My 4 year old wants a mobile phone,

[slark01]

And it has to be pink!
When I asked her why, she said " So I can call Nana when i'm out".
So should I get her one or not?
This has been going on for a few days now.
Instinct is telling me not to, and if I did allow it, she would be supervised.
What are your opinions?
Ste.
Tapatalk

[Quedos]

She doesn't need one - if she's supervised let her use yours.
Instinct is always a good one to follow

Hope it helps

[speedplay]

Gone are the days when kids were happy to be out playing and just having fun.

Now its all ipods, laptops, mobile phones and games consoles...


God I'm feeling old :(

[Berlin]

What's more amazing is you have to ask the question! :)

[The Guru]

What's more amazing is you have to ask the question! :)

+1

[Electro]

Nooooo.

[Dave20046]

+1
+3




(g)

[Speedy Claire]

Personally I`d wait til she`s a bit older Ste. I can`t see why a four year old would need a mobile as like Quedos says she`ll be supervised at all times and if she wants to ring her nan a far cheaper option is for her to use yours.... a four year old will not hang up, she`ll chat on and on and once she understands the buttons there`ll be no stopping her.

I feel we`re sometimes too quick to make young children "miniature adults" and i`d also be concerned about the potential risk of radiation. She might start off small scale but once you`ve initiated her into the use of mobile phones she`ll want a newer and better one each year so i`d hang on to your bank balance for now :D

[Reeder]

I remember when I first got a mobile phone and my parents stupidly had it on contract... needless to say after 3 months in a row of £700 bills they decided I didnt need one for a few more years.

[Paul the 6th]

+3




(g)


Slick dave, super slick :thumbsup:

[Daimo]

What's more amazing is you have to ask the question! :)

Amazing, or concerning?

Should my 4 yo have a mobile?

Seriously, for real, you actually need to ask the internet this question?

[pookie]

no.. only when she is old enough to sign her name on the credit agreement and pay for the bills.. oh I'm going to have fun in my household :)

[The Guru]

I remember when I first got a mobile phone and my parents stupidly had it on contract... needless to say after 3 months in a row of £700 bills they decided I didnt need one for a few more years.

Reeder what kind of muppet doesn't learn their lesson after the 1st month?? :smt017

Oh look I just answered my own question.

Carry on. :salut:

[Reeder]

I was 13, at the height of my school social life and I wasn't paying the bills. What was I meant to learn?

[Littlepeahead]

You mean she hasn't got one already?

I bought my nephew a digital camera when he was 4, he got a mobile at 6 and I left him to sort out the intallation of Google Earth and downloading some photos on my laptop as he's now 8 and has better IT skills than me. He did ask me what I thought of the situation in Libya on Sunday - surely kids should be watching CBBC not BBC News 24?

But he sends me texts on his mobile to arrange what we're going to do at the weekend. He also calls his mum when we are out if we'll be late home - which one night went along the lines of "Hi Mummy, I'm out in Soho with Auntie Clare, and some of her biker friends... oh you want to speak to her about that..."

[Bluefish]

Let me think about that, no

[Owenski]

What's more amazing is you have to ask the question! :)

+4

[maxinc]

I guess the real question here should be ... iPhone or Android? Don't bother with Windows Phone ... LOL

[Rai86]

Amazing, or concerning?

Should my 4 yo have a mobile?

Seriously, for real, you actually need to ask the internet this question?

Not sure if you meant that to sound so aggressive, not needed if you did


I'd say no on the phone front. However if you did go for it then it would be a good oppertunity to teach her about the resposiblity side of it (maybe she is a bit young) but maybe sitting and counting out the money for the bill with her from a young age will help her to grow up with a heathly respect for money/bills and not getting into debt

Just a thought. Might as well use these things as a teaching tool

[Milky Bar Kid]

Absolutely not! What possible need does a 4yo have for a mobile phone????

Mobile phones, laptops, games consoles etc are fine once a child is old enough to have properly developed social skills. We are already seeing a generation of kids who have spent to much time on the internet and stuff who don't have proper social skills. Far better to take her round to visit her Nan instead, that way she can pick up on body language and facial expressions and stuff!!

