What's the right age to give kids a mobile phone?

When they need one.. which I believe isn't until they go to secondary school and they start to have a bit more freedom.

I am a children's entertainer and do hundred's of kids shows and parties every year. I was quite shocked at the young ages a lot of kids bring phones to parties. From about 7 upwards. Having said that - the future for children is screens and digital displays. They really know how to operate hi tech stuff and we mustn't discourage that otherwise they will be left behind. A few years ago I had a stretch limo and the day after I bought it I had a kids trip for a bunch of 7 year olds. The car had a 16 stack CD unit and multiple tracks could be loaded and played in any order. It was so complex I just couldn't figure out how it worked and I was worried that the kids would come in and complain. However, the next day the kids and a mum piled into the car and within about 2 minutes the sound system burst into life - it was the kids operating it and loading up all their CD's and putting in all the tracks. I realised then that it's a different age we are in. Children in schools are now brought up with screens and technology and as long as you keep them away from anything dodgy on the internet then I think they should have a mobile device or a tablet. It's the way of life for children and they can learn more with it. Waiting until 13 or 14 is too late.

Whenever your child’s individual circumstances dictate is the right time. So, for example, the school my kids go to don’t want parents coming right to the school gates after the kids join P4 - they expect the children either to be able to walk home on their own or to meet their parents a short distance away from the school, and they’re discharged from school games in a totally different location across town. So that’s when my kids got their phones. My children were 7 when they moved to P4. I needed to be able to contact them at the end of the school day. Phones went on chargers as soon as they got home. They didn’t really get more access beyond that until they were around 9 or 10.

I personally have agreed with my 10 year old that he will not get one until he turns 13.

I pointed out to him the reasons why.

For us it’s not needed as he’s driven to school, collected from the gate and any communication with his friends are via Skype on his iPad.

I realise everyone’s circumstances are different, so this may not work for others.

Im basing the age on when it become appropriate for them to have social media and under 13 is certainly too young.

I hope that helps.

I find when you talk and explain nicely, children seem very amenable :)

When they need one, and can show that they know how to use one responsibly.

I think it depends entirely on circumstances. My daughter was always told it would be when she went to secondary school, however there were children in her year 6 class at primary who had them but these were kids who walked home by themselves after school. I always picked my daughter up so there was no real need for her to have one. As it happened, I had a mobile phone upgrade in the January of her year 6 so I passed my old phone to her, to see how she would be with it. After the first couple of days of novelty, she barely bothered with it, however once she started high school in September of that year it was a different story entirely! She’s in year 10 and barely off it! My niece is 10 and has one, but she is restricted on it time wise and is only allowed it on weekends.

The right age to give a child a mobil is when they can afford it themselves. Mind perhaps age 14 would do fine but onboy6 if you can afford ikt.

7 my daughter did when she went her dads as he wouldn’t contact let me know how she is she has no contact now she’s 11 but all her friends had phones same time they all group face time especially when it was lockdown really helped them stay connected when off school 2/3yrs ago, I have all passwords to phone though and doesn’t use it much just watched videos on you tube

Parental control could be on till 16 I would say any age tbh as long as parental control is on

So many people say that children need a smartphone to stay in-touch. This is an important safety aspect. But they don't need an internet-connected smartphone for this. They just need a basic mobile phone.Thats what we intend to get for our son soon.

There are so many problems with smartphones for children and many of them cant be solved by parental controls. Regulation may never be able to fix this and its unfair to expect children to have the maturity and responsibility at a young age to cope with addictive apps and the effect of social media. We still need to educate them about the risks and how to stay safe. We also have to be very aware of what they might see or do on another child's device.

this technology was not designed with children in mind but now children have it and we have all sleepwalked into a minefield. We need to find our way back out again. I believe its never too late to change. Its up to us.

Of course whether or not to give your child a smartphone is a personal choice. But many paents are concerned but also fear their child missing out and being socially excluded. Parents need to get together and support each other to delay. It an important part of solving the mental health crisis in young people but we still need internet safety, parental controls at home and regulation.