They want everything

[laig]

My granddaughter who has just turned 9 told me yesterday that she wanted a mobile phone as all her friends whom she had been with at their caravan at the weekend had them.I said that I suppose she could get a cheap pay as you go phone and was told that all her friends had blackberries. I know it is the age of technology but why does a child who never goes out without an adult apart from at the caravan site need a blackberry?

[Puffthemagicdragon]

Why a Blackberry anyway one wonders ? There's plenty of cheaper very good modern Android phones out there.

[Hidden]

My granddaughter has a new phone which she loves. It is a samsung galaxy fame. Dont ask me because there so many out there. Me, I have the nokia which lies at the bottom of my handbag. My entertainment is on this Toshiba.

[scrobbitty]

She doesn't ! She may think she does to 'fit' in with her peers.

[Pepsicoley]

Hi Laig

A blackberry costs quite a lot of money but children always want to have the same things as their friends.

I remember when I was little, my best friend, Linda, always had fabulous white patent sandals in summer. My Mother insisted that I wear Clarks buckle sandals and I was not happy about that. Mind you, Linda now has problems with her feet and I don't.

Wanting to be like your friends and having the same things as your friends is quite normal (expensive but normal).

Love and hugs

Annec

xxxxx

[laig in reply to Pepsicoley]

yes when I was little my 2 older sisters and I got new dresses and shoes for the Sermons as you did then .My sisters had pink sashes and mine was blue they had patent ankle straps but mine had a bar on .I have resented having different Aall these years.A few months ago I told my Mum this she said that my feet would not go into an

kle straps and she thought that I would like a blue sash so as to be different.

[appyalison]

Doesn't having a v expensive phone make a young child vulnerable to thieves? Too much, too young, maybe... I would also be v concerned about unsupervised access to the internet. If computers in the bedroom are difficult to police, how much harder to shield a child from grooming etc on a mobile. Scary... straight, cheap, pay-as-you-go with no internet or nothing, I think. Boring, I know ... Alison

[laig in reply to appyalison]

I agree with you. I just don't see the point of having a phone at that age when she doesn't go out alone.Due to child care she attends school near her Granddads so has no friends to play out with near her home so the only time she would use it is around the caravan site when she goes to the shop on site or the playground.

[Hidden]

They all want to be in the club, so to speak.Thats fine if you can afford it,but ground rules need to be made strictly.Like everything moderation is the name of the game.Eg: no texting at the dinner table,or when being spoken too! I'd say the blackberry is due to those particular kids having one,there are so many good ones on the market now,not that 9 year olds,need the latest models,heaven forbid!!

Love Wendells xxx

[Hidden]

Back in the early eighties it was which calculator you had LOL.

I teach mostly uni students and adults but have been doing 3 hours a week at a secondary school this year, and can't believe what a problem mobiles are in that age group. The class has pupils aged 17-19 and although mobiles are banned in class they'll do anything to try to go on them. It's so tiring! I chucked a boy out of class this morning for it.

I asked them once about their mobiles and some of them said they sent thousands of texts each week. Incredible.

It feels safe having a mobile on you but sometimes I wish they'd never been invented!

[Hidden]

My niece got a blackberry for christmas - she was 11. I think Blackberry's are so popular because you have BBM, which is a messaging service, like texting only its free between fellow blackberry owners, so whilst a Blackberry can be quite expensive, if your child isn't making a lot of phonecalls or texting, it can actually work out fairly cheaply on a PAYG contract - it also has all the other things phones have too, camera, internet music, access. But all this aside - I hate that she has her face stuck in it a large proportion of the time!

The one thing no one has mentioned are the health implications of givig oung children access to phones. One of the health organisations has always said that access to rthem should be limited for young children. Although this is more to do with holding the handset near the head raher than using it to message, trawl the internet.

it beggars belief that they are allowed to be even taken into class let alone be used...

[Gidge in reply to Hidden]

You are so right about the health implications of using phones for calls - I have Menieres disease, in the ear I used to use for my work mobile - extensive use. My original diagnosis was a brain tumour, acoustic neuroma, and a Swedish study found that of their acoustic neuroma patients who had heavily used mobiles, the vast majority had the tumour in the ear most frequently used. I now only use any phone on speaker - I am almost deaf in my affected ear anyway, and not taking chances with the other one! my 12 year old Grandaughter was givena decent phone when she started secondary school, as she walks a mile to school - she rarely talks on it, mostly messaging.

Gill

[chellshock]

The idea of wanting a Blackberry could be for the Blackberry messenger

which means texts can be sent from blackberry to blackberry free. That maybe the reason.

[laig in reply to chellshock]

I do think that if she gets one it will be used mainly for messaging she already uses her Mothers phone for this.However both I and her Mother insist that she must spell words out in full either on the computer or on the phone as she is only just beginning to learn to spell at her age.