[slark01]

Personally I`d wait til she`s a bit older Ste. I can`t see why a four year old would need a mobile as like Quedos says she`ll be supervised at all times and if she wants to ring her nan a far cheaper option is for her to use yours.... a four year old will not hang up, she`ll chat on and on and once she understands the buttons there`ll be no stopping her.

I feel we`re sometimes too quick to make young children "miniature adults" and i`d also be concerned about the potential risk of radiation. She might start off small scale but once you`ve initiated her into the use of mobile phones she`ll want a newer and better one each year so i`d hang on to your bank balance for now :D
Cheers Claire, a sensible answer and one that I was already thinking.
Although, no way is she using my phone, too blooming expensive to replace if she broke it. :)
If mobile phones did not emit any form of radiation and I could guarantee my daughter would not want a new one every year ( impossible I know ), as well as having complete control over what she can do / not do, then there is no harm in giving her a mobile.
Having read quite abit about the potential dangers of a child having a mobile, it occured to me that most of the problems have been caused by the parents not educating their children in the first place and just giving the phone over with no forethought. Mobile phones are technological tools that can be used and abused, just like other forms IE: computers and the internet.
The question was asked to find out what the general consensus is and whether things have changed over the past few years. Which by all accounts has not.

My daughter will not be getting one until I am satisfied that she will not come to any harm, either physically, mentally or emotionally.
Thank you for your imput ladies and gentlemen. :)

Ste.

[Luckypants]

Instinct is telling me not to, <snip>Ste, you are a good Dad, follow your instinct, it's a good one.

[anna]

As an aside from the original op that has been answered but not a total de-rail this is an interesting topic.

The fact is that we as adults see no reason for a child of 4 to have a mobile phone, however as part of their social development it is now used as a tool to enable them to grow.

Kids are not growing up in a changed world different from when we were younger, we have mobile phones, ipads, laptops etc and kids need to be able to learn to use those tools in order to fit in with the growing world.

Here in Portugal there is a growing movement from the government to enable all kids in school to own a laptop and the choices are a leap-pad or an ipad. Is this over the top? No, I don´t think so children need to learn these tools and I am glad the government and schools are taking the initiative to enable these learning tools into every day use for kids.

Not having a mobile phone these days when in school is now seen as a stigma, rather like when we were at school and didnt have the latest toy in the playground.

Aside from having the phone as a toy there are some serious considerations, I know that for parents it must be a comfort to know their child is able to contact them in any situation they might need them. If a child is taught how to use a mobile phone then there isnt any reason why they shouldnt have one.

In regards to the radiation, yes this would be my primary concern and perhaps this would cause me to look into it and perhaps so no.

[arenalife]

We can't get the ipod touch and iphone off my 2 and 3 year olds in the eves, they're all over them playing games and taking pics / video etc. Me and my woman have to play with the wooden blocks instead!!!

[kitkat]

my daughter has one of my other kids old phones. she is 2. it is not charged and she pretends to speak on it. She also plays with her big brothers ds. she is only allowed it when sitting onsofa when someone else in the room. I think it good for them to have access to these things, she regularly plays games on the laptop but no 4 year old "needs" a mobile. My eldest babysits for a family with an 8 month old and a 4 year old. the 4 year old plays games on my daughters i phone and remembers her security code from one week to the next. 4 year olds are different wee people to in my day. But then I was out playing in the street, riding my bike, playing in building sites at 4 not sitting in the house needing technology to be able to play. omg I sound so old

[Milky Bar Kid]

As an aside from the original op that has been answered but not a total de-rail this is an interesting topic.

The fact is that we as adults see no reason for a child of 4 to have a mobile phone, however as part of their social development it is now used as a tool to enable them to grow.

Kids are not growing up in a changed world different from when we were younger, we have mobile phones, ipads, laptops etc and kids need to be able to learn to use those tools in order to fit in with the growing world.

