Half of British children aged 5 to 9 own a mobile phone

[Madsometimes]

An article in the Times claims that half of young children now have their own mobile phone, and manufacturers are planning on targeting a handset at children.

I personally only know one 9 year old with his own phone. He uses it to call his Dad who lives apart from his mother. I'm not sure how accurate this article is.

My dds will be getting a phone when they go to secondary school and not before. I'm still rather nervous about the risks of using a phone. I'm also nervous about how much money dd1 will be spending on calls and texts.

janinlondon My DS's charge theirs when the battery is low, otherwise they wouldn't be able to listen to the music or play games. I don't remind them or do it for them.

My DS is 7 next month and he has one. He got it for Christmas off his aunt.

He rarely uses it. It has no credit on it, but is part of my Vodafone family plan which means he can call me, his Dad, his nana and his aunt and uncle for free.

If he is going into a friends house in our street, or along the street out of view (disclaimer we live in a very very safe street full of children with a dead end and is fully fenced in) he will take it with him. The kids are always in and out of each others houses (there are about 30 the same age in our street), so it can be quite hard to track which house they are in now. Its handy to call him to find out where he is if he hasn't told me as they tend to go from L's playroom in the garage, to S's back garden, to A's trampoline etc etc. It saves me worrying as I tend to go out every ten minutes and check on him (although I don't phone every ten minutes, only if I can't see him).

ds phone beeps when the battery is low so either dh or I will plug it in to shut it up!

And in respect of the charging thing, its probably about the only thing that he does remember to do! Its his real pride and joy this month, but he goes through stages where it will lie flat for weeks at a time.

He is using it this week for his alarm clock, which I'm extremely pleased with as he's setting it himself and getting up out of bed to switch it off. I'm really happy as I can't usually get this boy out of bed for love nor money!

janinlondon absolutely not ! You've obviously not got a 9 year old boy (or perhaps you have and he's much more organised than mine )

My 9 year old can barely pack his bag for school without forgetting something.

The phone gets charged when remembered about.

His older sister on the other hand is much more adept at organising herself.

She (and her friends) dont actually use it for conversation (unless in a real emergency) just for texting, which seems to work well.

I pick them up from school at a train station so its handy to know if they have missed one and are running late.

I was rather about this article. Oops I forgot the link, here it is.

It does not make clear how many of these phones are lying uncharged up in toy boxes, and how many are actually being regularly used by children.

My 7 year old has been asking for one. I said no it's too expensive. So she said not to worry, she will get one off Father Christmas.

So that's that sorted then .

It just can't possibly be right. I could almost believe that half of all 9 year old may possibly have a phone but I just refuse to believe that anywhere like half of all 5 or 6 year olds have one.

I am so relieved to read this thread. My ds is 8 and loads of his age 7-8 classmates have phones (thus supporting the article) and he is badgering me constantly for one. I have said absolutely not as he does not need it - he is either in care of school or with me or a trusted friend, never on his own, and I don't see why he needs one. A close friend got one last week for getting a good report and I just don't understand why. As far as I can see they want it because it's a gadget to fiddle with, status symbol and for playing games, which aren't good enough reasons IMHO. I too am concerned about cost and health aspects.

A few of the children in DS's class have one (Y3) but they are all from families where their parents do not live together and so use them for contacting the absent parent, depending on who they are staying with.

dd got one at 10, but that was very special circumstances: she has a disability that means that she can collapse and fall at any time and we still wanted her to have the chance to walk to school on her own. She was not allowed to use it for other than emergencies until she was in secondary.

ds (9) does not have one, though as he has started falling (hereditary disorder), he may well need one.

didn't spot this thread - just started one about the phone they're marketing at 4 year olds!! phone

mine dont have them yet 12,14,16

Like Hassled's DS my DD1 got one for her 11th birthday as did most of her friends. My 9 and 6 year olds wouldn't even be interested in having a phone.

7y DD doesn;t and won't for a long time yet.

However one of her 7y friends does have a mobile - her grandma bought it for her. Not sure he mum particularly approved but she has kept it.

Hmm about stats but...

