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I have been anti-smartphones for my kids for the longest. I just felt that they needed to be more mature and responsible before they got one. But at What age should you give your Child have a Mobile Phone? I mean, I’ve felt that smartphones give kids too much freedom. I also knew that eventually, my kids would get smartphones but I wanted to keep them away from them as long as I could. Those are my reasons. I don’t know what The Husband’s reasons were but they may be a little similar to mine.
However, last weekend that changed. We gave in and allowed Nishe and Tyler to get smartphones. Before buying any smartphones, though, we had suggested them that they research and obtain Device Information to make sure that the model they want would be suitable for their use.
Anyway, up until then, they had been using basic mobile phones. Just a phone without all the bells and whistles. All they could do was text and call. Those phones were basically for emergencies. Like if they missed the bus or just needed to reach us. Three things led us to the decision of buying them smartphones.
1. It was just time for them to get an upgrade. Especially Nishe’ her phone was the oldest of all of ours. She had the phone to where in order to text you had to press one button multiple times to get to each letter.
2. The Internet service allows them to easily complete their daily homework and look up necessary things when they need help. They can also play games for a limited time once done with the daily homework. We recently learned that a few online games similar to Colonist could be great for kids to develop strategic thinking, train their memory and observation skills. So, now we play such games together!
3. We set rules that will make us comfortable. For example: They have to text and use the Internet in front of us and the phones aren’t allowed to leave our room. Rules like these makes us feel more comfortable. Plus there are so many kids bedroom facts that show that having technology with them in their bedrooms stops them from being able to sleep and therefore, feel refreshed in the morning, and I think all us adults have been caught in sleepless technology nights ourselves at one point or another!
As they show us more maturity the rules might change over time but they have to gain our trust first. They are great kids so I’m sure that won’t take long. We also want them to be able to communicate with their friends easier since they are becoming more social. They are still not on any social media. We are taking baby steps.
What made you decide to get your child a smartphone? Do you have any specials rules?