Here in Portugal there is a growing movement from the government to enable all kids in school to own a laptop and the choices are a leap-pad or an ipad. Is this over the top? No, I don´t think so children need to learn these tools and I am glad the government and schools are taking the initiative to enable these learning tools into every day use for kids.

Not having a mobile phone these days when in school is now seen as a stigma, rather like when we were at school and didnt have the latest toy in the playground.

Aside from having the phone as a toy there are some serious considerations, I know that for parents it must be a comfort to know their child is able to contact them in any situation they might need them. If a child is taught how to use a mobile phone then there isnt any reason why they shouldnt have one.

In regards to the radiation, yes this would be my primary concern and perhaps this would cause me to look into it and perhaps so no.

Now, I agree with kids being taught how to use technology from a young age but really do think that is a step over board.

Kids need interaction from people and things around them to ensure the develop the correct social skills. I really think this will have a huge effect on generations of kids in relation to their emotional intelligence.

Sure, they might be geniuses an can use binary for fun but will the be able to hols relationships or pick up on peoples facial expressions and such like?

Whilst I agree they need to be introduced to it, I don't think they all need mobile phones an iPads at a young age.

Edit: that's me saying excessive use. We used to get to use pc's at primary school for an hour a day an mum n dad allowed us to play the playstation for an hour a day too....

Sent from my mobile telefenone

[Littlepeahead]

You are right about taking a child round to see their nan. If my nephew didn't live in the same house as my mother she'd never get any of the technology in her home to work at all.

My younger nephew is two and he now puts on the TV, sets it to AV2 on the remote, puts his DVD in and chooses which episode of Waybaloo he wants to watch. When I asked mum to put a DVD on for me the other day she just looked at me blankly and then asked the little man if he could do it for her as she doesn't know how!

He also turned off Country File the other day when I told him there were fast motorbikes on BBC2 - good lad.

[Quedos]

I dread the day that these young ones grow up. The lack of social skills and standard of language comprehension is beyond belief. Our apprentice has just turned 18 and her grasp of English is shocking, she has no idea of grammar, her spelling is worse than a 4 year old and she has problems reading anything except text speak. She will not pick up a phone and talk to anyone(except her friends) - I have had to coach her in phoning other departments.

I understand the need to learn from technology but that should apply to all ages about all things. I think social interaction is so more important as MBK says. As is the development of imagination and the ability to create your own entertainment - How many kids these days are sat in front of TV's or spend hour on the Xbox and the likes.

KK - your little one is very proficient in sending messages!!

[Daimo]

My youth:
Go outside, get bike, ride to friends, ask to come out, go to woods, amke bows/arrows, climb trees, playfight, play football etc.

New youth:
Txt m8, XBOX/PS3 online, hook up COD on an MMORG,, enable voice chat, not move from sofa in 10 hours, play COD all day never seeing another child.


Go for it, sounds a great place for children. Laptop, no. Use at home sure under supervision, ok. To school, no chance. Mobile phone even moreso. Its a gimmick, a toy, a handy device. Parents, teach your children orgenisation and how to plan in advance. Its a life skill. Sure life changes and moves on, but why are you allowing a child to become an adult, in a world where children try to grow up far too fast as it is.

They are children, its the best part of your life, keep them as innocent and as young for as long as possible.

[Filipe M.]

They are children, its the best part of your life, keep them as innocent and as young for as long as possible.

And when every other child their age knows how to use any electronic device in their sleep and your own child doesn't even know the name or what it's used for, tell them it was for their own good!



How about striking a balance somewhere?...

[Daimo]

Please re-read my above comments and you will see i've already answered that.

Sure, let them use them. But it should not become part of their entire daily life. Not all children will be IT geeks. Most wont at all. They will also be taught the basic IT skills that most people need later on in their schooling life.

[L3nny]

I guess the real question here should be ... iPhone or Android? Don't bother with Windows Phone ... LOL

:winner:

[Filipe M.]

Please re-read my above comments and you will see i've already answered that.

