Mobile Phones

[kurtandmorgmum80]

Just trying to get people's oppinions. My 2B's are 9 & 11 Years old. They don't really go out with m8s yet, but as my 11 year old starts high school this Sept, I'm wondering if it would be good idea if they both had mobiles ??

What ages did other mums let theirs have mobiles??

Thanks in advance

The 11 year old yes. The 9 year old can wait until they are 11 too for fairness :)

That was my thinking, I kinda need to keep in touch with my eldest. Since he will be at a different school come Sept.

Thankyou for your advice

After SATs so they can collect their primary school friends mobile, Email and/or landline numbers all in one place.

They can then keep in touch over the summer and learn to send coherent texts!

IME practice in sending texts that include all necessary time, place and date information is very useful.

Back and forth conversations are great fun, but they are sod all use when you want picking up and you are in a steel framed shopping centre with a very iffy signal.

Likewise, you may know what day the hockey match is, but your DM doesn't.

"Can i say affter schol?" Without a day or end time isn't helpful.

(My older DD is dyslexic, I gets some splendid texts)

Can I crash this thread and so what phones your dcs have? Or what you are thinking of getting?

It seems silly to start another one

Dd had a basic Nokia when she was 9 & performing in dance shows/panto. If rehearsals etc ran over or finished early I could plan when to collect instead of having to hand around

In the summer holidays before starting secondary she upgraded to a Samsung galaxy y.

Ds had a basic Nokia at 9 too for use when playing out. He very very rarely uses it.

Ds is 11, he uses my old iPhone 3GS in the house when I'm out, but it's not terribly reliable.

I'm looking at the Galaxy Y at the moment is it reliable and does the battery last?

All mine had them to start secondary school.
To start off with, mine all had very simple PAYG, £10phones

DD1 had a very basic samsung
She now has a samsung galaxy ace

DD2 had/has a Nokia 3c that web browsers, but appallingly slowly.

At 16&13 I know have birthday orders in for a iPhone 5c
And a android smart phone. (DD1 understands iTunes and DD2 has a nexus, so does google play)

I'm looking at the Galaxy Y but worried that the software is a bit dated if he wants to use the Internet on wifi? The next one up price wise is the Fame but it's £40.00 more

My DD (10) has a Samsung galaxy ace I think.

She has it for going out with friends (to call for, go to the cinema with etc) and she also has got one because she has a time consuming hobby (almost 20 hours a week) and a variety of different people who pick her up from different places and at a different times. So if I'm not picking her up, or if I'm late picking her up, I can call and let her know.

That's a similar situation to Ds hence I want a reliable phone.

The galaxy y is basic. But dd has an iPad for use at home on wifi. As long as she can make calls, send texts & pick up emails.

It's a bit clunky yes, but her alternative is a non smartphone Nokia.

DS who is 11 has a Galaxy it is linked to my account and we pay £15 month for 500 texts and I think it is 2MB of data. We will both get a text when usage hits 1MB data. I didn't want him to have a smart phone but we have an understanding about data, downloads etc and after a rocky start of refusing to answer or return texts we are getting there.

he is yr 6 and we decided to sort in time for easter hols so he can get himself to sports club and text when he is there, all practice for Sept. I hope that by getting it to him while at primary he has listened to us about keeping himself safe rather than be swayed by friends.

He has to earn the rental with a couple of big chores for me and so far that is working well.

dsd (10) has a galaxy y. its perfect as a first phone in this day and age. she has ld and can't read very well so all the pictures etc help. she currently has no credit though as she went through it at 100 miles per hour texting ans calling family and family friends (they can't take phones to school so she hasn't ever exchanged numbers there). since I offered her credit or a toy when I took her shopping and she said toy :p

My 9 year old DD has a mobile phone now, she can keep in contact with me when I'm at work and she's with childminder or babysitter, she has Nokia Lumia on a contract but she knows not to use for games and internet as she has her tablet for that x

If you want to fix costs, Tesco do capped contracts - reasonable amount of minutes/texts/wifi (packages started at about £8/moth including basic smartphone when I last looked) and if you run out of any part of that allowance you can't use that bit (the texts or minutes or wifi) until next month, or unless you pay for a top up.

Hi all , dd (12yrs old) has just got a galaxy y. IMO it's great, as is in hers! It does everything you would want tbh it is the wifi in the home not so much the type of phone that has faster wifi and service. Obviously she would like an iPhone etc but I think we'll wait 2 years for year nine! HTH xxx

If you are looking for a contract then I recommend Tesco mobile. They have some great phones from £7.50 a month and you can tick to cap them so they can't go over. I don't work for them :)

oops - just noticed the message 2 above :)

I bought my son a mobile phone, but he's 14 and to be honest needed it! I decided on a sturdy one rather than a fashion related one that could be targeted for mugging etc. he's had it for a month and i like the fact i can get hold of him and check up on him, But i can't imagine anyone under 13 years needing a mobile. catphones.com/builtforit