Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that a 5 year old having a Mobile Phoen is just ridic?

71 replies

Eve4Walle · 21/09/2009 18:50

DD comes home this avo and tells me that a girl in her class has her own mobile phone, and the teacher had to take it from her for safekeeping today.

They are 5 FFS and now DD wants to know why she can't have one 'to ring her friends and Nanny' on.

What is the world coming to?

OP posts:
curiositykilled · 21/09/2009 21:55

My four year old would be phoning 999 and asking for fireman sam every five mins if he had access to a mobile.

groundhogs · 21/09/2009 22:34

What is the world coming to?

I'm going to be PITA Mummy, but my DS isn't having a phone till he goes out to work and buys it himself.

If it were down to me, he'd not be getting something potentially irradiating his brain until his brain is at least fully developed.

Why is it impossible to allow someone to go off and do something and not hear about their trip until they get home and tell you all about it. As a child, I used to go stay with my GM for a couple of days and we just had a smashing time and then only spoke to mum and dad when they came and picked us up.

Pikelit · 21/09/2009 23:52

I'm amazed at the very idea of giving small children mobile phones and can only second groundhogs's comments.

lockets · 22/09/2009 00:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

EvilEdnasTwinSister · 22/09/2009 00:11

My eldest DD only got her 1st moby when she was 11, as she was starting to walk to/from school every day.

No way would she have got one at age 5.

StableButDeluded · 22/09/2009 00:12

NO need for a mobile phone at that age. And let's face it no-one really NEEDS a mobile, do they?
We all survived quite well without them. I don't remember leaving school one day in 1983 and thinking, 'Oh, how I wish I had some sort of portable, wireless communication device so that I could speak to everyone and bore them rigid with inane chat that could wait till I got home'

Handy, yes, but not necessary. Especially not for a 5 year old.

bumpsoon · 22/09/2009 08:12

My 15 yr old DS doesnt have one , he has broken too many in the past and i have told him if he wants one ,he has to buy it himself ,strangely that dire need for one has gone

GooseyLoosey · 22/09/2009 08:19

My 6 year old ds has one. It is his favourite toy. It has no SIM in it. However, it does have all of his favourite stories on, several applications which he likes, the contact details of all his and his sister's cuddly toys and when he is in the house he can use it to look things up on Google. It is an old one which we no longer use and if he drops it, so what (he wouldn't though - he is far too careful with it). He shows it to all of his friends who would not have a clue that he cannot actually use it to make calls and I am now sure that their parents have judged us some more based on this. Hey ho.

cory · 22/09/2009 08:30

My dd got one at 10 when she started walking home from school on her own. But this was very special circumstances: dd has a disability that means she can collapse at any time: I needed to know when to come and pick her up with the wheelchair. And I judged it was particularly important that she should have a chance of independence as I didn't want her to grow up immature and clingy because of her disability.

If she had been an NT 10yo, I would have expected her to walk home from school without being able to call for help. For the kind of accident likely to happen to an NT child (run over by car, mugged, attacked etc) a mobile wouldn't do much help. But if you know there is a good chance your legs may suddenly stop functioning, then it makes sense. Not likely to happen to your average 10yo, though.

cory · 22/09/2009 08:31

If I had lived in the age before mobiles, the answer is probably that I wouldn't have let dd out alone.

Portofino · 22/09/2009 08:35

I was 25 before I got a mobile phone! When i was a child, we always made sure we had 2p for the phone box! . Those were the days....

MmeLindt · 22/09/2009 08:41

Portofino
I was just thinking of my Mum giving me 10p to put in my sock on the way home from guides.

5yo is too young to have a mobile phone as a matter of course. In extenuating circumstances I can understand it but my 5yo is never anywhere without an adult so why would he need to contact me?

GoldenSnitch · 22/09/2009 08:56

I got a pager when I was 18 and went away to uni. I lived in halls and there was 1 phone to 3 flats, each containing 6 students, in our block. You could ring in but could never guarentee that someone would hear and come to fetch the right person so Mum would page me when she was about to ring. Got my first mobile when i was 21 and could pay the bill myself!

5 is far too young for a mobile. At that age they should be supervised by an adult at all times and the adult can contact parents if necessary. And as for having one to take to GP's houses, what sort of GP's are they if the DGC's don't trust them enough to be at thier house without an emergency line to Mummy!!

