A mother has a list of rules for her son's use of a cell phone.
A mother has a list of rules for her son's use of a cell phone.
In case you missed it: This was one of the Herald's top stories on social media this week.
Choosing a suitable age for your child to own their first mobile phone can be a very difficult decision.
While you may prefer your child didn't have one, there are benefits, the most useful being that they're always only a phone call or message away. And when owning a phone seems to be the norm among kids these days, you'll likely feel you don't want yours to be left out.
One cautious mum has shared her expert method to allow her son use of a phone while ensuring he's safe and doesn't abuse the privilege.
Mel Watts, a blogger known as "The Modern Mumma", has shared the detailed contract she drafted for her 12-year-old son, Ayden.
The mother-of-four split the agreement into sections, with the more serious rules typed in bold. A breach of these rules in particular results in immediate confiscation of the phone.
Posting it to her blog, Watts hopes her contract might assist other parents when they're deciding on rules to put in place for their kids taking on a mobile phone.
She said: "This piece of paper pretty much gave us the ability to put down some ground rules and also allow us to monitor what he's doing."
This is the contract her 12-year-old son had to sign. Photo / Facebook
The document reads: "As we promised, once you finished primary school you would be lent a phone.
"The rules are to be applied to this phone and signed by all parties."
The majority of the rules are uncomplicated: Ayden will be responsible for fixing the phone should he break it and he must respect his school's rules around mobile phone use.
The ones that result in an immediate ban include failing to hand the phone over to Mum or Dad before bed, not disclosing all account names and details or intentionally hiding things on the phone from his parents.
On her blog the mother wrote: "This piece of paper pretty much gave us the ability to put down some ground rules and also allow us to monitor what he's doing.
"To be honest, no I don't think we should be giving our younger teenagers mobile phones with social media however I didn't want to be that parent who wouldn't allow it.
"I grew up with parents who didn't allow me to have a phone and I did feel isolated and left out, it wasn't a nice feeling."
Parents responded on Facebook to her post thanking her for the genius idea.
One said: "Love this!! Well done to you guys as parents."
Another added: "This is amazing!! So nice seeing parents take responsibility!
"I'm a secondary school teacher and the amount of damage I see caused by phones is crazy... social media bullying and trolling, kids not sleeping or doing HW coz they're texting/phoning at all hours of the night.
"Kids don't know how to use them safely because no one has explained it fully to them and parents don't take responsibility of something that is hugely dangerous like actually taking it off them before they go to bed!
"Can have a huge impact on their mental heath too and it's so sad to see! Well done you & all supportive parents."
