THORPES

My lad is 11 and he has a pay as you go mobile. It makes it so much easier to find out where he is. He is not very good at time keeping so I set the alarm clock on it for when he has to come home. All his friends have one. I do check it to make sure nothing is stored on it which shouldnt be. He doesnt take it to school becuase they are banned.
He doesnt see it as something special. He hates taking it with him but I always insist.

jad n rich

Wait till hes 16 and tries to convince you your the only parent on the whole planet who doesnt let the girlfriend sleep over

My kids only get mobiles once they are riding home from school ( 6 klms ) safety, $9 plan and if they want to speak to friends TEXT them, or pay the rest of the bill.

Usually calms them down.

Girly sleepovers commence once your paying rent

mysnix

My son also got his at around 11 - he had an old on of ours then got his own for his 12th birthday.

He only got it when he started cycling home from school by himself. He is on the cheapest package and virtually never uses it - makes me feel happier knowing he has it and I can reach him if I need to.

My daughter had his old one when he got his new one, she is 9 and does not need it, although it has come in handy at times as she tends to remember it! Was a big bug bear with my son at the time as he had had to wait until he was 11.

Go with your own feelings, if they are never alone and therefore never out of contact then there is no real need.

Nikki
x

rebnatoli

I'm thinking around 11 or 12 although would prefer it a bit older but my 9 year old has already started asking for one and I think I might only be able to hold out 2-3 years! Some of her friends do have mobiles but these tend to be kids where the parents are divorced so I guess they may have a valid reason to have one to contact the other parent.

kiwinow

My 9 year old daughter wants one and I said No.
My third son, who has just turned 12, was desperate for one. All his friends had them, he reckoned, although when I started questioning there were quite a few who don't. As I'm usually home by the time he gets here, and he bikes home I don't think he needs one yet. We bought him a camera for his birthday and I haven't heard anything more about it.

My oldest son bought his own at 13. We weakened by the second boy and bought him a cheapie for his 13th. He mostly uses it to text friends, but sometimes it's useful to contact him. I insist the boys buy their own top ups, unless they've done something useful around the house lately. The thing I don't like is that they are glued to them every minute they are home. However, if I was working full time I might find it useful for them all to have one.

I am the only mother who won't allow girly sleepovers for the 16 year old.

glittababe

Two of my boys have mobiles - its a Godsend (ages 13 and 12) - actually the school they go too likes children old enough to go walkabout to have mobiles, as a parent you sign a consent form allowing the school to contact kids by their mobiles; say if they don't turn up for class or are sick etc SMS's are sent to the kids to remind them that homework is due in! Every time my eldest's mobile goes off, he sighs... "yess Mr McQuiver I'm doing my homework"! (and yes they're in a state school)

JenniGee

My eldest (now almost 13) has had hers since she started secondary school (11). She was always scrounging my old contract phones & where we used to live I found I could give her a little bit more freedom if I was able to contact her. That has backfired to a certain extent though & we're now in the process of reeling her back in, so be warned

My younger will have her phone when she starts secondary in September, she's already picked out her whizz-bang Sony Eriksson & is waiting with baited breath - looks like mum won't get a shiny new upgrade this year again!

I agree with the poster who commented on the use of the phones. Making a phone call is a very small part of it - some of the videos & jokes that are passed around are not appropriate at all for kids & checking the childs' phone is a must, I'm afraid.

moneypenny20

Mine didn't get them until they started High School and (firstborn anyway) walking home on their own. Once they get to High School they are also old enough to walk to the local shops with their mates or go to the cinema without me so they need to be able to call. Wouldn't let them have one whilst at primary.

eddie007

second child has one, has the same $20 pay as you go top up as when we brought it in decembr for the paretns when they were here..

Ony uses in EMERGENCIES... we still know who he is with and where he is going, but its good for those situations when HE needs to get hold of US urgently...

Like the time his mate fell off his bike at the skate park and he wanted ME to come home from work in Perth to put a plaster on his knee coz his mum was at work too... about 100 yards away..

Dorothy

My daughter got hers for Christmas the year she turned 12. My son keeps bitching that he needs one too, but we're holding out until Christmas. Got to be fair. DD was 12+4 months so son will be 12+5 months.

rabsody

oh this sounds familiar! my eldest (11) has been badgering me for a couple of years going on about how she's the only one who hasn't got one. i tell her to call childline and tell them about the cruelty we subject her to!

seriously though, next year she starts high school and i will get her one. OH is adamantly opposed but i don't care she will be walking to school so it's for me, not her!!!

Nu-Shooz

My kids have one. Youngest is nearly 9..(he hasn't got one ) yet!! But my daughter has one from the age of 10.

yanH

I don't think you can say that there is a particular age when it is acceptable for a child to have a phone, it is more about individual circumstances. For many, starting High School is the first time that the child is really away from the parents for travel etc, and so this seems an appropriate time.
We moved suburbs only 11 months after arriving in Australia and our children in years 4 and 5 did not want to change schools again. They therefore catch a train to school and back. For about 6 months before we moved my then 9 year old daughter badgered me for a mobile saying that all her friends had one. At that point I said there was no point as she was never away from me (except at school, activities, friend's houses where there is access to a phone if need be). However, in the first 2 weeks of catching the train home they missed the one I was picking them up from about 5 times. My options were to potentially spend 20 minutes every afternoon sat in the station car park with another child in the car, or to give them a phone so that they can let me know what train they are on. I opted for the phone, and bought my daughter one for her 10th birthday. For me, getting her a phone was not about giving her a fashion accessory, but about being very reassuring for me to know that they can contact me if they need to, and there have been quite a few times when they have needed to!

Kapri

My daughter is 8 and has asked if she can have one when she's 9.
I said no. She can have a pay-as-you-go when she starts high school and starts to spend more time away without supervision.

JackTheLad

My 1 year old and 2 year old daughters have a mobile phone.


Its a toy one that records our voices, so they press the buttons and hear us talking. And they can speed up the voices.

Actually probably not a good idea, cos in a few years time they'll want the real thing.

JTL