When did your child get a mobile?

[Tisfortired]

My 9 year old DS (10 in October) has been moaning at me for a while about getting a mobile. Our stance has always been that he can have one when he starts secondary school which he begrudgingly accepts although is always telling me ‘all’ of his friends have one.

There has been a couple of instances this summer where I have been arranging meet ups for DS and his friend and the friends parents have said ‘oh just give DS our DS mobile number…’ and I’ve had to say he doesn’t have one yet.

Am I being an ogre? Is it normal for 9 year olds to have mobiles? He already has an iPad and PS5 which he can talk to his friends on. When did you buy your DC their first phone?

11, and that feels too early

Screen addiction is real

Setting boundaries makes you a good parent not an ogre

About 6 -9 months vefore secondary for our kids. Enough time to get used to it and make silly mistakes with people who know them rather than the new world of secondary.

When they started walking to school alone so Year 5 age 9/10

Christmas of Year 6, so that they can get used to it in a 'safe' environment where I know all the parents and kids in the class already, but with very strict rules- no adding anyone before a parent approves, a parent can ask to check the phone at any time and they have to hand it over, parent has to know the passcodes, no mobile devices in bedrooms etc.

Year six, so they get used to it before senior school.

Same as other posters, Christmas before secondary school, and for the same reasons. I wish to god the smart phone at least had never been invented because they are the absolute curse of childhood imo. But without a phone they’ll be social isolates and, unlike when I was a child when publicly accessible telecommunications (phone boxes, phone cards ) were available and maintained, kids without a phone are vulnerable. It’s grim though.

Secondary school and not a day before..

Birthday before high school.