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

[Anonymous]

My son got a phone in the 4th grade. He was doing and afterschool play and involvled with a travel sport that had him leaving the play practice early to be picked up by parents whose children do not attend our school. it was a logistical thing. you can agree or not, but it was what we did to make things work smoother. He was going to school at 8am and sometime not returning home until 7pm. If there was any change in plans it was unnecessary stress for parents and child that was fixed with a device.

[Anonymous]

Will wait as long as possible before child gets one. No need at the moment.

[Anonymous]

My 4th grader carries a flip phone to sports practices/games. Sometimes I’m running back and forth to things, the weather is iffy, etc. No smartphone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is using a phone different from tablet or computer.

Tablets are limited to public areas of our house. Or if they take them somewhere, they don’t have internet access (like on the bus). Having a smartphone that they take places means access to the internet with no supervision.

[Anonymous]

No, because they are 9???????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Just curious for those of you who think it is no big deal to give your kids a phone, Do you set age restrictions on the phone for content or do you just give them a free for all? Do you set parental controls on your other devices? Or do you just let them figure it out and hope they don't stumble onto porn or other things????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Just curious for those of you who think it is no big deal to give your kids a phone, Do you set age restrictions on the phone for content or do you just give them a free for all? Do you set parental controls on your other devices? Or do you just let them figure it out and hope they don't stumble onto porn or other things????

We do set restrictions on my sons phone. He's honestly not on it that much. He prefers his Playstation.

Wondering what parental control my parents should have been using when we, at around the same age, stumbled upon a stack pf porno mags in he woods behind our house. I will never ever forget the size of that penis.

[Anonymous]

Our 4th grader had one of our old iphones with no cell service until it broke. We replaced it with an iPod touch.

[Anonymous]

We got our 5th grader an iPod touch strictly for music. We disabled all texting and internet (and there are no phone capabilities). She can download music after asking us, and she likes to keep notes in the notes feature. She can also use the alarm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Just curious for those of you who think it is no big deal to give your kids a phone, Do you set age restrictions on the phone for content or do you just give them a free for all? Do you set parental controls on your other devices? Or do you just let them figure it out and hope they don't stumble onto porn or other things????

We do set restrictions on my sons phone. He's honestly not on it that much. He prefers his Playstation.

Wondering what parental control my parents should have been using when we, at around the same age, stumbled upon a stack pf porno mags in he woods behind our house. I will never ever forget the size of that penis.

Presumably you didn't spend hours, every day, looking at those magazines. Kids with phones can and do spend many hours, every day, on them. Adults, too.

Why start young? There's your whole life ahead of you to look at your phone.

[Anonymous]

No. not for the lack of trying on his part though.

[Anonymous]

We have a flip phone that is the "house" phone. When DD stays home alone she keeps it with her. But she does not take it to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, because they are 9???????

What is the question exactly? My 9yr old has had a watch phone since he was 8, as has many of his friends. it is not exactly scandalous.

[Anonymous]

Yes, mostly so he can communicate with us while at sports practices and games. He also listens to music with it. No games. He only has a couple friends who have phones and they text to make plans to meet up.

[Anonymous]

5th grade DD does not. Some friends do, most don't. My goal is to wait until 8th, but we'll see.

https://www.waituntil8th.org/