Appropriate Age for a Mobile Phone

[lea-marie]

What would you say is the 'right age' for a child to have a mobile phone?

I have been thinking a lot about this for Charli, who is 9.

She's been asking about one for quite a while now, and this is her arguement...
She spends 3 out of 4 weekends at her dad's, and also half of the school holidays. In this time, she finds it hard to speak to me because her dad restricts her usage of his phone and she can't speak to me etc without him standing over her. Also, on weeks like this one, where she has had to stay at Andy's mum's because she's signed off school for a week but we can't get out of work, again, she limited to how much she can speak to me.
She says that having a phone would mean that she can could speak to me, her dad, Andy, family etc with ease, which is an important thing for her already.
She does have friends with phones, though they're not a primary factor.

I have always said that she could have one for her 11th birthday, but the more I think about it, the more I'm coming around to the idea of her having one now.
It would only be a cheap one, like £30, no frills etc (so no apps or internet), and it would be limited with how much she could use on it. She's very responsible with her things, so I know she would look after it.

[XxJack~AcexX]

Hun I think it depends on the child. I think you have made up your mind I see the pros for Charli having one hun.
My brother has one and started Senior School in September. He has it to let my mum no about pick ups etc and wether he will be later that night. He is 11. x

[BrandonsMum08]

I think Charli's arguement for it is pretty fair and she does seem very mature for her age. If it is a no frills phone then i cant see why not. Btw, tescos have good cheap deals for pay monthly on sim only (ie £7.50 or £10 per month) and you can cap the usage so she cant go over. You may even get cheaper as you wont need the internet usage.

Andys daughter is the same ae and her mum got her an iphone 3gs for xmas and i wish she didnt have it!! she isnt responsible with it and she pesters people and her mum even made her a fb page which i think is wrong as she has people from all over the world on it that her nan has added for games like farmville so she has added them too! With regards to the pestering, she texts people which is usually nothing important (just 1 word txt saying hiya) and then sends more and more if she doesnt get a reply straight away.

[Schmushe]

Did you decide on this Lea?

We're having this with Josh at the mo, nearly all of his friends have a phone but he has come up with good reasons to have one so its a hard one. We always said in yr 6 he could have one in prep for starting high school and he will be in yr 6 come sept so it's deciding if he should have one in may for his birthday or at Xmas.

[lea-marie]

Still no decision yet... I have a feeling that the compromise with her dad will be when she starts year 6 too, which isn't until next September (2014)