that 1 class got the best marks out of all the other who sat the exact same test.

PostBellumBugsy · 17/01/2012 15:16

Don't really care if other children have got them (which is what I say to my DCs) but they aren't having them!
I can't afford to buy them iphones - it is that simple.

marblerye · 17/01/2012 15:19

My 8yo has an itouch. I don't see what is wrong with it. He isn't allowed to take it to school or when he plays out. He plays games on it, listens to audiobooks and music. He uses it to FaceTime DH to say goodnight at bedtime and he facetimes his grandma and cousins once or twice a week as he hardly ever sees them. He doesn't have it in his room at bedtime and doesn't surf the web. He doesn't have a ds or psp or wii or playstation or xbox. He doesn't kick a football because he doesn't care for the game but he does play with games and toys, play out, read and play other sports. I don't think he needs a mobile phone but plenty of dcs at that age do esp those with long journeys to school or who live in 2 step households.

squeakytoy · 17/01/2012 15:19

My son will be getting an Iphone 4 for christmas this year he will be 3! Me and my DH will of gotten new phones by then and he loves playing on the toddler apps, it will be used only at home, long trips and while waiting in hospitals/doctors not for him to take to the park or school when he starts

What is wrong with giving a child one of those good old fashioned things known as a book?. It may help his literacy levels in a way that a game on a phone will not.

Chattymummyhere · 17/01/2012 15:24

Because I can put 100's of books on his Iphone rather than only being able to fit 1book into my bag which gives him the option of reading different types of books, for reading it shall be used more like a Kindle which my teacher friend also profers as she can read lots of books without having to find storage for them all. My son has books for at home but I cannot when we got on holiday fit enough in for the 5 different books we read everyday together on a 2week holiday that 70books!! Im sorry my son loves storys and will ask over and over for more but there is no way im packing 70books on a 2week trip

Ragwort · 17/01/2012 15:25

Chatty - I could afford to buy my DS (10) an iphone but in my opinion he does not need a phone at all. As another poster has said,

Hulababy · 17/01/2012 15:27

As far as I know having access to an electronic device is not exclusive from also having books! Nor do they stop children from playing games, playing sport, socialising with friends, etc. They are often just in addition too - and tbh if a child is doing anything exclusively (ie all the time, at the expense of other activities) and on their own it isn't a good thing, regardless of it being a phone or a book!

But anyway...

DD is in y5. She does not have a mobile phone of any sort. She won't be getting one until she is secondary school at the earliest. Only one child in her class does afaik and it was her grandparent who gave her it. It was an cheap phone on payg, not a smartphone. Once money ran out the girl never bothered again with it. Only other child of this age I know with a phone is my friend's DS - but he uses it for when he is visiting his dad, and there was a medical reason for it initially. And again, it isn't a smart phone.

DD does, however, have an iTouch. She uses it mainly for music. She does have some apps too - some educational, some just for fun. DD isn't the type to get overly obsessed by anything tbh so we have never had to worry about her spending too much time on it. And I am never going to stop her from using it for music - can't see any problem at all with a child having access to music in this form.

Hulababy · 17/01/2012 15:30

Mind, I may end up downloading money onto my old iPhone when I renew it this spring, and letting DD keep that on her ipod dock instead of her iTouch, freeing up her iTouch a bit more. But by then it wont work as a phone anymore as the contract will have run out. Not even sure if it will work at all once the contract expires.

squeakytoy · 17/01/2012 15:31

Excuse my ignorance here, as I could be wrong, but surely a child would prefer, and benefit more from a book with words AND pictures, rather than a tiny screen with very small words. Hence the reason why books for young children are in that format.

A toddler does not need a gadget.

StealthPenguin · 17/01/2012 15:40

YADNBU.

I'm 21. I didn't have a "proper" mobile phone until I was 16 and in a part-time job. I had a pay-as-you-go Nokia 3210 before that, and even then I was 12 before I could have one! And my credit came out of my pocketmoney - £2.50 per week and if I had no credit my mother would put on a fiver and then dock my pocketmoney for a fortnight.

I have an iPhone 3GS and have absolutely no desire to "upgrade" to another phone. I like my gadget just fine, thanks!

