Really struggling with tech for 7 year old

[Gonesocoldsosuddenly]

Dd doesn’t have any tech-no tablet, phone etc. We’ve managed to get away without it until now, but now two of her friends have phones 🙄 and she wants to ask santa for a phone, I’ve told her that he won’t bring one as 7 is too young..way too young
We allow Dd to play games on our phones occasionally, under our supervision, but she’s asking more and more.
Do I have to give in and get her a safe tablet with just a few games on? Is that better than using our phones to play games?
I’d rather she didn’t have any, but it’s getting harder and harder to say no.

What tech do you have for your child (if any) and what age are they? What would I be best doing? What rules do you have/how often can they use them?

Just say no. That’s fine. The longer you can hold out, the better.

But let her play games on our phone? The horse has bolted unfortunately in that respect

To add, ours are 3, 7 and 9 and no tech. The eldest will get a basic phone with everything locked down in year 6 I expect.

Buy her a book

Do they not play any games at all?

I'd get something like an amazon kids kindle where you have a lot of restrictions and will have full control over what they are doing. You can set hours where it doesn't work to stop them going on too much etc.

She has shelves full and Ive ordered six for Christmas, we read every night, that’s not an issue

Would this be better than letting her play on our phones sometimes?

If she is just playing games would it not be better getting her a gaming device?

Depends what games she is playing but there would be less distractions (like ads) and more immersive. Phone games are more about instant gratification. And there would not be the same pressure for downloading different apps etc.

If it's for gaming then maybe a switch lite and have some games like mario etc. My kids are 9 & 12 and don't have a phone/tablet/laptop, they do have a switch for playing games but no online ones.

Do you mean like a Nintendo switch? They seem so expensive, what other ones are there?

We bought ours an iPad for her 8th birthday (Santa doesn’t do tech in our house). We locked it down and just let her have a few games, some educational and then set time limits.

It’s worked well for us as she can have some - knows it turns off after a little time and doesn’t work outside of hours we are happy with (4-6 weekdays, 10-6 weekends but max 30 mins week days and 1 hour weekend days).

For us it’s helped as she’s got bigger and we’ve slowly let her have more bits such as FaceTime for her grandparents / aunt and downloaded films for on planes.

Just don't give them one. There will be different rules for everything growing up. You'll be on a race to the bottom of you agree to everything a friend can do

7 year old's have no need for a mobile phone. My daughter is older and doesn't have a phone. She has a tablet that she uses about twice a month when she remembers about it. When she does use it she has to be in the same room as us and she can't download any games without out approval. She plays games on the Xbox with her dad and uncles, and Minecraft with some friends.

It’s not about what friends can do tbh. She does like playing games and I don’t mind this occasionally as she has lots of outside time and plays lots. I’m worried that giving her our phone is worse. Do I give in and get her something of her own with limits, let her use ours occasionally or do a blanket ban-which I feel will be hard

I’m not talking about a mobile phone of her own?

DS8 has a Switch and Kindle. No phone until he will be walking home from school and then he is getting on that literally calls and texts. Nothing else.
He got the kindle at about 4 years as we were going abroad and the Switch at 6 years (although I would have waited until 7 or 8 but his grandparents got it!) He has access to a PS5 (its DH's not DS's)

DD4 is getting a Kindle for Christmas this year only because DS has one. I doubt she will use it much bar maybe when we are away.

Just because you have the tech doesn't mean it then has to be used every day. We have no screens in term time week days at all (not even TV). Friday's DS gets 1 hour when he goes to the gym with DH. DD gets an hour at home while the others are out.
Weekend DS gets 2 hours a day of game style tech then adhoc movies shared with his sister for I'd say one movie per weekend day. Winter is more than summer (its easier to avoid in summer). DD gets the same but TV time - she doesn't watch more than an hour though before getting bored.

My 7 & 8 year old have a switch that they go on for maybe an hour on weekend mornings. Nothing during the week (they don’t even ask). No tablets or phones or plans to get any! The switch is good, they love Minecraft and don’t feel left out from their friends

Do not give in. Our DS is 7 next birthday- hell will freeze over before he gets a phone or tablet. It should all be banned.

Just say no. You’re the parent, you’re in charge. If you give in you’ll find your lovely little girl will become a demanding angry child within days. It’s so bad for developing brains and causes huge damage.

A second hand nintendo switch or DS?
Try CEX.

Our DD is 7 and she uses my husbands Switch to play games like Mario. It’s only ever at weekends and fairly sporadic. She is aware that kids her age play things like Minecraft and Roblox but knows it’s a hard line from us. She does lots of clubs etc. so truthfully she doesn’t actually have a lot of spare time!

Yes

Same age here. No phone or no tablet for the foreseeable future. Also very limited screentime. Tv never on in the morning, used if particularly exhausted after school for a bit of downtime. An hour max, maybe 1-2 times a week.

It's an individual decision. Our DS is 7 and not allowed to play crappy tablet games on Google Play but DH works in the gaming industry so he has access to every console. He has my old tablet but YouTube is approved channels only (he likes Debunked which is things like what the tallest structure is in the world and so on). He self regulates very well and does 3 sports outside of school so I'm not too worried.

No phone until he is walking home in year 6.

No chance here. Just stick to it. Dd7 can watch something like K-pop or similar but that’s it. No gaming either.