My child wants a phone. What now?

By Linda – Does your child ask for a telephone or a telephone subscription?? And you don’t really know what to do with it? Recognizable, because until recently I was also in that situation myself.

My son is in group 7 and more than half of his classmates have a telephone.

And not just a device that can only play a game, but also an app that allows them to use the internet. And then of course the big question came: do I go along with this or not. Well, to answer that question in advance: yes, I eventually went along with that.

After careful deliberation, we have made the choice to also give our son the opportunity to use the internet on his telephone.

A phone

I don’t know if it factored into my choice, but my son already had a phone on which he could play some games and apps. So that was not an issue for us to think about. My son has an old phone of mine that still works fine, so ideal.
If your son or daughter does not yet have a telephone, then of course the first decision is whether you want to purchase a telephone. My advice? Do not buy a new smartphone at this age.

Take an old smartphone of your own or take a look around on Marktplaats.

A subscription for teenagers

The second step, of course, is whether or not you have a subscription for your teen. You can decide to give the phone without a SIM-only contract. This way, your son or daughter can only access the internet if there is a WiFi connection. As far as I’m concerned, this is fine for the first period, especially as long as they don’t (have to) take their phone to friends or school yet.

But as soon as your son or daughter wants or has to take a telephone with you, it is useful that it also has a subscription.

In such a case, you opt for a Sim Only subscription. This means that you purchase a calling and internet subscription for your phone. There are different types of sim -only subscriptions that you can choose from (think of quantity of GB ’ s, number of calling minutes and running time), so you can choose exactly which subscription suits your teenager.

Agreements regarding use

An important point when it comes to a smartphone for your child: agreements must be made regarding telephone use. Many parents are afraid that screen time will skyrocket when their child gets their own phone, but that is of course largely in your own hands as a parent. For example, we have an agreement here that it is not allowed to look at the phone all day long.

My son can keep up with that, even if he has a ‘pingtje’ hears from an app, he does not immediately feel the need to fly to his phone to see who is sending him a message. Of course, this does not apply to all children, so a good solution is to store the phone when it cannot be used.

For example, agree that your child can keep his phone with him for fifteen minutes at three or four times of the day.

By making good agreements on smartphone use, you prevent arguments around this subject. Read this article if you want more tips around screen time.

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