10 year old iPhone

[user1483887562]

Should a ten year old be given an iPhone? Its my stepson, his parents don't generally monitor their sons' screen time. The younger one (8) was spending a 100 pound a week on his mums credit card for games. neither of them noticed, I saw this on his (monitered by me )ipad and altered them both. It is an almost impossible conversation to have with my boyfriend, it is bothering me hugely that a ten year old has unlimited access to the internet and no rules, obviously I try to impose rules when they are in our house, but it is already a lost battle. I feel both parents are desperately trying to please their sons due to a dreadfu divorce and no one is really bothering to check about internet safety etc Tempted to back off completely. DPs family have expressed concern ( to me ) too about this.ANY advice welcome.

"Is the issue with the fact that it's an iPhone? Would you be OK with a different make of phone? I wouldn't give a 10 year old such an expensive item, I'd be worried about it being lost or stolen as well as running up a large bill but if it's not my child there wouldn't be anything I could do"

Sandy - if it's a hand me down phone, it's not necessarily expensive. You can buy the same model of my daughter's hand me down iPhone for under £50.

She also has a rolling contract of £7.50 a month with Tesco. It has a cap of £10 a month, so she cannot go over that in calls. She has 2g of data a month and rarely tops that, but has on occasion met her limit.

Mine has one. He has no need to expect any privacy on it or his laptop and I check them regularly. I have explained this is for his benefit so i can protect him.

As for the iphone I have a code set up for itunes that I need to input myself, he doesnt know it, if he wants to download apps. Means I can check what they are. He is also payg so no contract.

It has nothing to do with you OP, you may disagree with the way they parent, however again that’s nothing to do with you.

A 10 year old with a iPhone (smart phone) is not breaking news, in the UK, it’s quite common, my 11 year old has an smart phone , he needs, and as his parents we can contact him at all times.

Also it has some downloadable apps that we can locate him with. It’s also parental controlled and set up so I can mointer him usage and screen time on my smart phone.

Thank you all, yes I realise I am not the parent but it does impact on me i.e. I do a share of childcare, inout and so on. I will just try to import the necessity of close parental monitoring. I seriously think a lot of parents don't keep a close eye at all. I've seen it ( as a teacher) the things children have shown me that I've had to teleparents. Theres no excuse for it however given the amount information available. Good to hear others; ideas.

In settings, you can block individual apps.

Hello, just wanted to share this little video about a report on Screen Time from Children in Northern Ireland - I think it raises some really interesting points. You can watch here: youtu.be/rhI_F3X2Oa0