Phone alternative

[OnNaturesCourse]

My daughter is increasing asking for a mobile phone. She is not long 8 which to me is just too young. She really only wants the phone for the ability to play music, and take pictures maybe speak with her friends but thats not a big thing for her yet. I'd like to be able to have some sort of tracker on it or have the ability to add this later but again not a massive concern right now.

Just wondering if there is any alternative to a phone that is appropriate for a 8year old to have music and take pictures. I considered a old ipod but I don't believe the pictures are that great on the ones that had cameras (she likes to print them off)

Nope, don’t go down that road! I mean an alternative to a phone is an old phone without a sim, but I can assure you that other 8 year olds do not have phones to chat to her on. My youngest is 8 and phones are on no one’s radar. The only children 10 and under who I knew who had phones were one who lived with grandparents who had absolutely no idea how to parent (and I pretty sure was being groomed) and another who does 50/50 between both parents and needs to communicate with both of them about where she is (that one was also on TikTok posting ‘sexy’ photos at 10 and I would guess also being groomed by the looks of the creeps who follow her).

Anyway, no other parents are giving their 8 year olds a phone. She won’t be missing out. And the ones who do have phones are not the ones you want to be encouraging friendships with. Mine is in secondary school now and the ones who got phones early are the ones with lots of issues now. You have years to fight over who she is messaging and what photo she sent to who. Leave that for 13, not 8.

The norm when mine were in primary was for a phone in the summer between y6 and y7.

I never stated I agreed with her getting a phone. She is not getting one. I asked for alternatives for her music and photos as that is the only real reasons she wants one.

Would something like an Echo Dot do for music? And a small digital camera for photos?

She has an Alexa and a go pro type camera for at home but it's really when she's at her clubs, or travelling. She also uses a Tonie Box so having audio books would be a bonus too. She spends hours out of the house each week travelling or at her own clubs or that of her siblings so I understand her want but just don't want her having access to online or u monitored communication.

i'd probably get her a separate ipod and a digital camera or polaroid

Do the two functions she wants need to be on the same device? My DD has a digital camera and loves it. Grandparents have one of those digital photo frame things so she can upload her photos to them, it’s quite sweet. Music-wise, mine is younger than yours and has a Yoto but an old iPod would work as you’ve said.

Compact camera for photos.

Music could use Cd player or MP3 player with speakers or headphones, or smart speaker. MP3 players can be quite phone like so many not be the best option. Which you choose will depend a bit on how you as a family access music and how much control you want as parents.

Camera for photos.
Either an old ipod or a CD player or a Yoto for music, depending on what she wants and how you use music now.
Don't try to combine the two. The fact that phones have cameras built in is a massive problem with children that age having phones. You want to avoid that problem entirely, not try to replicate it by giving her something else phone-like. You don't want her getting into the constant selfie and need for validation/insecurity about body image thing that is fuelled by kids having built in cameras on devices they carry round with them the entire time. Having a physical camera which you only get out to take a planned photo and don't play with the rest of the time is far better.

My 8 year old has an old iPod for music (he had a vtech DJ deck thing that needs a Bluetooth connection to a music player) but you are right, the cameras on them aren’t great. It’s slightly annoying the iPods are made anymore (I get tampons capacities are greater so we use those for musics etc, but it means there is a gap in the market for this kind of thing.

I’d get her a ‘mighty’ music player and some sort of Polaroid camera. Absolutely do not get a phone for an 8yr old. If they are playing out then something like the Karri 2 would be the safest option.

We got an iPod for our 9ish year old

No, there’s not an alternative. Just say no and continue saying no.

Agree separate devices sounds good. You mentioned Audio Books, you can probably (Assuming you are in the UK) borrow Audio books from your local library - some libraries will allow children to get Audio Book CDs for free, others will have a reservation charge, so if you go for a CD player that would work - or there are options for you to save Audio files for them to listen to on an mp3 - we have Lord Of The Rings and Alice in Wonderland on our MP3 Player that we use in the car.
Another advantage of separate devices is they often have better battery life than a phone

An 8 yr old needs to be outside, drawing, talking face to face, reading and interacting with other children, not on her own screen.

Thankfully research is finally coming out about how harmful and damaging screens are for young children/ people/ everyone really and the negative impact they have.

I'd encourage her to do anything but. Have a look at a Yoto.

My son loves taking photos. He took his iPad on day trips all summer so he could take photos. For Christmas we got him a digital camera (basic one for about £40). He loves it.

An apple watch would cover music, communication and tracking without allowing wider internet access. Then get a digital or instax camera for photos. You really don’t want a child having access to both on the same device.

You can get a little 4inch mp3 tablet on amazon with a 13mp camera. You can put apps on it if you want for music or games but it wont do much. I think this would meet your needs, has bluetooth as well. It sounds like she wants to take photos and play music when travelling and out and about. It also sounds like she does not want ti carry a load of different devices when she knows a phone does all that, hence the phone request.

We have a Vtech Snap touch for 7yo DD. It plays music and takes pictures, but it has no ability to go online. But that's good as it means the photos can't be uploaded anywhere. The camera isn't great quality but it's fine for fun snaps. I have to put music on it manually (by putting the sd card into my computer).

My 7 year old has a yoto player mini for music and audiobooks and has a digital camera which also prints pictures onto carbon paper (a cheapy purchase from Amazon, much cheaper than a polaroid). Despite the camera print outs not being great quality it's good fun which is all she needs. It reminds me of my days of going to a photo booth with my friends! You could also print these using a proper printer if this is something she's interested in doing.

My daughter loves the camera as well at the yoto. One of my favourite thing about these is that it's not like a "starter phone". She can do the things she wants to do but not in a way that's gearing her up for a smartphone.

This would cover both of the functions you mention whilst sticking with your gut that your child is too young for a phone/tablet etc.

https://www.smartphonefreechildhood.org/.

Thank you all for the responses, I'll look into all the suggestions.

Does anyone know if ipods became Bluetooth friendly? I adored my ipod as teen but it was a orginal wired headphones, manual music upload kinda thing.