Reply to Phones In Grade Four? What?!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I just surveyed my 6th grader - 90% of girls and 50% of boys have phones. Small private so she actually knows.  My kid does.  It’s really inappropriate to blame other parents for what you do or don’t allow.  Grow a pair.[/quote]

We're at a small private and the proportions are nowhere near that. Some of my 8th grader's peers are still using Apple Watch and iMessages on a tablet.[/quote]

I think when kids are in a K-8 it's much easier to not have a phone. If they are in public and in a middle school where they have a lot of independence it's odd not to have a phone. My kid has practices that run until almost 10pm in 6th grade. No way I'd have him there without some sort of communication device. If you are the parent that says oh he can use a friend's phone or the parent who asks other parents where their kid is because we can track them and you can't but you want to: it's time to get them a device. [/quote]

I don't really understand the argument for getting a middle school kid a phone. So they can use ChatGPT to do all their homework? So they can explore every subgenre of porn? So they can experience e-bullying? So they can obsess over which kid said what on social media? Just get an AirTag if you want to track them. [/quote]
My middle school kid has a locked down phone so she can't do anything you mention.  But she does ride her bike 2 miles to go to and from swim practice, 1 mile to the public library, bikes to piano lessons, to middle school and to another sports practice, so I like to be able to reach her since she's so independent.  She does also use the phone to reserve library books on the public library app and to listen to spotify when she goes for a run.  I can also see every text she sends and receives on my phone, so her device usage is closely supervised.

Parents who are critical of a middle schooler having a phone are either parents of a kid who has no independence or are only thinking of an unrestricted smart phone.[/quote]

Skeptical that locked down phones are actually locked down. There are creative ways around restrictions. [/quote]

The only phone I'd consider for my kids, even when they get to high school, would be a Light Phone or an old-fashioned flip phone. There's just no need to give my children an extremely distracting device when they need to focus on their coursework.[/quote]

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