Anonymous wrote:When DS Started MS he got a burner/ pay as you go phone. We also gave him clear guidance on how to earn the privilege of having a smartphone (using the burner responsibly, good grades, being a reasonable member of the family, etc). He was not there at Christmas, but was consistently doing what we had asked of him when he turned 13 this spring, so he got one of our old iPhones for his birthday. But, it has strong parental controls and a limited number of apps installed (and he doesn't have the password, So a parent has to install new ones). We have the pin, and he knows we can, and do, spot check his phone, including things liKe browser history, email and texts. As he gets older, we plan to slowly back off the monitoring as he proves he is using the phone appropriately. It's a process, but we're big on the idea of privilege/ responsibility/ consequence, and it's worked well for us.
Sounds great - I might do this as well once DS starts middle school!