And what if they get into trouble on their way home? Or the way to the bus, supermarket or whatnot?
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sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 days agoAgree with this, but I don’t supply my kids with phones at all, despite their friends having them. If there’s an emergency, they can go to the office or ask their teacher. If that’s not possible, the school will likely call instead (e.g. when there was a bomb threat a could of couple years ago).
I have chosen to not give my kids phones, but I also think other parents should be allowed to choose differently. Everyone’s circumstances are different, and I don’t want the government stepping in to make parenting decisions for me, even if my decisions would be the same. That’s overreach and I will absolutely oppose it.
Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 2 days ago
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
What trouble? Adults don’t want to mess with kids (most child abuse happens with close aquaintances, not random crazies on the street), so their biggest threat is going to be bullies around their age, and a parent stepping in will just make that problem worse, so they’ll need to learn to deal with that on their own anyway.
I personally have never had an issue going to/from school, other than the typical bullying on the bus. The most likely problem they’d run into is getting hit by a car, in which case they need paramedics and police, not me, and those emergency services will call me once they identify them (and I trust random strangers to call emergency services if a kid gets hit).
The only time I expect my kid to need to call is if they’re at a party or something outside of school and need to be picked up because they don’t feel comfortable. When they get to an age where that’s a thing, we’ll have a loaner phone for them to use.
Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 2 days ago
Falling off your bike and cracking your head open or breaking something or whatever. I used to bike through somewhere where not a lot of people would pass by.
Or even worse, get hit by a tractor who didn’t see you and not be found until later, which can cause permanent damage. Happened to somebody I know sadly, she is disabled for life now. Yes, the person in the tractor should have been more careful and have seen her, but you can hit somebody with one of those and not notice it.
I also never said they should use the phone to call the parents, you can also call 112 with those.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Right, but if you’re in a situation where you need emergency services, chances are you won’t be in a situation to call. For the vanishingly low chance of that being necessary (esp. in my case where I take them to/from school since there’s no bus service), I trust strangers to call since my area is sufficiently densely populated for someone to see what happened.
If you live in an area where such things are more likely, I absolutely agree that you should be able to make that choice. I firmly oppose any school-wide ban on phones for that reason, I just happen to agree that, generally speaking, kids don’t need and shouldn’t have phones.
And if you really feel the need for your kid to contact you or emergency services, there are devices like Gabb watches that have only the functions you need. So please, consider those before considering a smartphone.
natecox@programming.dev 2 days ago
I don’t think there is a good answer here. I didn’t really want my kids to have phones either but all you’re doing by denying them the primary social tool of their generation is ostracizing them from their peers.
Being a parent sometimes feels like a series of un-winnable choices.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
What peers? They mostly play with neighborhood kids, and we have contact info for a few that live further away and arrange things that way. Our kids aren’t teenagers yet, but my sister’s are and they seem to do fine without phones as well. My friends growing up mostly had phones, and I worked around that as well.
I think people are making a much bigger deal about it than it really is. Maybe it’s a larger issue in other areas, but honestly, my kids mostly want one to play games, not contact friends.
We certainly reevaluate regularly, but I’ll need a pretty good reason to give my kids their own phones. I’m much more likely to have a loaner they can share, and only for a fixed amount of time.