Sure, let them use them. But it should not become part of their entire daily life. Not all children will be IT geeks. Most wont at all. They will also be taught the basic IT skills that most people need later on in their schooling life.

Sorry, clearly I must improve my reading skills, I must spend too much time playing with gadgets. I still couldn't find a middle ground in your reply, just a very restrictive point of view (when seen from my side of the fence).

Trusting they will be taught basic IT skills is, IMO, handing over a part of the problem for someone else to solve, and again, IMO, we've all seen the educational system failing more often than we'd like to admit, why trust that they will be able to make good on this one?

[Quedos]

Trusting they will be taught basic IT skills is, IMO, handing over a part of the problem for someone else to solve, and again, IMO, we've all seen the educational system failing more often than we'd like to admit, why trust that they will be able to make good on this one?

because every class is fitted with them these days and they are all expected form approx P3 to do research on the PC so basic IT skills will be taught.

Gone are the days of story time and playing games in the playground - too busy texting their friends who are next to them because they have to use all the stuff the contract gives them. And they learn nothing and M&D always pay the bills at that age.

[Daimo]

Indeed, I didn't write much either.....

Not restrictive at all. I work in IT, I am an IT administrator, I use PC's all day every day, and the days I forget my phone are the best one so I have a very good insight into IT useage and technology.

My generation (80's) and every generation got on fine before hand. Yes the world has moved on, yes kids need to keep in touch. More time goes on, more children life their life behined a PC, instead of living in the real world.

NO a 4 yo does not need a mobile. Why would you be allowing a 4 yo out by themselves anyway? why would they be any reasonable distance from home without supervision? They are 4, not 14!!!

Yes children should use PC's. They do... Yes they can be allowed to use them. No they don't need a phone, and no they dont need to be carrying laptops all day in a bloody primary school. Thats certainly keeping their childhood isn't it. So, seeing as 4yo's are so mature now and should have laptops, are you going to buy a new one when each ones broken??

Hell I couldnt' even keep my braces in my gob as a youngster, and at £40 a pop, my parents would go livid each time. Maybe you can afford to re-supply your child with new laptops all the time, but me, it stays at home, where the child can learn all they want, at home, if they want to, and have an interest in it (and arguabley, the parent can also learn with the child).

[Filipe M.]

Indeed, I didn't write much either.....

Not restrictive at all. I work in IT, I am an IT administrator, I use PC's all day every day, and the days I forget my phone are the best one so I have a very good insight into IT useage and technology.

My generation (80's) and every generation got on fine before hand. Yes the world has moved on, yes kids need to keep in touch. More time goes on, more children life their life behined a PC, instead of living in the real world.

NO a 4 yo does not need a mobile. Why would you be allowing a 4 yo out by themselves anyway? why would they be any reasonable distance from home without supervision? They are 4, not 14!!!

Yes children should use PC's. They do... Yes they can be allowed to use them. No they don't need a phone, and no they dont need to be carrying laptops all day in a bloody primary school. Thats certainly keeping their childhood isn't it. So, seeing as 4yo's are so mature now and should have laptops, are you going to buy a new one when each ones broken??

Hell I couldnt' even keep my braces in my gob as a youngster, and at £40 a pop, my parents would go livid each time. Maybe you can afford to re-supply your child with new laptops all the time, but me, it stays at home, where the child can learn all they want, at home, if they want to, and have an interest in it (and arguabley, the parent can also learn with the child).

Fair enough, but then again I never said a 4 yo should be given a mobile phone or a laptop. My position was merely defending they should be allowed to play with and learn to use what to us, older generation (... I can't believe I just wrote this...), seemed like something out of star trek only 20 years ago.

As for laptops in school, our education system allows / requires kids to have them from age 6 (I will agree that 4 would be a step too far), as a learning complement. The laptops that were initially supplied were built specifically for kids (netbook based, only even smaller), weigh next to nothing and are supposed to be a bit more rugged than your average Acer POS. They come preloaded with learning software, running on the usual suspects. Of course since we also have a lot of posh people that *hate* Windows or Linux and will use nothing but Apple products (because everyone else is the spawn of the devil and considered the plague, yada yada yada), now they are allowed to use the iPad. Don't ask. I don't want to know, and no, I don't have the funds to replace it if / when it breaks. Hell, I wouldn't even buy one for me, but that's another story altogether.