[Hidden]

The more hip and more expensive the phone the more likely it will get stolen and I think having one that is not so attractive to thieves will help keep the child safer. Just my opinion.

[Hidden]

Its impossible! My 12 year old wanted a blackberry and got blackberry - found a great deal on giffgaff and used it as a payg. Strangely it went missing - I have my thoughts on where it went! - by actually one of her older sisters friends. She was very good with it. No easy answers - they want what their friends have. I always said I wouldn't buy into it - but I have. It makes life easier for the kids! TAD xxx

[katieoxo60]

Many children have mobile phones as young as five these days, my feeling is it takes away the art of normal human communication, and surely all that texting can't be good for the finger joints.I know they are all booing me for being an old bore but technology isn't the be all and end all to life is it????

[Hidden in reply to katieoxo60]

It isn't the be all and end all to life. Unfortunately it can have an affect on health as well:

nhs.uk/Conditions/Mobile-ph...

[peege]

My children have all thanked me since becoming young adults for: not 'spoiling' them, for making them wear proper shoes, for rationing TV, for encouraging them to save & work to buy their own stuff, for understanding no means no.

Their happiest memories? All sitting around the table together eating and talking about everything under the sun - not the latest ibox (x-box?), phone, trainers...........

Parents today? Why dont they just say NO

[scrobbitty in reply to peege]

I have to agree with you peeg - there seems to be a strange leaning towards giving in to the kids these days and in the long term I really don't think it teaches them much other than by whining and whingeing they get what they want. The hardest word in any language is no but use it once and it gets easier. And no, there is absolutely no critisism of anyone who doesn't feel able to do that.

[laig in reply to peege]

To give my Granddaughter her due she has very intelligent conversations with me.As we walked around Tesco's yesterday we were discussing type 2 diabetes as I have it so we were buying food which I should eat then later while we were having lunch we were discussing North Korea and communism.

[peege in reply to laig]

wow, that's pretty smart for just 9! Sounds like a very sensible, switched on child ..... Communication is what it's all about.

I was horrified at the weekend when I asked my 29 year old - who has a masters - to check on the map if we were on a particular road. She didn't know London was south of Suffolk!

[Is4bell4]

I am unsure about this one! You can purchase these on ebay for next to nothing, and from my experience they are a god send, in teens you children do what they can to get away from the norm. They do grow out of it, But a mobile meant I could always check on my daughter.

She is not spoilt, it is only me raising her and little money. But for peace of mind, I did find the mobile comforting.

I think you will find that they prefer texts to holding mobile to ear.

Guess we have to keep up with technology. I have begged my older sisters to use the pc, not only useful for keeping in touch daily, but the benefits to the older for online shopping.

BUT they are sticking to their guns, and no to computers.

I believe that it is the way forward. I mean NOW I can only get my repeat prescriptions online!

So pleased that I gave my time to technology.

Ros.

[laig in reply to Is4bell4]

You came up with some valid points'

Thanks Gail

[KingoftheCocktails]

I have had blackberry for years normally with apple!..........Topped with a crusty pastry and smothered in Devonshire Cream!

[jandan in reply to KingoftheCocktails]

That's my favourite blackberry too

[Hidden in reply to jandan]

My favourite is apple and blackberry pie with good old original custard.

[katieoxo60 in reply to Hidden]

missed you yesterday ,out and about. That sounds like a scrummy recipe to get the taste buds going. Plus the joy of a trip out to pick the blackberries in August in all that sunshine

[laig in reply to KingoftheCocktails]

That sounds good but I am trying to get my type 2 diabetes under control by eating the right food instead of taking medication.

Gail

[phillips1]

I have a £15 Nokia from Tesco which does everything I need, i.e. calls and texts.. Virgin provides the service for £5 a month. What more could you want?

Bobby xxx

[scrobbitty in reply to phillips1]

What's the Virgin's name ? * innocent face

[phillips1 in reply to scrobbitty]

Don't know, but it definitely isn't Scrobbity. lol

Love from Bobby xxxx

[KingoftheCocktails in reply to scrobbitty]

It's me scrobbity,that Bobby always gets there before me!

[phillips1 in reply to KingoftheCocktails]

This will surprise you Richard. Believe it or not I am a little bit old-fashioned in some ways and I have only ever been with two women in my life - and I was married to both of them.

Bobby

[KingoftheCocktails in reply to phillips1]

Ah well I said you weren't the Virgin Bobby

[phillips1]

Crafty little buggers at my wife's school carry two phones, a good one and a cheapo. If they are caught using a phone the quickly swap them so it's the cheapo that gets confiscated.

Bobby xxx

[laig in reply to phillips1]

Clever