I’ve never raised children in any capacity, but let me give my opinion as a former child myself. I think there’s a lot of pros and a lot of cons to having a smart phone as a child. First question is financial. If you can’t afford it, probably not worth it. Second most important I’d say is if you feel you can keep your kid safe on the internet, primarily with things like parental controls and what not. There’s obviously lots of other points to consider, but if you decide to go with it, it might be good to have it be something your kid earns. Doing well on report cards, working on a personal goal, doing extra chores for a summer, stuff like that. Make a goal and have phone privileges be the reward. And make sure they know it’s technically “your” phone, and is a privilege, not a right. You can take it away whenever you want if they haven’t earned the privilege of using it
I’ve never raised children in any capacity, but let me give my opinion as a former child myself. I think there’s a lot of pros and a lot of cons to having a smart phone as a child. First question is financial. If you can’t afford it, probably not worth it. Second most important I’d say is if you feel you can keep your kid safe on the internet, primarily with things like parental controls and what not. There’s obviously lots of other points to consider, but if you decide to go with it, it might be good to have it be something your kid earns. Doing well on report cards, working on a personal goal, doing extra chores for a summer, stuff like that. Make a goal and have phone privileges be the reward. And make sure they know it’s technically “your” phone, and is a privilege, not a right. You can take it away whenever you want if they haven’t earned the privilege of using it