Kids and phones ?

[MnM]

My daughter got one around 13. Started a lot of headache for us. Gotten better over the last year. Try to hold off as long as you can.

[RedBear78]

We or our 12 yo a cheap flip phone just for our benefit.He’s stuck in his Ashbergers world of video games and YouTube and he doesn’t like the responsibility of keeping it charged.It’s been a teaching tool for us to teach him responsibilities because he doesn’t get to leave the house without it.I know it’s a totally different dynamic than most parents,kids and phone situations.I don’t think an I phone will ever be in the cards as long as he lives at home.

[kcnatural]

12

[Anythinghunter8]

got mine when i was 15 but it was just a regular flip phone nothing special! i could not see getting my boys a smart phone ever if they want to pay for it they can but daddy wont! but i still got 10 years so maybe i will change my mind!

[bullets13]

I'm thinking 12. they're only 8 and 5 right now, so I have some time to figure it out.

[Nova]

My son got his when he was 13 due to a lot of afterschool activities. He has no social media and an internet blocker for family friendly content. You can also limit times on certain apps.

[TKRanch]

We got our kids theirs when they were 12 and the reality was it was more for us than them with all of their activities and the fact that we both worked a lot. It worked well and only really took a few rules and monitoring. Luckily we have reallly good kids! Good luck!

[Texas8point]

We got my son a phone at around 10. He would spend the night with a friend and we wanted him to be able to call us if he needed to.

[Mike Fangman]

Im thinking around 12 years old, whenever they went into to 6th grade and started riding the bus.

[RMW]

10

[ctom87]

I am not going to let my kid watch TV, tablet, phone until at last 3 or 4 years of age. Kids are becoming addicted to technology, video games etc and it is having a big effect on social skills. I played video games when I was a kid but I guess they were never good enough to suck me in... I dont remember a day growing up when I did not prefer to be outside playing with neighbors and I am 33.

I realized I hadn't addressed your question. Things may change in the next 10 years but I don't see us allowing a phone until 15 or 16. Certainly there are circumstances that would and should change that, and blessedvet had one that would be a great reason for kids to have cell phones.

Here is something I read yesterday which touches on addiction to cell phones and technology.

https://www.checkupnewsroom.com/a-different-kind-of-addiction--more-kids-struggling-to-put-down-their-devices/

[riverbowman]

When they got to middle school and started getting involved in all kinds of activities. Made our lives much easier.

[IOWA BOW HUNTER]

13-14 unless you work alot and their home alone than I could see sooner.

On a side note I am very happy my first motarola flip phone didnt allow my parents to track me, on top of that have the ability to look through my web history or I would of wind up in military school....

[JHT]

Here is something I read yesterday which touches on addiction to cell phones and technology.

https://www.checkupnewsroom.com/a-di...their-devices/

That article wouldn't exist if parents turned the tech off when signs of addiction started appearing. Daily use time on the phone is really easy to check or set rules on the phone to shut it off after X amount of activity.

Its as simple of putting the cookie jar out of reach after the kids have had enough sugar for one night.

Strange concept to have to explain to parents.

[jer_james]

Daughter got one at 10 when She started walking home from school with her little Sister. Also made communication much easier during Cheer practices and other practices/events. I have 4 kids (2 live 1/2 time with their Mom), and am constantly running around between games and practices. If I'm going to be a few minutes late, or there is a class/practice that the kiddo wants to stay later for, I like them being able to do that without me running around like a mad man. It is definitely not a necessity, but has made life easier.

We have multiple apps for all 4 of my kids. It shows every message/email/call/face time. Also shows the safari history of every website visited. Provides a list of youtube shows watched. Gets completely shut down at 9 pm every evening.

There are definitely scares associated.