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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To why parents would fork out for an expensive phone for under 16s?

195 replies

malificent7 · 13/01/2018 10:18

Dd informs me that some of her classmates in year 5 have iphones or Samsungs.
Im a bit judgy as they are so expensive both if you buy a handset outright plus on a contract they are still expensive as a monthly payment.

I didnt want dd to have a phone at all but due to incessant nagging i relented and got her a cheap handset from Tescos. She hasnt had any credit on it for months and uses it as a tablet.

Aibu to think that giving a child an expensive phone is a bit daft. Kids loose and break things plus it sets an unreasonable standard.

I know i was daft myself to have guven in and get her a phone but everyone else in her class seems to have one!

OP posts:
HermioneWeasley · 13/01/2018 15:11

I think I’m the only one who agree with you OP, but then DP and I don’t have the latest tech, just what we need. DS has the cheapest smartphone I could find. It’s £8/month and works just fine. I boggle when the kids are all together and the6 all have iPhone 6s and 7s. I get that some of them are hand me downs, but I'm astonished that so many parents are buying the latest phones. I’m very out of touch I guess.

I’m not a paragon of virtue though - lots of people would be horrified at what we spend on holidays and eating out.

NancyJoan · 13/01/2018 15:12

No idea why a year 5 child needs a phone, but my year 7 DD has an iPhone 5, because I upgraded and she had my old one.

citybzg · 13/01/2018 15:24

I boggle when the kids are all together and the6 all have iPhone 6s and 7s. I get that some of them are hand me downs, but I'm astonished that so many parents are buying the latest phones

Why? I mean I don't 'boggle' or become 'astonished' when I see a teen with a basic handset. So why do people who give their kids the cheapest think like this?

VileyRose · 13/01/2018 15:26

Mine don't have phones but I have a really old Alcatel that they take out to ring me on. No one would steal it and it cost £5. Brilliant.

ZanyMobster · 13/01/2018 15:49

DS 11 has a Samsung, free phone and £8 per month on a contract so I definitely don't have an issue. Think maybe it's good to research facts before commenting and suggesting it's ridiculously expensive etc. DS2 has an iPod touch and they are hugely expensive and not all that, that is my only issue with i-phones. They're just a phone after all. You get what you can afford IMO.

MelanieSmooter · 13/01/2018 16:24

No idea why a year 5 child needs a phone

No idea why your mind is so closed, but as it happens mine walks from my work to school in the morning and I like him to let me know he got there safely. Is that acceptable?

GhostsToMonsoon · 13/01/2018 16:42

I won't get my children a phone until they start walking to and from school or out without me. And then I very much doubt I would get them the latest iPhone.

SoupDragon · 13/01/2018 16:44

Oh God. That’s my opinion now move on. I don’t care, it’s not my money.

PMSL at “I don’t care”

Skowvegas · 13/01/2018 16:45

Our iPhone SEs cost $11 a month, I think that's about £8 or 9? Is that expensive?

I have been really impressed with how well my kids have cared for the newer iPhones they've been given. I drop/lose mine far more often than they do.

Trampire · 13/01/2018 17:00

My dd is in Y8. She had an iphone5 to go to Secondary with. It costs us £10 a month.

She's never lost it, broken it or had it confiscated.

In Secondary they use Snapchat, Instagram and facetime to communicate. She takes great photographs and has made short films with it. I think it's great.

We chose an iPhone has dd has an ancient iPad (again, that she's taken great care of) and knows the whole apple platform really well.

Personally I wouldn't get her the latest handset because I wouldn't want her to be a target for mugging and her old one works fine. I really don't get the angst on MN about what types of phones dcs have.

YellowMakesMeSmile · 13/01/2018 17:13

I don't think it's sets an unreasonable standard whatsoever.

Children resent not being on a par with the peers and to purposely withhold items because you want to seems very mean.

Some spend more on wine and coffee than others do on their children's phones a month.

Chattymummyhere · 13/01/2018 17:19

My 8year old hasn’t my old iPhone 5. When I next upgrade he will get my current phone. He doesn’t have a SIM card uses it like an iPod.

FrostyThirties0 · 13/01/2018 17:20

No idea why a year 5 child needs a phone,

Why does your year 7 child need a phone? Then I’ll tell you why my year 5 needed a phone.

CourtneyLoveIsMySpiritAnimal · 13/01/2018 17:25

Why does your year 7 child need a phone? Then I’ll tell you why my year 5 needed a phone

My Y5 DD needs an phone because how else will she access Foxy Bingo?

