I have always advocated waiting as long as possible to get your child a smartphone. Too many parents hand them over and the kids have them 24/7. You don’t always know you have a vulnerable teen until after a suicide attempt or a completed suicide. And then it’s too late.
Kids have been murdered and raped because of apps. Bullying and other dangerous internet games have been contributing factors for suicide.
Allowing your kids, especially any kid under 18, carte blanche phone privileges is flat out dangerous. You are essentially allowing your child in the car with the flasher in an overcoat.
You know what? You pay for the phone. So why shouldn’t you have control over it. They don’t like it? Well they can pay for their own.
Below is an example of what a mom found on her daughter’s phone. I’ve seen worse than this but it shows you how tweens and teens when hiding behind a digital device can get particularly mean and badger a child 24 hours a day. This kind of meanness comes from kids who also don’t think that highly of themselves and use putting down others as a means of making themselves feel more superior and empowered.
The girls here are 13!
