A mother says she regretted giving her older son a phone at 12 and wished they had waited another year. He had no real need for it until school sports began in 7th grade, and without that need, the phone felt like another connection to the dangers of the internet.
This September, her younger son started middle school and expected a phone at the same age as his brother. She resisted. He takes the bus, which she can track with an app, and school sports don’t start until next year.
“He Doesn’t Need It”: A Mom’s Change of Heart on Her Second Child’s Phone
She also worried about his access to the internet and whether he was responsible enough, recalling the time he left his backpack on the bus. But his friends had phones, and she did not want him to feel left out.
He argued it was unfair that his brother got one at 12, and said he wanted to text when soccer ended early or he was on the bus. Her husband was convinced, and then so was she. Parental controls already protect his iPad and the phone, and he devised his own plan to keep the phone in his backpack during the school day.
Now she gets an “I’m on the bus” text around 3 pm, and she says the phone has made him more responsible and confident.
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