Dd, 5, asking for a phone

[Whatisgoingonhey]

Sort of inspired by another thread on here about Tik Tok & teens.
Just curious to know how much access your child has to the internet/phones etc.
Dd is 5 and has an outdoorsy type of life, we live next to the woods, so take our dog for lots of walks, we can walk to the beach, she goes to the pool, playgrounds etc
She watched some tv-CBeebies (although it feels as though she’s growing out of this?) shows on kids Netflix & Disney plus.
She recently wanted to watch lots of YouTube (Dh watches it) slime or cat videos etc, it’s pretty harmless, but I don’t like the speed of it all and it just doesn’t seem right for a 5 year old, so we have a lock on YouTube now.
She doesn’t have an iPad, although is desperate for headphones (I don’t know what she’d use them with though?)
She occasionally can play kids games on my phone.
This week she cried for a phone! At 5 🤷🏻‍♀️
Her neighbour friend (6) has his mums old iPhone.
She’s definitely not getting one until older, just was shocked that she was so upset to not have a phone.
What technology/tv etc does your child have of a similar age?
Tbh I hate all of it

Our five year old doesn't own any technology. We let him watch a fair amount of TV, and very rarely videos on our phone. No YouTube! I don't want to introduce it, it's like the junk food of media. Hoping to hold off getting a phone until he starts year 7 (age 12).

I think maybe it's a little early to go off cbeebees, although ours mainly watches kids stuff on Netflix. We're thinking of getting him a cassette player as well. Living the 90s lifestyle over here!

At 5- nothing!!! No phone for ours until secondary.

DD5 loves YouTube but also Netflix. We have put locks on YouTube though as it seemed quite addictive and there were tantrums when we switched it off.

she has a tablet but maybe watches it once a week.

she asked for a phone and we said high school and she said ok and pretends her water game is the latest phone. We also ask who she will call and she says her friends none of whom have a phone.

she never has had access to our phones though. she watches other children with phones intently. I think there will be many more future requests.

No you tube either. Such mindless junk watching bits on there! They could watch tv with us though. I’d rather they watch something we had chosen together rather than little short clips of random stuff like opening new toys. They had CBeebies and then cbbc, but managed by us.

My very mature 5 year old has outgrown Cbeebies too. She watches Netflix and YouTube without real limits, loves Nastya, Ryan's World and Diana and Roma and gets lots of ideas for play from them. Youtube kids has bought me many a lie in. She's a sociable, bright and interesting child, it's really not all bad.

My 4 and 5 yr old has headphones, tablet, switch console and 5 yr old is getting a gaming pc next year.. but I will always ensure I know what they are using online for

She’s asked for over the head headphones and adores music, I think we’ll go for an MP3 player with headphones for Christmas. That will give her a little independence with putting her own songs and stories on etc

As in no TV, no Alexa etc? Or just tablets and phones? They're using IT in nursery now, po it's Def down OWN tech but I'm not sure it's helpful long run to only let th access it at school, and there's plenty of educational stuff on TV / Alexa

You definitely have to police Roblox- there’s some horrendously violent games there but are under the guise of being cartoony. I’d advise everyone to always look in on games or YouTube, just look in/wander by/sit in next to them. And they appreciate chatting about it too. Our rule here is 12 for phones but they all have tablets. If I could go back in time and get nothing I would- they’ve definitely lost imagination, they’re crankier, we argue a lot. My family all definitely have addictive personalities and possibly other people won’t have to bargain/barter with their kids regularly, but it’s a nightmare

My 3 yos but their ring donuts and then talked to each other on them sitting across the table from each other.

Ours are 10 and 13. The eldest got a phone when she finished primary and an iPad when she started secondary as part of their tech scheme. Both kids walk to school. The 10 year old has no tech at the mo, just occasional access to the family iPad as and when.

Op how do you access music yourself?
If you subscribe to Spotify or YouTube it might be worth having a family subscription rather than trying to hunt down CDs and getting them converted to mp3.

My 6yo has a tablet with music subscription (YouTube music is cheaper than Spotify), he has a few games on there too.
He also has a Nintendo Switch.

Ask if the neighbour actually has a Sim in the phone, phones can be used like a small tablet / music streamer / mp3 player. It may well be they are using it as a mini tablet rather than a phone to call with.

My DC is also 5. He is allowed 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening of screen time, although on weekends and during the holidays we are more flexible. Saturday night is film night and we don't usually count this as it is family time. Screens include TV and a tablet.

He still watches CBeebies sometimes, but has favourite programmes that he likes. We choose a Disney film every Saturday night. He is allowed to play Among Us in practice mode on my phone for 10 minutes on my phone every now and then, and we sometimes watch a YouTube video together following a conversation about something (like whale song, or how jelly beans are made, etc). He won't get a phone until Year 7 (unless it becomes a necessity for some unforeseen reason).

