Mobile phone at 10 years old?

[Mich1986]

My child keeps asking for a phone and I am not sure what to do? They have just turned 10 and a few classmates now have them. It would be a cheap one with no access to certain things, but are they too young? What age did you give your child a phone?

DD is 10. She doesn't have a phone. She walks home from school or to the corner shop alone. Personally I think she is safer without a phone to distract her. I've seen classmates on their phones step into the road without looking.

Her primary school is going smartphone free (no smartphones on the premises for children). Several of the local secondaries are also smartphone free. This should help more parents to feel confident delaying smartphone access and I hope means DD will be included with a dumb phone. (We plan to buy one for starting secondary.)