9 is way too young. I don't get the consumerism involved. My brother and stepfather are atrocious for it - my brother got a new XBOX for Christmas because they'd brought out a new Elite model that had more memory than his last one! Just pointless.

Chattymummyhere · 17/01/2012 15:55

squeakytoy you do get toddler books on them with pictures and big words, there are sing along stories, fill the gaps spelling apps, animals and sounds, there are shape games..

Toddlers learn best though play which is why nurserys and pre-school and reception is more playing that anything else so why can my child not play and learn while on a long car trip on something he enjoys? Its just a more expensive leappad while a ringing option which he wont be using but infact cheaper for me to give him as I already have it, yes I could sell it for £100 but alot of the new leappad/innotab are around the £80-£90 mark anyway but im sure we would not have an AIBU to buy my child a innotab?

BeeBawBabbity · 17/01/2012 16:06

My kids 9, 7 have iPod touches. I'd consider giving the eldest my iPhone when I upgrade. I love new technology and really want to encourage my kids to embrace it too. Only problem is cost!!

No way would she be allowed to take it to school though.

crazygracieuk · 17/01/2012 16:18

Many primary school children have a DS which is comparable in price to a second hand itouch/iphone. The children I know with one have their parent's old one.

My children have cheap phones for going out with and have access to my iphone and an itouch.

On the other hand it seems like a crazy thing to do because many adults covet an iphone or itouch!

valiumredhead · 17/01/2012 16:29

For those posters that say at 9 a child does not need a phone at all, well imo it completely depends where you live and how they get to school and what sort of lives they have. Ds who is 10 plays out for hours at a time at the weekends and walks to and from school, a phone is useful for getting in touch if he needs picking up early from somewhere or changes plans and goes to a mate's house.

NotnOtter · 17/01/2012 17:02

My teens don't have mobiles

Hulababy · 17/01/2012 17:25

I am surprised they are allowed to take the phones to school at primary. At DD's schools mobile phones are not permitted generally. If there is a very specific reason why one should be required any time it has to be handed in to the office at the start of the day and collected at the end of the day.

My DD doesn't need a phone. She has to check in with me every so often when playing out, and is always within a reasonable distance. I don't let her play too far away unless at a friend's house, or playing near that friend's - and then they are within easy reach of the friend's home/parents too.

I also worry that a mobile phone esp a good one, would make a child an easy target.

valiumredhead · 17/01/2012 17:26

Phones have to be handed in before school and collected after at my ds's school.

Bunbaker · 17/01/2012 17:47

"My teens don't have mobiles"

I should think that in this day and age that is quite unusual. DD gets a bus to school and I feel much happier that she has a mobile in case anything goes wrong - bus breakdown, missed bus etc. We live in a rural area so if she misses the bus home I have to go and fetch her. There are dedicated school buses and they all leave the school 10 minutes after school finishes. If you aren't on that bus you are scuppered.

NotnOtter · 17/01/2012 18:17

Bun baker undoubtedly it is unusual but not impossible - they go to school miles away too and one travelled across world without one - not a problem but obviously not for everyone

EmpressOfTheSevenOceans · 18/01/2012 22:40

DD (Yr6) started taking herself to school last term. It's a half hour combination of walk & bus ride & she texts us when she gets there before handing her phone in to the office. We might relax that rule when she's at secondary school but at the moment it's a huge reassurance.

EmilyStrange · 18/01/2012 22:47

My dc has one, asks for very little and as I want to encourage independence I want dc to have a phone. It is my old one and my dc won't abuse it. People give kids different things. Some may buy out Hollister clothes, others may have all sorts of gaming things in the house, someone else might have tvs in the bedrooms and so on and so on. If you don't want to give your kids one, fine but you are wasting your breath judging others on it.

mummymeister · 19/01/2012 00:25

Neither of us have an i phone. but then i didnt have a chopper bike when i was younger either or my own record player so maybe it runs in the family. My kids get cheap simple mobiles when they go to senior school because they need them ( we live in a rural area and school is 20+ miles away). agree that children should have technology around them but this isnt about technology it is about "me too". the kids with i phones are the same ones with the designer clothes, shoes etc.