My four year old knows my mobile number off by heart and regularly calls me using her dad's phone, so would probably like one of her own.

Not jumping to do so though!

ds has one and he had it at the age of 8. He had my old phone and its rarely topped up, he uses it mainly to text his dad who doesn't live with us.

My dd aged 6 also has one for the same reason, she can confidently text as her reading and writing skills are very very good.

I have just started giving ds a little more freedom as regards to playing out and it gives him and me security and peace of mind. He dosen't play far from the house anyway but if anything were to happen he would always have his phone with him.

I really wish mob phones had been invented when I was growing up, it would have saved my parents a lot of heartache.

used responsibly and under supervision a mobile phone for a child can be an advantage

Also though to balance out what I've just said my son has been bullied by another child via his mobile. He exchanged numbers with another boy a year older than him who to be honest is a spoilt little brat. Anyway this lad used to turn on him when they were playing and started texting my ds things like 'you're a 'twat' 'prick' i hope you die and other lovely things. Needless to say his mother was told and the other boys number blocked. Now the only contact numbers ds has is mine, his dads, my dp, his sister, my mum and his dads girlfriend.

I also don't believe the Times figures.

What was the basis for the alleged statistic?

My ds2 is 6 and I am really very sure that none of his pals have a mobile. Ditto DD who is 8 tbh.

DS1 is just 10 and also doesn't have one but I suspect there he may be in a minority. His 2 best pals came for a sleepover the other week and both had a phone with them. Seemed to spend most of the time leaving silly messages on others' phones

Oh and one of them phoned his mum! - so - useful eh? well, errm, we do have a landline he could have used....

Let's face it, how many of us let our 7yo out of our sight for long periods? (except where they can readily access a landline anyway, or an adult who is in charge (eg at sports clubs etc)

5 -9 you say? DS is 8 1/2 and over my dead body! end of. Either there will be those who agree cos it's not worth the argument, and those who say, "oh, well, if their friends have got one, I like to know where they are etc", I'm bloody well going to know where they are at 5 - 9!! Sorry, another erosion of parental responsibility, i.e it's MY responsibility to know that he isn't on a street corner where the only way I can get in touch with him is by mobile phone. If I'm not looking out for him at that age I want a friend to be (ie another adult can see him), not I call him on a mobile and can get told any old rubbish, and who says they're safe? Too young, way too young, sorry, Don;t care about the "trends"

my ds is 8 and has one, an old one out of our cupboard, and we have started teaching him to use it now so that he will hopefully be able to use one confidently by the time he is in yr 6 and obv high school after that. He is severely dyslexic and has the reading age of a 5yo - although my 5yo is well past him now. He can barely remember names, let alone numbers, so he only has mum, dad, grandma etc in his phone, about 8 numbers in total. He doesn't take it to school, we wouldn't allow him to. He uses it mostly when we are on holiday and when playing at a friend's house nearby.

We were apparently the most awful parents in the world for not allowing DD1 to have one until she was 13.
Now DS has one (13) but it is NEVER turned on or charged up. Or if I want to contact him he whilke he is out with friends his phone is happily ringing beside me at home!

DS1 says quite a few kids in his class (Yr 4)have their own mobile. He is pushing for one but as we live literally 200 metres from school and we take him and pick him up everywhere he goes - there is no need.

I think he wants it as a status symbol really. However, I can believe 50% have them n his year as most of the kids that do have them have to travel on public transport and need to arrange pickups at the other end of their journey or tell parents they will be late etc as some of them live in quite remote rural areas. In many cases, both parents work as well so arrangng pickups is tricky.

Blocking or limiting the numbers that can be phoned and which numbers they can receive calls from is a good idea.

must say i don't know of any children of that age who own one unless it's a cast off used for games etc
i gave my ds1 a mobile for his 10th birthday but this is to enable him to keep in touch with me if he so wishes when he's at his dad's
a couple of his mates have mobiles too

dd1 (9)has use of a cast off one of dps but so far she took it on holiday with her dad and texted me a lot and since she came back a month ago it has sat on the mantlepiece. She obviously not that bothered!