What age would you allow your child a mobile phone?

[Treelo]

My ds1 has a bog standard tesco pay as you go phone, he brings it when going out to play with his mates or if he calls around to a mates house I set the alarm on it for when he is to be home.

 

[MrsPoodle]

Hmmm about 10 or 11? When she's old enough to walk to mate's houses / school on her own.

 

[mum22ttc#3]

I think I will stick to when I was initially going to let her, which will be in her last year at primary, she will be just over 11 at this point. I think I was just really making sure I wasn't being harsh at making her wait this long, some people seem to think that she should be allowed one now. She has no purpose though, she doesn't go out on her own never and it would only be for show.

I wont be waiting until she can afford it as for safety purposes I think she will need one when she starts secondary, depending on what school she goes to she will have a 15 - 45 minute bus journey. Also some nights and especially if she has after school clubs she wont be making these journeys until it is dark.
On the other hand I wont be letting her have one when she wants either, else she would have got one for her 5th birthday, due to her friend at the time (same age) having one for theirs.

Thanks for all the replies

 

[EllaAndLyla]

I got one when I was about 9 because at that age I started walking home from school by myself (10 min walk) so my mum gave me a phone in case of emergency. I was a cheapo little nokia and I only used it to call my mum if I was in an emergency which only happened twice I think xx

 

[sabby52]

Dan got his first pay as you go mobile at 9, now at the grand old age of 13 he has a contract phone.

 

[smelly07]

I would let my girls have one when they are 11 and starting secondary school.........although my eldest daughter who is 7 in april has asked for one for xmas as all her friends are getting one LOL.............my husband said we should give her the cheap spare one he bought when his broke and we can ring her when she is out playing or set an alarm when its time to come home.......i'm thinking i may just by her a digital watch instead hee hee......but i'm sure she will have a phone before the age of 11 lol

 

[Hayley90]

i had one in year 6, so i was 10/11.

i'll probably do the same, unless every other kid has one before then... if no other kids have one then whats the point i want him to be able to text his friends and things, so yeah... whatever is 'normal' at the time i guess. x

 

[flubdub]

First year of high school, so 11

 

[Dragonfly]

I had a pager in school, was only one with one as my dads the tech type. My first phone when I left school was a massive Philips phone older then the one in the pic above! I had that one after through. someone do a thread on all the phones you have had? lol

Anyway I say in primary school, I rather be able to call my son if he is out playing or at a friends or god forbid if something happened he can phone me. No expensive phones or anything just a ring text thingy they are cheap enough.

 

[Liesje]

I wont be waiting until she can afford it as for safety purposes I think she will need one when she starts secondary, depending on what school she goes to she will have a 15 - 45 minute bus journey. Also some nights and especially if she has after school clubs she wont be making these journeys until it is dark.

Blackberries have a neat app called "Blackberry protect". It's actually meant to track your phone and wipe or lock it remotely if it's stolen, but I can see it being useful to "watch" your children on a journey to and from a location and if you find the phone is being "misused" or maybe as a punishment, you can disable the phone remotely when necessary
I haven't tried but I think you can also download any pictures taken and messages saved to the phone remotely. I don't really condone spying on children without their knowledge, but sometimes it helps them behave when they know you could check if you wanted.

 

[morri]

I got my first one when I was 16 years old and I honestly don't think you would need it any earlier.

dunno about your area but we still have plenty payphones on the street which can send sms es too.

 

[AshleighR]

I got my first cellphone at 16 too & it was really only to call my parents if I needed a ride home from practice or to let them know I caught a ride home from someone else. I don't remember what model it was, just that it was from Cingular, before the company changed to AT&T.

We don't have any children yet but I think we should have an extra cell phone for them to use when they are out with friends or stay after school. We don't have a home phone and I don't see us getting one anytime soon so I'd say middle school age (11-12) for when they can have their own but they have to be responsible with it.

 

[nikkip75]

I got one when I was 10. This badboy
https://911.bg/bigshopbg/pi/si_3794612.jpg

I think it depends on your situation, where you live etc

This was my first mobile phone too I loved it!

I was about 24 when i got my first mobile! That's when they first started becoming popular. It's amazing how far mobiles have come in just 10 years!!

My eldest was about 10/11 when she got her first phone.

We were just saying this morning how we are going to hold of on our 2 little ones having phones for as long as possible. While one was sitting there playing on my phone and the other was playing on the iPad

 

[DanielleM]

I was 11 I think and I got a BTCellnet. I would say secondary school age!

 

[Floralaura]

My DS1 is 9 and has had his since he was 7..its a cheapo samsung though not a posh one..

 

[bees]

There are no pay phones in my area, and with so many people switching over to mobile phones only - I want him to have easy access to a phone. He's only 2.5 years right now lol, so it's a long ways off, but I think he will have a pay-as-you go type of phone for emergencies. Probably around 8-10 years? Hard to say right now.

 

[RileysMummy]

Atm I'd say we'd like to wait til Millicent was about 13, I think this was around the age I had my first phone. x

 

[xSophieBx]

Not til shes about 11+, I don't see the need for one before then... I can understand some people get them for when their children are playing out etc, but I won't be letting her playing out, out of my sight til about 11 anyway. I think people rush their children along to quick these days... I've heard of ipod touches for like 5 year olds!! What happened to children being children & playing with actual age appropriate toys!!