CommonNortherner · 22/09/2009 09:40

Wow, if I gave my 5 year old a mobile it would probably end up like various other things, given away to someone or dropped down a drain to feed Drainy

Stephief · 22/09/2009 11:05

My 6 and 7 yr olds have their own mobiles, and have done for a couple of years now (the 7 yr old, the 6 yr old for a year) DD inherited hers from my dad when he passed away (no one else wanted it and it still had loads of credit on!) and ex dh bought one for ds. They dont take them anywhere, they use them purely for talking to their dad on (he pays for the credit lol!)Saves running up my phone bill!

I would never let them take them to school!DD does acting work so when she is out and about (with me obviously lol!) its handy to use hers as a back up if mine in dead or no credit, but she never takes it out otherwise.

lilymolly · 22/09/2009 11:10

mobile phones for any children under the age of 15 is MADNESS

Karam · 22/09/2009 14:02

Many of the people who disagree with them seem to be assuming that the child lives with both parents.

If there is a child whose parents are divorced, and it is acrimonious, then I can easily see the value. It means that the child can easily access the other parent without having to go through the other parent and so on...

I also know of someone who has given one to her child (slightly older than 5, but not much when he got the phone) because the father was, shall we say less than reliable. Would do things like forget to pick him up from his clubs, or after school club and so on... then if there was a problem, the child could phone the mum, who would then go and pick the child up. He would also go down the shops and leave the child in the house alone. In that scenario, I would certainly give my child the phone rather than having them hanging around waiting for their dad to not show up again, or be worried about being in the house alone... as whilst you can moan about your Xs behaviour, there is nothing you can actually do to change it - so minimising the damage is probably the best option.

StableButDeluded · 22/09/2009 14:18

at cory 'if I had lived in the age before mobiles

Sorry for laughing, it just tickled me, It just sounds like it was soooooo long ago.

'Long, long ago, in the age before mobiles, when dinosaurs roamed the earth...'

clumsymum · 22/09/2009 14:28

", I do give a spare nokia to DD1 if she is going to grandma's house, jsut so she feels safe"

"DD 4 takes a spare one when she goes to her GP's

GPs live in the sticks and their signals are crappola I like to be able to get hold of her "

I'm pretty astounded that a young child wouldn't feel safe at her Grandmothers house without a phone (who put that idea in her head), or that you should want to contact your 4 y.o. directly when she's in her GPs care, cos you don't trust she's safe if you can't get thru to them.

This world has gone mad, really mad.

Hulababy · 22/09/2009 14:32

I would never aloow my 7y to have her own mobile at this age. She is able to use mine or DH's on occasions - although only when we are with her. She will send a text or make a phone call, that we have approved off.

A couple of her friends have phones, but I just think it is too much, too young.

Actually another friend does send her DS with a mibil when he goes to stay at his dads, ad has done since her was about 6y - but this followed an episode when his father had a fit of some form whilst driving in his car (with my DH i the car at the time). So, as a safety precaution, the boy has a phone programmed with a few select numbrs, in order to call in such a medical emergency. It gave both his mum and himself a sense of secuirty. In this sitation I fully understood and would have done the same.

Eyeballls · 22/09/2009 14:41

I agree that it's totally ridiculous for a small child to have a mobile. But I don't think you can make comparisons between your youth and theirs. I grew up in the 80's, no mobiles of course. And yes we survived, of course we did. But we didn't know any different. Now mobiles are such a huge part of life that it is a big deal not to have one, especially for the younger generation that have grown up with them. DD isn't even 2 and she knows exactly what to do with my phone, walks round with it perched on her shoulder, gets it when it's ringing etc. She is growing up seeing people use them all the time, that's how it is these days. This thread is in danger of sounding like the Four Yorkshiremen.

StableButDeluded · 22/09/2009 14:49

Are they any relation to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

StealthPolarBear · 22/09/2009 14:50

I can't believe there are people on this thread who have had mobiles as children! Makes me feel old - when I got my first job I used to take 20p to call my dad to come and pick me up!

GooseyLoosey · 22/09/2009 14:53

I am not sure that 5 year olds need to be able to phone people. However, I am absolutely sure that they need to be aware of and familiar with technology from a much younger age than we were. It is part of the world in which they live and will only become more so. I think my generation have a slightly blinkered and intolerant view of technology and do not always grasp the pervasive nature of it to younger generations.

EvilEdnasTwinSister · 22/09/2009 14:54

What are the four Yorkshiremen (curious now)?

Swipe left for the next trending thread