The beginning of the educational year in schools means that some parents will have a big question: Is this for the child to buy the first phone?
Safety concerns, especially during the visit of school or after school coming home without school, are often decided in this regard. If many friends of the child have a phone, it can also increase social pressure.
But this is not unavoidable. How can you tell if your child is ready to use a smartphone or not? What are the options for this? And even if your child takes a phone, how will you set healthy and accessible boundaries for him? Why is taking a phone a big decision?
Many parents will be aware of concerns about the good of children in this era of technology, including potential loss to mental health. If children use the phone more then this is also a major cause of concern for parents.
Studies also suggest that this can increase phone dependence and divert attention in school or in general or decrease in concentration. Therefore, it is important to choose good options and provide support from the family.
How would you know that your child is ready to use the phone?
Whether the phone should be provided to children or not, it does not depend on his age, but it depends on the child being prepared and its family conditions.
– You can see a child’s readiness in many ways:
– How responsible are they for the technique they are using?
– Do they follow family guidelines regarding screen time?
– How inclined to discuss their online experiences with you? Do they come to you if they do not understand any problem or anything?
– Do they have the basic understanding of digital secrecy and security?
– How is their process of making offline decision? How is his behavior with family, friends and other people?
Non-Fone Options
If you decide that yes, your child is ready to use the smartphone, then it is not necessary that they should be given a smartphone with all the facilities and apps.
For basic safety requirements, such as a smartwatch or basic phone while coming to school, your children can receive calls and ‘text’ messages without using the Internet.
As children increase independence and digital maturity, they begin to use banned smartphones with parents control and gradually gain more privileges.