Putting the iPad example aside, my point of view on the use of laptops in classroom is quite simple: if it allows kids to carry only one thing instead of a backpack full of books that will break their backs and cost more than the flippin' laptop did in the first place (yes, we have to pay for school books and they change every year), then I'm all for it. Make it light, small and rugged (okay, pick any two...) and we may have a winner. For the paper people in the room, I also love the feeling of holding a good book in my hand and reading from it instead of a screen, but with the quality some of the school books are printed, trust me, you get less headaches from a screen.

My daughter (aged 6) began being taught how to use a computer 3 years ago, both at home and at the nursery, and at that time she could already choose her own DVDs by hopping on a stool and changing disks on the DVD player (as pretty much all kids seem to be able to do now, much to the amazement of their grandparents). She got her first mobile phone for her 3rd or 4th birthday (can't remember as I wasn't the one buying it), and it was the Imaginarium fixed thingy, that could only receive calls or make calls to fixed pre-programmed numbers.
How many times have I seen her use it? None.
Did she need it? No, as she was always under supervision.
Does she need it now she's 6 (and btw, she was given a different one - Hello Kitty themed! - when the first one broke - again, not by me)? No, as even though she's now in primary school, she's still constantly under supervision.
Does she care? Yes, because even with the phone off, without a SIM card or anything harmful, her imagination allows her to play with it as grown ups do, while holding something in her hand that is not a piece of make believe plastic.
Would I have bought it for her? Probably not.
Does it make her happy? Yes.
Is it worth it? You tell me.

As you can see, my position isn't that different from everyone else's. I'm only 33 (going on 34), I use computers and gadgets for pretty much all the time I'm awake, and yet I'm also sitting on the fence when it comes to kids using this kind of stuff, and when it comes to mobile phones, radiation is a concern that will make me try and make sure she uses a mobile phone for as small periods of time as possible.

[Graciepants]

I'm not an expert on kids or anything like that, but my best friend has a 5 year old, and we strangely had this conversation a few weeks ago.

I personally think that giving a 4 year old a mobile is a little bit useles. I let my friend's little boy first use my blackberry, then my iphone. he also plays with my digital camera and is perfectly capable of finding the games section of the Cbbies website from a laptop. but he doesnt really know quite what he's doing. He told me he was changing the settings on my camera to "make it better" and when i looked, yes he had found his way into the settings menu, but he didnt actually understand what he was doing, he was just scrolling through the menu and pressing the buttons.

Same with my phones - he wanted to text his mum, and could recognise her name from the phone book but couldnt really text that well, at 4 or 5 your writing skills are very limited.

He is very inquizative and if he was given a phone for emergencies to carry in his bag or something, the odds are he'll have run down the battery within 2 minutes, or it'll be turned off for school and if he did get lost/separated, he probably, at 5, not even think about the phone in his bag.

I personally think it would be a bit of a waste giving any 4 or 5 year old a phone, my friend's boy has no concept of value when it comes to phones, he doesnt understand that my iphone 4 is worth about £500 and when he drops it, completely by accident because he's 5 and is clumsy, that i might be a bit worried, and accidents do happen - the expensive phones kids want, they would probably break, and if you gave them cheap ones for emergencies they wouldnt be interested in and would have them turned off in a bag and forgotten.

Saying that, we're going to glasto this year and he's being given a mobile phone "just in case" so maybe im being hypocritcal?

[yorkie_chris]

I was 13, at the height of my school social life and I wasn't paying the bills. What was I meant to learn?

That running up £700 bills when trusted with something results in getting the living f*** kicked out of you?

Maybe I grew up in a different sort of environment lol

[Milky Bar Kid]

That running up £700 bills when trusted with something results in getting the living f*** kicked out of you?

