DD1 is only 8, & I have no intentions of getting her a mobile, but the thought has crossed my mind a few times.
We are in a small town & I do let her walk to friends houses & walk down the street with friends on occasion. Its not a frequent thing & there are a few times where she's stuffed up & had to earn back that priveledge again, but its when she does these silly things I've thought it'd be so much easier if I could just ring her, find out whats going on & tell her to get her little backside home!

I always said high school. No way before that. But the thought of just having a prepaid, that I can ring her on, is so tempting. Am I mad? There was once where she left school for a friends house without me knowing. Another friend rang me & told me what was going on & I went looking & couldn't find her.

One of her closest friends is a year older than her, but is allowed to do alot more than I allow DD to do. When she is there she'll ring & ask to go for walks & stuff. I don't mind the walks, but I'm not impressed later when I find out our 8 & 9 year old girls were hanging out at the park with no adult supervision! For an hour or more. I thought it was get chips & take them home.

These things don't happen very often. Everyone else with kids the same age are less strict with this stuff than I am, as they all grew up here & feel it is safer than I think it is. Its a holiday destination. They are more careful during holiday times when the town is busy, but people come in & out of town all year round.

I don't know. I think I'd like her to have one, so she can ring me if she ever gets into trouble. Even if its just walking or riding home from school (even though she usually catches the bus), but I really don't consider it to be age appropriate til they are in high school.

What age was your child when they got their first mobile? I know they are getting them young these days. Some DD's age do have one, but I don't agree with it. I think 12 is young only thought that would be a good age as chances are DD would be catching a bus at least 20 minutes away for school. Maybe thats being over protective, lol... Most of us travelled an hour or more to school & survived without a mobile!