My daughter is 7 and owns a smartphone...
This is my answer to the Ecotrain's Question of the Week: Should parents set a minimum age or some restrictions for their children to own a smartphone, and if so what would they be?
So yes, my 7-year-old has a smartphone...
Now before you all come at me and say that is awful and I must be a terrible mother, it is on the caveat that there is no SIM card in it, but she can access the internet on it.
There will be no functioning SIM card (or at least calls/messages blocked and barred from it, because the moment the phone has given up the ghost because it doesn’t have a SIM card) until she is in year 6 (age 10) and if she chooses that she wants to walk home alone from school, she can have my number only on it.
Both my daughters (age 7 and 5) also have tablets, but they know to ask me before they watch anything new on them.
One daughter uses it to learn everything she can about a subject like looking after guinea pigs and now she is looking up running tips, as that is her latest ambition.
The other likes to watch endless videos about toys, she can describe them really well so in a way it is educational, but it also means her Christmas list is as long as the Nile.
However, I do sneak up on them on regular occasions to have a peek to make sure that they are watching suitable things, should their clicks go astray.
I keep an ear out as well. Especially for the songs that they listen too, but again that is subjective, especially when at dance school they dance to songs such as “Get Down and Dirty”, but they don’t know what that means.
That is another subject completely - popstars as role models is a route I best not go down right now.
I also check the internet history carefully too. As they get older I know that more checks will be put in place.
The parent safety controls will have to be permanently on and social media usage monitored somewhat (or a lot) when they get to the teenage years
It will be a fine line between protecting them and giving them some privacy - not sure how I will go about that yet.
Are Smart Devices Really That Terrible?
I’m sorry to say that they do really love their tablets and as a work at home mom, sometimes they can be a godsend to get some work done
Like now, for example as I’m writing this post, as they are home on half term, so I am getting my work done in the morning, so we can have the afternoon to go out and have some fun.
I think today, it is just part of the world we are in. They worked out the television remote at 3 (yes I let them watch tv too), as long as we monitor what they see and let them know the consequences of straying from the safe choices.
I try to keep a mix of different things, they love their outdoor activities, playing in boxes and crafting too, as long as they don’t end up with square eyes and headaches I think it is just part of modern life.
Restrictions would be the amount of time spent on them, what they have access to on it and what age to trust them (if that is even ever whilst they are children under my roof).
I have a bit of a roll with it attitude and see what issues it throws up along the way.
Smartphones are a New Parenting Phenonema to Deal With...
It’s kind of a new phenomenon really to deal with as a parent. I had a ZX Spectrum as a kid and played at being a boxing manager, I enjoyed doing that and a football manager one and I had really no idea of positions that footballers played and put them all in the wrong ones and the team did really well, haha.
Oh and Chuckie Egg, anyone else remember that one?
Didn’t have mobile phones till I was at least in my 20s and then at some point after that they turned smart.
But my mind and life have broadened with the advent of this kind of technology - I think it should be embraced somewhat, rather than restricted.
Because at the end of the day, it is an avenue that means that you can live life on your own terms.