Maybe I grew up in a different sort of environment lol

Like you, I think I woulda died had my Mum and Dad got a £700 bill......

[yorkie_chris]

Then again at 13 I had 3 or 4 of my own air weapons, was out with a shotgun on a regular basis and had been looking after my own motorbikes for a couple of years.

[Milky Bar Kid]

At 13 I was working already! Wasn't allowed a mobile until I could pay for it myself!

[irons]

anyone that gives a kid of 4 a mobile phone, laptop, ipod etc needs a good slap imo

A fair few of friends have got their kids phones and they are aged between 7-11, that is still way to young imo. We seem to have turned into a world of what kid wants kid gets, and then we wonder why they grow up with no respect for anything or anyone. They are used to having it the way they want it now.
I never had a mobile till i was 21 and it done me no harm.

What does a kid need a mobile phone for?

[Bluefish]

mobile phones, there wasn't a tv in our house untill my oldest brother got one when he was 16, and we had to live in a lake ;)

[hindle8907]

with a nick nack paddy whack give the kid a phone.

[Dave20046]

Then again at 13 I had 3 or 4 of my own air weapons, was out with a shotgun on a regular basis and had been looking after my own motorbikes for a couple of years.

yep, I had a knife and possibly also an airgun before I had a mobile phone. Finally bought one when I'd saved enough off my paperround

A 4 year old deffo doesn't need one, as a hypochondriac I'd be more concerned about radiation than bills or a general waste of a mobiole phone. A 4 year old's skull is so thin, may aswell just dip her head in a microwave.
That said I have two mobiles about my person at all times so I ain't having no kids.

[Teejayexc]

At 13 I was working already! Wasn't allowed a mobile until I could pay for it myself!

So how did your clients get in touch then, scrawl on the phone box wall?


<runs and hides>

[Bluefish]

At the moment i would say 12 is the minimum age i would give a kid a mobile, till then there is no need for them to have one, they may want one, but that is totally different to need. By next week your daughter will want a pony or something else ;)

[Kenzie]

I think four years is way too young. Let kids be kids and wait until at least 13 and can get a paper round to pay for bill.

[Milky Bar Kid]

So how did your clients get in touch then, scrawl on the phone box wall?


<runs and hides>


That was a moment of madness....or bravery, not quite sure which....;)

[Bluefish]

That was a moment of madness....or bravery, not quite sure which....;)
was funny though :D

[Teejayexc]

That was a moment of madness....or bravery, not quite sure which....;)

Lol, soz mbk, couldn't resist :smt016

[Milky Bar Kid]

was funny though :D

He might regret it come AR time.....lol!

[fenjer]

my small person is 6 and there is no way on this green and blue earth i'd give her a mobile phone for anything. she can use one, and plays games on them, but to have her own I don't think.

laptop, computer dsi she has supervised access to all of these things, but also get sent out to play in the garden, at the park etc.

I was 13 when I got my first mobile phone and lived in the middle of nowhere so a mobile was handy if i was out with friends or missed the bus home. It was payg and i could only have £10 a month out my pocket money to top it up.

Small person wont have a mobile until she is around the same age, and on the same conditions.

[anna]

Whilst I hear and respect the views of those that choose not to give phones to kids, I also feel that the arguments used are those used often by adults and that is "because in my day, all this were fields..."

Just because you didnt have phones or internet or technology whilst growing up isnt really an argument for your children not having them.

They now live in a world where they exist, and we didnt. The circumstances are different and so to compare like for like would be an unfair comparison.

Im not going to say that I agree that 4 year olds should just be given everything they ask for, but I am saying that the world is not the same as it was 30+ years ago and a little adaptation and middle ground should be considered to enable children to become balanced and adaptable young people.

[L3nny]

I wish people would stop saying how old they were when they got their first phone. Makes me feel really old!

For the rocord my first phone was whan I was 18. Couldn't get one before cause PAYG hadn't been invented yet. Also it was the size of a house.

Derail over.