He got really into YouTube Kids about a year ago - I hate it too. There is no quality contril. He got really obsessed with watching hamster maze videos and it's progressed to Roblox videos. He is not allowed Roblox, but we have compromised and bought the Toca Blocks app for him, which is more age appropriate. We also managed to move him to watch Roblox videos on Kidoodle as the content was more appropriate for a 5-year-old. He got so obsessed with watching YouTube (scarily obsessed) that we now limit him to watching YouTube on the weekends only.

I'm interested to see about headphones. We monitor everything he watches atm, but also have a 4mo, so this will impact our system soon!

Children are 5 and 6, they have no regular access to technology at all. We have one tablet in the house - they get occasional use for educational apps and I may play an audiobook at times otherwise there is nothing else on it for them.

They get to watch TV and we have the usual Disney plus, Netflix etc subscriptions but this doesn’t happen during the week when at school, only over the weekend. 6 year old is growing out of CBeebies but watches CBBC, younger one happy with CBeebies still.

Youtube is not allowed at all - it is so addictive. The older one was allowed some YouTube kids when they were younger and the change in their mood and behaviour was something I can’t describe. They’ve had no access since then, I may show them a video for a particular reason but that is the furthest it goes.

They have a lifetime of technology ahead of them, I want them to enjoy being young and having fun without it for as long as possible

@prescribingmum The YouTube is worrying me, I should have never allowed it. What was the change in your dc?

My almost 5 year old plays the CBeebies apps on my iPad once or twice a month (she would like to play more often but if she does she gets really ratty and won’t stop, she’s fine with occasional use). She loves looking at photos of herself on my phone, maybe once or twice a week. She watches a bit of CBeebies on tv rather than a device most days, and can navigate her way around iPlayer impressively.

She used to watch youtube - mainly trainspotter videos! She’s lost interest now, but we show her something on there from time to time. It will be interesting to see how this changes as she gets older - she starts reception in a few weeks.

They are addictive, isolating and a lazy way of amazing ourselves so no reason to let kids have access so young. Sick of seeing children in prams on phones in woods, sat around tables shovelling in food or the opposite not eating and hearing I'm bored because they don't know how to be unplugged.

Yoto for audio books - got that for his 4th birthday, no limit on time etc for this.
Tablet that belongs to the family - 10mins a day ish - has to be earned by doing jobs. He watches walk throughs of mario games on YouTube. I don't get it.
TV - probably around an hour a day, cbeebies, CBBC, pop, Disney+ etc
Switch - half an hour a week on gaming evening with DH. Ad hoc other use, around 1hr max, usually at weekends if we aren't busy.
Phones - plays Pokémon go when we go for a walk. Also has some homework/learning type apps on my phone. Rare, sporadic use of this.
Nothing that is specifically his except the yoto player. Everything else is owned by the family and access is controlled by me and DH.

What difference does it make if she watching silly dogs on YouTube or something on cbeebies it's all screen time either way! Just put YouTube on the TV instead off the phone.

@JussathoB yes there are. Luckily it has parental controls so I’ve blocked his to the under 8s appropriate games. Although tbf he only plays a couple of things which he plays with his brother

Both of mine have had their own ipads since they were 2. We've never been overly strict with screen time because we've never needed to be. Neither will sit and gawp at it for hours, they both prefer real world play. DS 5 is happiest pushing his toy boats around the floor and reinacting the battle of trafalgar (😅) and DD 7 likes the trampoline and practicing gymnastics. It depends on your kids' personality, some turn into zombies who snap and argue if you try and stop them. I'd have stepped in and set limits if this was mine, they self regulate pretty well atm. Screens aren't some special, magical thing to them, they're just another toy.

Lol, no chance

A phone is not necessary until a child starts travelling outside the home unsupervised. Simply isn't needed.

Don't crack OP. Tell her to jog on, for at least 8 more years.

Nope, no phone. DS6 got a kids tablet for his 5th bday as we were flying long haul and I had his 18th month old brother to contend with. It is only used sparingly/long journeys.

No other tech, certainly not youtube or a phone. I am quite anti screens though.

@Whatisgoingonhey as you’ve described with CBeebies, they lose interest in proper TV programmes and would become addicted to watching a short amount then constantly switching programme. They would scream, shout and have tantrums when it was time to stop even though we had been clear how long they could watch, regular reminders with time left. They didn’t otherwise behave like this with TV

I believe it really affects attention span and has addictive properties which their brains are just too small to know how to deal with. Now YouTube is controlled by me if there is something in particular they want to see but it stops straight after that video.