Does your 4th grader have a phone? Why or why not?

[Anonymous]

My fifth grader does not have a phone and won’t be getting one any time soon. She has a key to our house and we have a landline if she needs to call me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 4th grade DS has a phone strictly for my convenience and his safety. He sometimes comes home to an empty house after school and I want to be able to talk to him and make sure he got in ok and locked the door behind him. We do not have a landline. I also like that I can track him on his walk home or if he goes to the playground alone. Maybe that's overkill, but it makes me feel better when he's home alone and I'm an hour away. He also likes being able to talk to me or facetime me when he gets home. He is not allowed to text, have social media or use his phone for anything else other than listening to downloaded music (parent approved) when he's coming home on his own.

This sounds like our exact situation. Except my son also plays Fortnight on his phone sometimes.

We don't have a landline so when he's home alone we can communicate.

[Anonymous]

My youngest had an iPhone when he was 10. An older sibling upgraded and he got the hand-me-down I never really thought of it as a big deal. Most 10 year olds have cell phones. I don’t see the phone as any different from any other piece of technology. It’s a tool.

[Anonymous]

my 4th grader does not have a phone. Not really a conscious decision as it is never really come up or crossed our minds to get him one. If he isn't with us he is either at school, at aftercare or with an adult we know, all of whom can call us if need be. He does sometime ride his bike around the neighborhood with a friend, and I feel fine with not tracking him, I mean I grew up doing this and never had a phone.

[Anonymous]

We are saving the phone until at least 7th grade because of concerns about social media and other dangers. My kids have had Verizon gizmos since 2nd grade so they can call me and I can track them as they bike in the neighborhood, etc.

[Anonymous]

My 4th grade DS does not have a phone. We do have an old iPhone that has no service but can connect to wireless when at home (or elsewhere with open wireless): he sometimes gets to use this, for example, if he has to come to work with me for a few hours, or on car trips to play downloaded games. I believe he has represented this as "having a phone" to friends at times, but rest assured, he does not in fact "have a phone."

There is no reason for him to have a phone of his own. That said, we don't have a house phone (just our phones and the computer and iPad and the aforementioned brick for messaging). He is not home alone enough for this to be an issue, but we'd install a landline before getting him a phone. I can see the need for a 6th grader to have phone due to being home alone more and extracurriculars and undefined pick-up times, but even then, I'd like to think I'd purchase my child phone without all of the bells and whistles, as that can wait until age 13 or so.

I have thought about "well what about next semester when he's walking home alone more - would it be good to have a phone then?" and I still think it would be a potential distraction while crossing streets and walking more than it would be a benefit.

[Anonymous]

Are you kidding me?

No my 5th Grader does not and will not have a phone, at least any time soon. You're just asking for trouble on this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 4th grade DS does not have a phone. We do have an old iPhone that has no service but can connect to wireless when at home (or elsewhere with open wireless): he sometimes gets to use this, for example, if he has to come to work with me for a few hours, or on car trips to play downloaded games. I believe he has represented this as "having a phone" to friends at times, but rest assured, he does not in fact "have a phone."[i]

There is no reason for him to have a phone of his own. That said, we don't have a house phone (just our phones and the computer and iPad and the aforementioned brick for messaging). He is not home alone enough for this to be an issue, but we'd install a landline before getting him a phone. I can see the need for a 6th grader to have phone due to being home alone more and extracurriculars and undefined pick-up times, but even then, I'd like to think I'd purchase my child phone without all of the bells and whistles, as that can wait until age 13 or so.

I have thought about "well what about next semester when he's walking home alone more - would it be good to have a phone then?" and I still think it would be a potential distraction while crossing streets and walking more than it would be a benefit.

Yup, this. A few weeks ago another mom mentioned to me that my son had a phone. Umm... nope. When further questioned, DS explained that he uses DH's old phone at home to play music and games some times. It doesn't have service and it's not even connected to our wifi except for rare occasions when we connect it for him for a specific reason.
He does have a Gizmo but even that is at home 75% of the time.

[Anonymous]

my kindergartner is lobbying for a phone and claims that many of her classmates have them.

[Anonymous]

3rd grader has a gizmo gadget. It's a watch phone. It is great because I never have to worry about him forgetting it or leaving it somewhere. My 12yr old has a phone, but half the time he doesnt carry it so I often call my 9yr old to get in touch with my 12yr old.

[Anonymous]

No, doesn’t need one. Has friends who also don’t but also has friends who do. Older sibling got a dumb phone at 6th grade and will get a smart phone at 8th or 9th. Current 4th grader will have the same at the same ages.

[Anonymous]

My 5th grader does not have a phone and it only makes my life easier. He friends’ parensts are having all kinds of issues.

[Anonymous]

My 4th grader has a phone that sits in the kitchen all day long. Only because we don’t have a landline and she needs to have a way to contact us if she gets home from school before her older sister. No other reason for a 10 yo to have a phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. If she needs to call us, there is always someone else around whose parents haven't read or don't believe the studies showing the correlation between smart phone use and anxiety/depression in teens.

Lovely.

[Anonymous]

My 4th grader has a phone that sits in the kitchen all day long. Only because we don’t have a landline and she needs to have a way to contact us if she gets home from school before her older sister. No other reason for a 10 yo to have a phone.