On Kirsten’s 8th birthday her grandparents on her fathers side presented her with a mobile phone. I was flabbergasted! Usually we’d all discuss what gifts we were buying and we’d pick something from the list she usually gave me. It all worked fine, or so I thought.
Taking the phone from Kirsten I knew I was going to become very unpopular very quickly. I explained to the grandparents that we hadn’t agreed on this and there was no reason she would need one, plus the expense that goes with it was not something she could appreciate at her age. The had the phone back and I lived another week or two as the unpopular, most hated mother!
This subject came up on every birthday list and Christmas list for the next 3 years plus times in between. It wasn’t until Kirsten went up to high school that I felt she needed one, and even then not an expensive one like the one on that birthday. Soon after she went into year 6 she seemed to have stepped right into a social life, often away from me and I knew I needed that safety net whilst she was away. Then came Young Women activities, trips and camps. She needed the connected to me then. So I relented. I wanted to hold out as long as possible but circumstances had me over a barrel!
I’ve lost count of the phones she’s had over the years, the times they got lost or broken but I look back and I realise that in this day and age a mobile phone for a child is almost an essential when away from home/parents.
Kirsten is almost 16 now and has her beloved lime green blackberry which is her BFF and I don’t mind for one second that she has it!
What age is appropriate for your child?
Debs
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