Technology Tips

Mobile phones: how to work out when children are ready

There are no hard and fast rules about the right age to give your child a mobile phone. But as your child’s friends start to get their own phones, your child might want one too.

These questions can help you work out whether your child is responsible enough to have a mobile phone:

• Is your child responsible in other ways? For example, does your child look after their belongings?
• Is your child reliable? For example, can your child get ready for school on time in the mornings?
• Is your child respectful to family and friends?
• Does your child usually follow your family rules? Will they be OK with rules about phone use?
• Does your child talk to you about things that worry them?
• Does your child understand phone safety? For example, do they know how to block messages and calls from people they don’t know? Do they know not to click on internet links in text messages from people they don’t know?

These questions can help you understand the benefits a phone might have for your child:

• Would a phone help to keep your child safe – for example, while your child is walking to and from school, when they need to check a timetable if they’re catching a bus or train on their own, or if they need to text you when they get home from school?
• Would a phone give your child more opportunity to stay in touch with family members or friends that they don’t see regularly?
• Is having a phone important for your child’s social life? Does your child feel excluded from conversations, events and online activities because they don’t have a phone?
• Would a phone be useful at school – for example, for taking pictures of homework or keeping track of learning and other tasks?
• Could your child use a phone for wellbeing activities, like mindfulness meditation or fitness tracking

Sourced from Australian Parenting Website; 27th of August 2022

https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/entertainment-technology/digital-life/responsible-phone-use