....to think 8/9 yr olds should not have their own iPads or Smart Phones?

[Poopoopeedoo]

My son just informed me that a good number of kids in his class of 8-9 yr olds are being given iPads for their birthdays and one already has an iPhone of his own.
Is this the norm now? I feel like perhaps I am just an old-fashioned stick in da mud but SERIOUSLY?? At 9 yrs old??
I just want to know if I should continue to dig heals in or if I am, in fact, the only UNREASONABLE parent here! He has access to DH´s ipad and our iphones intermittently btw, but I never imagined getting him his own till he was ...oh I don´t know...16!!
What say you, wise Mnetters??

mine has an ipad mini for Xmas (aged 8) - joint Christmas present between me and his Nan. Its been one of his most used Xmas presents ever.

Its OK for you not to want him to have one. I presume you have a reason, just explain the reason.

BTW I wouldn't say an ipad is the norm but lots of DS's friends had tablets of some sort for last Xmas. He is mostly into sport and minecraft and I would say the ipad mini has been better value by far than the bleedin chelsea kit.

Welcome to MN.

My friends child is 8 and has an iPad which she bought herself with her first communion money.

I was planning on some form of tablet for dd's 8th birthday. I might get ours back occasionally then. She can practice her coding and do research as well as watching iPlayer in peace then.

Mine got her iPad last Xmas when she was 7. Uses it a hell of a lot more than anything else I've ever bought her.

She mainly watches Stampy on YouTube.

We had the same dilemma with phones, and kids are experts in trying the 'whole class has one except me' card: my daughter even tried that line trying to persuade us to visit Disneyland!
Our kids had phones at 14 when they were more out and about on their own, and laptops at 15 to do coursework: until then they used the family computer. I'm sure at 8 most parents think technology is going to be used for education, in reality they will be on Facebook or playing games! You decide when you want to expose your kids to all the fun and pitfalls of the internet, because even with parental controls they become experts at getting around everything...

Hi thanks Kew
Just...I feel it´s a pretty expensive piece of equipment and....it seems a bit like really spoiling him.
I hope I don´t sound judgmental but it just seems like kids get given everything they desire these days but perhaps the problem is entirely mine and my attitude- hence the post!
Just to let you know where I am coming from...I am a very non-materialistic person. Stuff and possessions do not excite me at all! I like gadgets but purely for their funcionality and have an ancient iPhone which I shall never replace until it dies a death and can no longer be used! DH, on the other hand gets all foamy at the mouthy whenever he sees a new model of: i-whatever/camera/TV/etc so I get that a lot of people enjoy obtaining new things for the pure excitement of it but I would prefer not to bring up my sons with the attitude that they MUST POSSESS whatever new thing is the rage amongst all the buddies....

YABabitU

You don't know if there's reasons why they have there own iPad/smart phones or even if your DS isn't being a little creative with the truth as to how many really have them, in the hope that you cave & get him one too -

my own extremely honest DD has done that one to get her ears pierce & it was clever, as she didn't lie, but did mislead me

Your DSs class mates could well be exaggerating too - they do a lot of that at this age - all of DDs friends had their own laptops/tablets & smartphone - only they didn't really, they had shared family ones as does your DS but told DD they had their own

That said, my DD DID have an iPhone little older than that, but she saved her own money, birthdays, Xmas, pocket money & anything she could lay her hands on for a long time & bought it herself & we share an iPad, which she uses more as she needs it for homework etc etc, as she can't write without pain.

Oops- hello and thanks everyone else...not keeping up here!

Smart phone no but tablets lots have at our primary school. On the taster day at high school they all seemed to have phone out at break.

You can hold out until your children are 16 and nearly adult but they wont thank you for it.

I consider our family to be late-adapters and generally techno-skeptic, but we bought DS (6) and DD (8) tablets for Xmas. They can play games and email their friends (the rule is, they have to tell us who they're email and wave the email under my or DH's nose before they press 'send').

I wouldn't consider giving them anything as expensive as an ipad, and don't want them to have mobile phones for years yet... but the tablets saved them fighting with me over my laptop.

Excuse rubbish grammar bad day

My DD is in P4 (age 8-9) and she knows of ONE kid in her class with a mobile. I think a fair number of them have a tablet (or access to one) of some sort.

*emailing

I have two sons and just foresee more problems than benefits of leaving them alone to surf the net willy nilly (unfortunately, it seems there´s a lot more willy than nilly out there!)
And I CAN´T be looking over shoulders all day!
I think I´d be happier giving a girl access earlier on (sorry- sexist alert!) but I think they are less likely to go looking for filth at an early age...but I may be dead wrong on that too!

I think it depends if you can easily afford it.

We can't afford to spend that sort of money on a gift for a child - well, a gift for ANYONE actually, so no, ours don't have them. But some of their friends do - obviously their parents feel they can afford to spend that sort of money.

On the other hand, I would be reluctant to give a child of that age any sort of phone at all, smart or not, because I would worry about how it was being used. The appeal of a smart phone is really all the stuff it does, not the phone-y-ness of it...

There are other, less expensive alternatives available to the apple badge technology.
Samsung tablets are half the price of ipads and are great for an 8 yr old (or anyone else). You can now get even cheaper versions.

I agree OP it's ridiculous!

I am not convinced they all have ipads but I reckon a fair few will have a tablet of some sort.
Dd is 10 and has a smart phone. My mum bought her it for Christmas. Wasn't expensive as these things go was £50. She mainly uses it for watching stampy videos on youtube.
Ds1 is 8 and opted not to get a tablet that he had previously so much wanted for a second hand xbox on his birthday so he could play minecraft every waking moment
If you do decide to give in yoh can vet some fairly cheap tablets that aren't nearly as fast as an iPad. We have one the dc use on journeys and it cost £45 it's great for what they use it for.

My ds(9) had an iPad for Christmas and there's not been a day since that it hasn't been used - I can't say that about any other thing he's ever owned. It seems normal for his friends to have a tablet of some sort whether it's ipad or android, they use them in school as well so it's not all games.

If you're worried about what they might look at on the net you can easily set parental controls and set limits on what age material they are allowed to look at. I set his to 12yrs and then found I couldn't access the lottery site lol.

I agree with you but lots of mumsnetters won't .

I just can't understand parents/grandparents buying such expensive presents for children.

My DS got his first mobile phone the Christmas after he started secondary school, of course he used to say 'everyone' has an ipad/expensive tablet etc but I know for a fact that it wasn't true.

I'd rather buy them a tablet etc than all the 'worthy toys' I have wasted money on.