When would you let your child own a phone?

[meiah]

My ds got his when he was in p5. A very basic phone. It’s for calling home if he has to stay back in sch and such. Now he is S1. He has an iphone too but he does not bring that to sch. He prefers to take his basic phone to sch as he finds that his friends generally grab and borrow whatever iphones they can get to play games.

[seekingangels]

i think nt to expose them to gadgets that early will be better. setting aside the influence issue, there is still the electromagnetic wave issue. definitely bad to expose them to such harmful waves at their tender age. besides when they grow older, im sure they will seek out these gadgets on their own.

[seekingangels]

if they do not have, its a matter of comparison between having and not having with their friends. if they do have it will be a competition to see who has the newest gadget. is it really fine to introduce the concept of materialism to them so young?I dont think so…

[lim]

AGREE!

seekingangels:

if they do not have, its a matter of comparison between having and not having with their friends. if they do have it will be a competition to see who has the newest gadget. is it really fine to introduce the concept of materialism to them so young?I dont think so...

[HopeandSorrows]

I let my boy use my old Nokia. Cannot let the young kids bring iPhone or Samsung andriods to school.. They do not know how to take care of their belongings :scared:


My nephew lost his HTC phone recently :sad:

[keltong]

I guess it’s on the need basis. My boy starts carrying my old Nokia phone from P5. He has many activities in school after lessons and we need a way to communicate with him. He usually switch off during normal lessons and switch on after school.


After that, he started to see his friends carrying touch phones and hinted to me how good it is. So I took it aside and explain to him that he is allow to carry the phone out of necessity, so I told him upfront I will NOT let him use any other phone other than the one I gave him.

He protested for a few months, stopping at phone shops everytime we walk past to pick up a brochure and purposely read beside me. I ignore his action and periodically reinforce the reason I gave to him. After a while, he sort of get the idea.

Seeing his result improved at the end of last year, I allow him to use my old 3GS during the year end holiday and he remembered to switch back to the old phone when school reopens.

So I am happy to let him continue to use the 3GS on weekends when he goes out with us, and he will always switch back to his old phone on Sun night.

So yes, I allow him to use a phone, but at my terms.

[jedamum]

my boy uses our old nokia phone too. he switches it off in class and only when i am late to fetch him and he needs to contact me then he'll switch it on to call me. (good that his sch allows them to bring hp on condition that they'll not use it during lesson time and will not disrupt lessons). even when his friend sms-ed him, his replies are only a one-liner. me and his good friend's mum also had an agreement that they can only sms each other after a certain timing so that they can get their homework done first.


he uses the alarm on the phone to remind him when his fav shows are on and also as an alarm clock on weekends.

[keltong]

I just can’t help to notice the number of old phones are Nokia. Haha.