IncyWincyGrownUp · 13/01/2018 17:38

My (then) year five child wanted a phone so he could join in playing Pokemon go with the rest of us. We put a sim in an old smartphone we had hanging around, and it was shit so I upgraded my daughter’s phone and gave him her old 5c with a cheap sim in it. Happy days. For a couple of days a week he now gets to stomp around chasing pixels and life is quiet. There are precisely three telephone numbers in the damn thing. He’ll text his dad a couple of times a month. He sends emails to his teacher from it now and again. He does book quizzes on it outside of school times. It has a nifty Pokemon case. It gives a severely anxious child with asd a little bit of confidence in life.

So the snotty folks can fuck off with the santimony, because it’s absolutely bloody pointless and makes you look like complete and utter dickheads.

(And I am aware that I sound unhinged, but in my defence it’s been a long-ass week, I’m ill, my son isn’t in a great place right now, and I can’t be doing with twattery. On the plus side, it’s half five and I should be in bed within ninety minutes if I play my cards right. Huzzah for weekends eh?)

Skowvegas · 13/01/2018 17:39

I am clearly one of Those Parents as my children all have iPhones, Macbooks and Apple Watches.

Oh the humanity!

MelanieSmooter · 13/01/2018 17:44

What is it with people being so unable to understand that what others do has literally nothing to do with you unless it’s directly affecting you?!

Peanutbuttercheese · 13/01/2018 18:21

Notgivin DS as mentioned decided on his alternative tech phone that isn't popular. I was just pointing out what it's like at school and in life. Some people want to fit in, some people are deperate for this and some don't care. We can tell our dc as much as we like it doesn't matter. And as much as we try to boost their self esteem and teach them objects don't really matter it doesn't always work.

minionsrule · 13/01/2018 18:34

DS 12 saved himself to buy a Samsung Galaxy S6 last year, £10 pm contract which we pay, has a good case on it. He looks after this one much better than the old cheaper one he had. Got his first phone at start of Y6, first phone was really cheap and basic but it served its purpose at the time.

texza · 13/01/2018 18:37

Myself, dh and my 3 dc all got the iPhone X for Christmas, as my husband can afford it and decided to get us one. My youngest dd is 7, and has this new phone, obviously she has no real use for it other than the gaming and photography side, and if people are offended by that then that’s their problem, and if they want to make the assumption that we are raising spoilt bratty children, then so be it. I will buy my children whatever I want, as long as I can afford it. I’m never going to not buy them something because someone in their class has a rubbish phone, people have all different incomes, and if they can afford it, then why not.

EdithViolet · 13/01/2018 18:40

Year 5 seems a bit young. A about 13 one of mine got and wanted a smart phone and eventually (now at university) had an iphone. His brother same age did not want one for years and years and then just had his brother's cast offs as he was just not into phones and chat when he could be doing other stuff. They all vary. He was just more into running around and his classical music, school sport, doing rather than looking at a phone stuff.

Don't given in to pressure if you don't want to and don't have the money. I have said to mine (now just gone to university) I don't replace damaged or lost phones so consider buying insurance as I am not replacing or repairing them now they are this age.

midnightmooch · 13/01/2018 18:44

DCs got Samsungs for their 12th Birthdays, think they were around £200. They have sim only contract for £9/month, they look after their stuff, always have done, and their phones will not be updated on a whim just like DH and I don't upgrade our phones - no point as their functionality hasn't changed enough to justify it. My iPhone 6 came out of contract last year rather than upgrade, I went to sim only contract, I pay £9/month now.

Pfftkids · 13/01/2018 18:45

My two have iPhones se and 6 plus, both hand me downs. They know if they break them they are getting the £9 Nokia phone we bought when my oldests last phone stopped working. It's when I hear kids break their phone on purpose to get the latest that really bothers me

Runninglateeveryday · 13/01/2018 18:48

Why do you care? Because you don't doesn't mean everyone else is wrong. Dds pride and joy is her iPhone she looks after it well , most of them do an iMessage /FaceTime constantly, DD doesn't really use voice calls, I love my iPhone but hate hate hate FaceTime.

Natasha6kids · 13/01/2018 18:50

My kids have to save for there phones themselves . Pocket money , birthday and christmas money . How much they spend is upto them as they have saved it .
By doing this i am hoping it teaches them the value of money and helps them understand why its important to look after things . Also it gives them the sense of achievement .
I do pay for the sim chip each month though . This is simply because i want to know i can contact them and vice versa